The Life of Daniel Thomas Andrew Daly

Chapter One

I am not really sure what my oldest memories are, but I do remember being in the kitchen at Berridale (7 Bent Street) playing on the chairs we had, which had black vinyl, being chairs I had played on often, doing a rocking horse motion on them around the
kitchen, and thinking right at that point, in thoughts which had slowly developed for a while, I will remember this time for the rest of my life. And I
have never forgotten it. I was born on the 20th of November 1972 Kingston upon Hull in England in the
United Kingdom. I was born at the Hull Maternity Hospital, which Mum tells me is no longer there. What had happened was my older brother Matthew was born in Cooma Hospital on the 21st of October 1969 and my older sister Brigid was born in the same
hospital on the 26th of October 1971. But when it came to the third child, myself, mum decided to have me in England in Hull, were she likewise had been born. She was born on the 7th of July, 1937 (meaning she turned 70 on the 7/7/2007 – which is
probably why 7 is her favourite number). My mother’s name is Mary Philomena Daly nee Baker. Dad was born Cyril Aloysius Daly on the 11th of August 1922 in Sydney. I remember, in those early days, the world book dictionaries we had, and the set of world
book children’s encyclopaedias. We still have the dictionaries, but the children’s encyclopaedias are long gone. They had a games section of a jungle
map which you followed from page to page, as well as a volume of kids activities which I liked to
look at. I remember a big box which dad brought home from work one day, which we played in in the back yard for a while. And I remember the first day thinking that when the ‘Goodies’ came on (on ABC at 6) that I would still keep on playing in the box.
But I think that the others went inside when the Goodies came on, and I went in shortly afterwards. The Goodies were big to me as a kid, and so was Dr Who which ABC put on right after the Goodies. They are my earliest childhood TV shows I remember,
alongside The ABC News at 7 (which is still the time they show it) and the Saturday morning Cartoons. I remember ‘Point of View’ which they showed before the cartoons at 12 which was a political commentary show. When ‘Point of View’ came on I was
usually watching TV, waiting for the Cartoons. The ‘Whacky Racers’ was a show I remember, were the hero turned into a bad guy as well. Star Wars was a big thing because every one was talking about it, and when what I thought was Star Wars was
supposed to come on TV I was broken when the blackout occurred and we missed nearly all of it. In fact it was just the Star Wars holiday special (but I didn’t know at the time) and perhaps it is a good thing I missed it because Mr Lucas maintains he
would prefer if it was totally forgotten. I read online that some people consider it Star Wars canon, because it contains plots which supposedly tie into the saga (ie Chewbacca visiting his family). Later on, when I learned about confirmation names, mine
was going to be ‘Luke’. It was going to be ‘Luke’ for a long time, mainly because of Star Wars ‘Luke Skywalker’. But I ended up choosing ‘Tarcisius’ just a few months before my confirmation because I read a book in Year 6 at St Pats in
Cooma in the back on St Tarcisius. I also read one on St Pancratius, but was scared of the way St Pancratius died (I think he was beheaded) and preferred the death of St Tarcisius. I guess I ended up choosing Tarcisius because I thought that was the
spiritual thing to do. I pinched my dad’s 2 cent and 5 cent coins almost straight away from his jar, because I knew they bought lollies. I kept on pinching from mum’s purse into my teens. It was where my arcade money came from. I was convicted a lot
and felt guilt, but always brushed it aside. I remember, later on in Cooma, getting busted for pinching lollies from Woolworths, and they took us to the police station. We were under age and just got a warning. It is the only time I
have been to the
police station for illegal activity. I have never been arrested, and have worked hard to make sure I won’t be. Anyway, God dealt with the pinching gradually through my life, and I learned my lesson eventually. I do remember, though, that whenever I
pinched some money and mum asked who was pinching from her purse, it was normally always me, but I would deny it to her face. I am not really sure if my
siblings ever pinched money. There was this time, though, in Cooma, when Aunt Molly accused me of
pinching a dollar, but it actually wasn’t me that time. I think she had just mislaid it. Like ‘Swiper’ from Dora the Explorer, pinching was my main problem, but apart from that, looking back, I usually feel I was a good kid with a good heart. I was
usually gentle throughout my school years, and did not like fighting, and was picked on because of it. I was extremely unpopular all the way through to the end of year 10 at St Patrick’s. Fortunately, they were never too violent towards me, usually
just occasionally calling me names and letting me know my place at the bottom of the hierarchy. Throughout those 11 years at St Pats there were a lot of hard
times, but there was an occasional moment here and there when things were just a bit okay. My
teachers were Mrs Macminnamin in Kindie, Sister Susan in year 1 and 2, Mrs Jones in year 3, Mr McHugh in year 4 & 5, Sr Ann in year 6, and then various teachers in high school. I first went to the pre-school in Cooma north before kindie, but only
occasionally. I remember a few times staying at the big house up the top of crisp street at the top of the hill in Cooma – the very big mansion like one – after pre-school for some babysitting. I can’t remember the people, but they had a shack were
I remember thinking there was a fox there. It is a big part of my memory. Mum tells me they asked me questions but I was playing them for fools as a little devil. The first day I got home from kindie, mum tells me I undid my shoes, took them off and said
‘Thank God for that.’ I remember I was trying to be dramatic.


[continued in next message]

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)