Fradam

It was a scorching morning. The mercury exceeded 40 in some parts of Sydney, and the prospect of a beach wedding in the afternoon seemed quite appealing providing there’d be a swim involved. I contemplated bringing an umbrella along to shield me from the sun. However, soaring temperatures are generally chased by storms, and yesterday’s wild weather was no different…

A memorable wedding. That is what David and Ula’s wedding will forever remain to me. It wasn’t that it rained. It was how it rained. The first drops landed as Ula first came into sight of the ceremony. A thunderclap signaled her first step onto the aisle. By the time she took her place, the little ceremony was awash with water. Words were indistinct from that point onward; Hannah, Tara, Claire and I huddled under a tiny umbrella and deduced the order of the ceremony by watching where the microphone went. It was possibly the shortest ceremony in history - topped only by Spaceball’s “short short version”; the celebrant was somewhat aware that the crowd was getting soaked. The key words did ring out however - “I now pronounce you..”. I wish I got to hear their vows though.. sniff.

Hannah, Claire and I went back to Claire’s place to dry off a little before the reception. Apparently the rain cloud had been centralised to the ceremony; two suburbs over was reasonably dry. Almost like Claire for the reception: she had a whole new outfit! Hannah blow-dried a lot of herself off. I tipped out the puddles that had formed in my shoes, and proceeded to blow-dry my socks and shoes for the next 20 minutes. After watching this process, Claire suggested borrowing a pair of her dad’s socks. Hannah followed this up by suggesting putting them in the dryer for a while. Sigh, why do all the best ideas come after my patient blow-dryer efforts! Thanks to Hannah for the photo:

The reception was close to home; North Curl Curl SLSC. Many memories of that beach.. and it was all round an awesome night. The speeches hit interesting notes - the father of the bride at one point questioning if the couple had done the right thing in deciding to get married, David speaking Polish and of course, a reference to that infamous party at Lena’s. So incredible seeing how far we’ve all come as people who were once little people.

All in all, a wonderful evening was had. I truly love weddings, and the fact that it rained in this one only served to highlight it in my memory of great moments of life. Yey for love!

Across the last few days, there has been a sick story developing, and becoming more localised with more detail each day — the incident taking place in our very own Warringah Mall. It was somewhat disconcerting considering that such a perverse act was taking place in a shopping mall that I’ve known for so long; that there were people like that in my area. Honestly, it shocks me that there are guys out there that are believing that its okay to do things like this; I pray that more news about people being caught stops those who still practice it.

Learning that the man was from Harbord hit even closer to home, having spent a better part of my teenage years in neighbouring Manly High School. However, the latest update (thanks Will), names and shames the perpetrator as a Mr Robert Drummond, a teacher at Cromer High. Those who attended Manly High and read this no doubt were met with immediate shock, as many of us went to school with a science teacher by the name of Mr Drummond! Could this be true… could the originator of this sick crime be someone we had known for 6 years…?

After the initial shock settled passed, the question of “Is that our Drummond?!” began to rise more fervently. After all, how many guys with a surname like ‘Drummond’, would be living in Harbord and teaching?

An investigation to determine this was launched… and resulted in a few reasons to suggest that it was in fact a different Drummond who just happened to live in the area and be a teacher:
- being 41 now, would mean he was 31-37 during the time we knew him at school, and between his balding scalp, and the remaining whispers of hair being reasonably grey, there was a strong claim for him being far older than these news articles would imply
- the teacher referenced in the article taught English, whereas our Drummond was a Science teacher and seemed quite content with staying within that discipline
- Cromer High students have confirmed the presence of a Mr Drummond teaching English there during the same time as a Mr Drummond was teaching Science at Manly High school.

Yep, that about seals it. Different Drummond…

During the investigation however, certain other interesting facts surfaced:
- there was more than one member of the Cromer High staff whom could share some resemblance to Manly Drummond
- there is no Drummond listed in the Manly staff anymore, but there is still one at Cromer.
- Manly Drummond was a teacher who chose not to undertake any other co-curricular activities within the school
- the name Robert Drummond as the teacher of a NSW school has risen before - a different age, a different school and different scandal.

It’s interesting in a way; news and current affairs often seem a little detached; everything happens everywhere else, and even when its local, e.g. the Manly Daily, there is still a certain sense of disenchantment. However, upon seeing a name that was immediately recognisable, and fitting together with so many other local details, it suddenly brought the news right close to home, and for a brief moment, everything seems to be in your own world.

This doesn’t in any way lessen the fact that someone still committed this crime; but it is of some relief to me at least that it was not a teacher that I went to school with, and who taught classes that I sat in. Hopefully whatever punishment is doled out scares off other people who behave like that.