I’ve been living in Greece for a long time now and being so far away from Australia, the country I was born and grew up in, sometimes gets to me.
Last time I visited Australia was in 2018. Since then, world events that shape and define economics (or is it vice versa?!), have now made travel, particularly so far away, difficult to afford.
Instead of feeling sorry for myself, I find other ways of getting my Australia ‘fix’ here in Greece. Having a few Greek Australian friends here definitely helps. We try to catch up as much as possible but family, work and just ‘life’ allow minimal free time.
Another way of getting my Aussie fix, is through visiting a “specialist” type store in a faraway Athenian suburb and buying Vegemite there! They even have Turkish Delight chocolate bars, though I’m a bit of a late bloomer in only just realising they’re not Australian, but British! The same for crumpets!
And you know, as one gets older, one tends to get even more nostalgic for pleasant childhood associations; memories that played an important role in our lives. It’s not all about food – though what I wouldn’t give for an Aussie meat pie, or fish’n’chips! I’ve tried to make them, but it just ain’t the same.
I was lucky enough to have grown up in Australia in the 70s and 80s, a time of feeling free and blessed. Of course, I’ve gone on about that already here.
And about the good old Vegemite here.
So aside from the stomach being a way to a man’s (including woman’s, child’s, even animal’s) heart, there are so many other special Australian experiences and memories viscerally close to my gut and heart.
Here’s another article; about objects, but mainly about people in a GreekAustralian context.
When it comes to people and Australian memories and yearnings, I never underestimate nor forget the great Aussie music scene of the 1970s mainly: Bands like AC/DC, Sherbet, Skyhooks and more.
For me, it started as a little girl aged 6 in Australia when I discovered the music icon (though not Australian but still popular in Oz even now). This was while listening to an “Explosive Hits 74” album.
I still remember the track no. of the record! It was the 2nd song on the 2nd side and the singer, or goddess rather, was Suzi Quatro!
Her voice excited and mesmerised me. Her look had me in awe of her originality, of her perfection. Something just clicked. I’d stare at her picture on the album and think, ‘wow, I wish I could look like that.’ And from then on, I’d try to get my hair cut like hers – I think they called them dolly haircuts back then. I’d try for years, but my thick, wavy hair just wouldn’t, couldn’t, cut it (pardon the pun).
So back to the now. Not having been on a holiday since 2018, I recently noticed that Suzi Quatro was back in town so to speak! Now at 75 – still performing! Wow! I gasped, and still do. She was doing shows in the UK, one after another. And in Germany, and in Poland. As though hypnotised, I begged my husband to go with me to a show of hers.
Somewhat uninterested and disbelieving of my intense love for Suzi Quatro as a child in Australia, and the importance for my mental well-being for God’s sake, he said “why don’t you go with one of your Greek Australian girl friends?” I don’t think he believed me when a few hours later, I said, “I’m going to see Suzi Quatro in Krakow Poland next week with my friend Mary!”
I had contacted Mary and simply asked – “Remember Suzi Quatro?” To which she replied (in Greek)” “Που την θυμήθηκες αυτή τώρα;/ Where did you remember her from now?” I babbled on to her almost hysterically, that she’s here, well almost, and that we must go, “to feel young again!”. The sales pitch worked and… we went two weeks ago, and it was glorious.
Krakow, Poland is a beautiful European, old world city of architectural splendour. A clean, green and friendly people’s city with great cafes and bars, and we got our cute little airbnb and all was dandy. On the last night of our few day stay there, (cheapest ticket determined dates of flying in and out), we saw SUZI QUATRO live.
She was phenomenal – met all my expectations of a wonderful entertainer, singer,
musician (she plays bass guitar, keyboards, drums, etc), confirming my childhood gut feelings of her exceptionalism.
Fit and perky and smiling, she did her thing to an older crowd with some accompanied by their offspring: The latter perhaps curious or bribed by their parents’ same age as me protestations of “this is real music, you youth don’t know what real music’s like until you see Suzi Quatro!”
She got us up from our chairs to wave our hands in the air to her hits, like “Can the Can”, “Stumbling In” and more. And when Suzi told us of her career timeline throughout the show, before belting out another song and directing us to punch our fists in the air, my friend leaned over and motioning “she’s like an instructor at an old folks’ home!” To this I grimaced momentarily, before bursting out laughing at what was one of the most joyous spectacles of my life – essentially stemming from my wonderful childhood in my wonderful, faraway Australia.
