60! There must be some mistake?

The Big 6-Oh! podcast, hosted by childhood friends Guy Rowlison and Kayley Harris, takes a nostalgic look at growing up and life at 60. 

Having first met at Epping West Public School, they’ve known each other for nearly five decades and in their first episode, the duo reflects on the journey from their carefree primary school days to the surprising reality of turning 60. 

From schoolyard antics, navigating friendships, and the hilariously awkward moments of their youth, Guy and Kayley embrace the mixed emotions that come with hitting the 'Big 6-Oh'.
 
From the perks — seniors' cards and priority parking — and the less glamorous aspects of getting older, they explore how life changes and what it means to "age" in a modern world where there are no rulebooks for growing old.

* This episode of The Big 6-Oh! is proudly sponsored by www.louiscarr.com.au - helping people in the Hills District find their dream home since 1992.

Transcript

00:00

If you're old enough to remember when phones had cords and the only thing that went viral was a cold, then you're in the right place. Welcome to the Big Six-O with Kaylee Harris and Guy Rawlison. Because who better to discuss life's second act than two people who still think mature is a type of cheese?

00:22

Ignition sequence start.

00:26

3, 2, 1, 0, all engines running. Lift off, we have a lift off.

00:41

Well, here we are. Here we are. We're doing it. And at a certain point in your life, that's got to be real positive, doesn't it? I mean, not just knowing where you are, but who you're actually speaking with, right? Look, honestly, I know this is a new podcast, but if you told me one day I'd be hosting a podcast with Kayleigh Harroff from 6H, the first thing I probably would have said was, what's a podcast? Yep.

01:07

Second thing was, yeah, girl germs, no return. Remember when that was a thing we should introduce ourselves. So I'm Kayleigh, Kayleigh Harris. Yeah. And I'm Guy and Kayleigh's the girl that used to probably copy my homework. Absolutely. Yeah, definitely. Yep. And we, we know each other as far back as primary school, Epping West public school up right on there on Carlingford road. And we realized when we were starting to put together this podcast that

01:36

next year will be our 50th anniversary reunion since we left year six. I know, doesn't it? That just knocks you over the fence for six, doesn't it? Because it only seems like yesterday we were trying to navigate who to play with or Devon and Tomato Sauce sandwiches and here we are diving headfirst into a podcast about being over 60. So we're not trying to... I know. It's just, and it seems to be speeding up, right? Time is speeding up as we're getting older and you and I both turning 60, obviously this year.

02:03

And I don't know about you, but I think one of the reasons we wanted to do this podcast was because 60, I've never been phased by age. You know, I wasn't bothered by 30, 40, 50, whatever. And I, in fact, I embraced it and I was, you know, this age is great. It's better. Aging is better than the alternative. Yeah. 100%. Yep. And for some reason, 60 is not, I'm struggling with it a little bit. I'm sort of, wow, I'm 60. I can

02:30

parking the seniors parking now at Westfield and I've got a seniors card and I like it like one of those opal gold card thingies and there's good things about that but wow. I know. You know, do people treat you differently when they find out you're 60? Yeah, look, spoiler alert too. We don't, there's no rule books about, you know, turning 60 and what you're supposed to be or who you're supposed to be and it's a bit like back in the day like, you know, should you go for a

02:59

But not a Raz because no one really like the Raz. I was going to say the Raz. I love the Raz except you ended up like with a red mouth after Little Unc. Yeah, that could be alluring in your 60s. I don't know. But you're right. You get your gold card, you get your seniors parking and I don't know what to think. We all feel like we're still 16. Yeah, I don't kind of feel 16. I feel sort of 30.

03:28

Like mentally, I don't feel sick. So my body certainly doesn't feel 30, but yeah, you just, you feel like the same as you did back then kind of, but with more, but with caring less about what people think about you. Is that fair enough? Yeah. It puts on your perspective too on like your parents and how you view your parents because all of a sudden you're there and how you feel and those memories that sort of sitting in the back of your skull. All of a sudden you think,

03:58

Maybe how I looked at my parents, you know, they were just young people at heart. Yep. Um, but we never saw it because that outside is, is so telling, isn't it? Yeah. And, and also with, with aging, you can't practice. I don't know how to be old. Not something I could sit down and, you know, work on before it happened. It's I'm just making it up as I go along and just had, what does this look like? What does it look like on me? How do I feel about it? And how do I want the next phase of my life to look?

04:27

Hmm. And it's, it's because society and culture is changing as well. I don't know how we're perceived by younger people and it doesn't really matter, but you know, you're here, you know, 60 is the new 40 or, but I've got this opinion that anyone over the age of 25 to a young person is relatively old anyway, so, you know, but when you see 90 year olds jumping out of airplanes. I love that.

04:54

How good is that? I love that. I want to be that 100 year old or that 90 year old that does things like them. I'd probably won't, but I would love to think that I would be that person doing those things. We can only hope. The alternative is not very palatable. So I don't know. Exactly, yeah. Epping West. Epping West, okay, let's go back. And I'm sure everybody's primary school was the same in the seventies. So we're talking seventies and.

05:20

You've got a much better recollection of it than I do. You were telling me our teacher's name was Mrs Hamilton and I'd completely forgotten what her name was and some of the names and you remember some of the other kids and I can probably remember two or three but you remembered so many other kids and so many of the teachers. Yeah is that is that dangerous though because you can remember your kindergarten teacher, you can remember your second class teacher should I mention her name? Yeah.

05:49

Mrs. Stewart from second class and Miss Chaffers-Welsh from first class. And then you've got Miss Dunning and Mr. Dunnellon, who was like, he was like a unicorn as far as male teachers were concerned. Um, and then like the guy that, you know, that would put you on detention, who was, you know, a year five teacher that I never had was Mr. Nusafora. And I only remembered his name because he told me, he told me his first name once and I thought that's the same as me. Really? How special is that? Yeah.

06:18

And you got detention in primary school. Wow. That's really cool. I didn't, what did you get it for? I don't even remember why I don't even remember. I had to stand next to the wall. I had to stand next to the wall for the entire lunchtime and I stood next to the wrong wall. So he came up to me and he said, look, son, where were you? And I said, hi, I was over there. And he said, you were supposed to be standing over there. You didn't listen to me. Do you want to have it again tomorrow? And I thought, no, it was the middle of summer. It was stinking hot. And that's the other thing. The way that teachers.

06:47

would have treated kids back in the day compared to now, completely different. We had a teacher in year four, and I won't mention any names, no name shaming, but this particular teacher was very old school. And one of the other girls in my class, Simone and I were very, very close, and we used to sit together and wouldn't shut up. And I remember her coming up one day, she was so sick of us talking, and she grabbed Simone by the hair and me by the hair, and she banged our heads together.

07:14

unfortunately, some of Simone, big chunk of Simone's hair came out and then Simone's dad was up at the school the next day and to us, this was, we deserved it. We were being naughty kids, we weren't listening, we were talking amongst ourselves and we deserved it. It wasn't till we went to high school and a private girl school, we found out the teachers aren't allowed to hit you. I was like, what? Teachers can't hit you? Oh my gosh, when did this become a thing?

07:40

Because you would remember as a boy too, in primary school, I don't know whether you ever got the cane, a lot of people our age would remember it. I was more, uh, how many more gold stars can I get on my merit certificate on a Friday because my sand shoes had Kiwi white put on them in time for whatever. But, but I do, I remember, I remember like a couple of boys in the hat room. Who calls it a hat room anymore? Wait, there was a hat room? A hat room. Yeah. Well, it was where you put your.

08:07

your school bag and whatnot. But they were called hat room. And I'm thinking, wow, like we didn't have to wear hats. I'm not sure why it was called a hat room. Well, that's the other thing. These days you can't, the kids can't go out and play at lunchtime without a hat on. We didn't have hats on. I don't remember ever having a hat on in the playground. No, no, at all. Yeah. And I remember in year four, three boys went into the hat room and they got the cane. And that was a thing. Or if you really just, you'd be going up to the headmaster, you know,

08:37

towards where the library was back in the day. And you would remember the headmaster's name, I bet. 100%. Do I need to say Mr. Dewes? There you go. I knew you'd know it. You have the most extraordinary memory. But I had to remember that too, because I mean, it's really embarrassing. I mean, you're a sporty, adventurous, outgoing sort of girl back in the day, and you're into everything. Was I? Yeah. You're sure you're talking about me? Sorry.

09:07

But yeah, like seems everyone had a role, you know, whether you're a captain or a prefect or a sports captain. But when we were younger, do you remember having to drink warm milk? I don't. I know it was a thing, but I don't remember doing it. But you do. You have memories of that. The milkman would bring it really early in the morning. By the time you had to drink it, it was warm. Yeah, it was. If you're a milk boy, and you could only be a milk boy in year two, the milker would bring it in the crates. And by the

09:37

play lunch, little lunch recess back in the day. Um, yeah, it would be in the middle of summer, you know, it's like 11 o'clock quarter past 11, it's been sitting out forever and you had to line up around the quadrangle there and you weren't allowed to go and play until you'd finished your milk. Oh gosh. So the kids throwing up. Well, yeah, that's the thing. And cause then you'd, you'd drink it and you'd go run crazy. And yeah, yeah. And in the middle of summer, in the middle of summer. And of course.

10:06

You know, that was back in the day where you had to drink the milk. And these days, you know, you've got the lactose intolerant kids, let alone drinking warm milk, gluten free kids. Which, which puts a whole new spin on like school canteen items these days too. Doesn't it? Let's talk about that because you mentioned before about the razors and the glugs and all those sorts of things. And the cross the road from our school, there was a milk bar. And what was the name of the guy that owned it?

10:34

That was Mr. Perry. There you go. I knew you'd know. And I remember going in there before school and you just, you'd be able to hand over 10 cents to get 10 cents worth of mixed lollies and you'd get a decent bag for 10 cents. Absolutely. Like a real, you'd get some caramel, butters, some freckles, some chocolate. Um, stop. Milk bottles. Stop. It was so good. And poor Mr. Or Mrs. Perry, and you'd be pointing in the little glass cabinet. Oh, look, I need two milk bottles and teeth.

11:03

and caramel bananas. And it was just the best, wasn't it, to go to school with this little bag of mixed lollies that you just seem to get so many of them for such a small, what we consider these days, a small amount of money. It's not even money you had so many friends. As I was over at Mr. Perry's every morning before school. Yeah, like even at the school canteen, like you look at some of the things that we used to have,

11:32

chocolate bread and I don't remember the canteen at school. I don't know what was chocolate bread chocolate. It was basically Nutella, but it was just Nutella mead over slices of bread and kids used to love it. And you know, and I was never a chocolate bread sort of guy. I was more, you know, if there were twisties or, you know, I think I was allowed a lunch order once a week and, you know, it was always the same. It was like a pie or something really exotic. Yeah.

12:02

But whether it was like there was twisties and all those sort of things that you had, you know, your paddle pops and, and all, and, you know, there were finger buns. And I think I don't even know what's on the school canteen list these days, but I'm pretty sure not a lot of that's actually sitting there. No, I think it's pretty healthy these days, what was on the school canteen. But I remember the chocolate and caramel space food sticks. Oh, those sorts of things were there. And yeah. The other thing I want to mention, I don't know if you remember this, but we used to have.

12:31

think it was called square dancing at school and the boys would all get in a big circle in the playground facing inwards and the girls would get inside the circle facing the boys and you do a bit of a dance like a bit of a like whatever you couple of steps in front of a boy and then you'd move on to the next boy. That's it I remember. Do you remember that? We used to do the Pride of Erin and it used to be the Canadian...

12:55

step or something like that and then the girls would spin around and move on to the next boy. That's the next boy and you were waiting to get to the boy who you really wanted to dance with and get away from the one that you really didn't want to be dancing with and the one I couldn't wait to get with is now your brother-in-law. Oh, Kayleigh. Now we've had this conversation so Guy's brother-in-law is Rob Abraham's and Rob was the school captain.

13:23

for our year at Epping West. And I thought he was so cool and the bees knees. And I had this mad crush on him when I was 11. And of course Rob was 11, but to me, because he was the school captain, he seemed so mature and so grown up, but he was 11. But to me it was like, wow. If only you knew. I mean, I will. Not only got a direct line to him then because I was vice captain of the school. You were.

13:53

Yeah. Well, I didn't notice you because I was too busy looking at Rob, probably. You were just starstruck by this handsome young man that had power and authority. He had it all going, didn't he? He seems so cool and so important because he was the school captain. Yeah, he's still pretty cool. I'll say he's still pretty cool for a brother-in-law. He's still pretty cool. Yeah, for a brother-in-law. I don't know whether I'm past the probation period yet as far as, you know, so I still have to say that he's pretty cool, but he's doing well.

14:22

Yeah. So, um, yeah, but, but yeah, it was, it was just, you know, one of those things too, like, and you, if you got, if you got sort of stuck with that girl or that boy, you'd hear this massive, uh, at the end of it. The other thing I remember was, do you remember that school, they had the old fashioned school bell that we used to, it used to get rung when school started at whatever time it was nine or nine 15 or quarter nine, whatever. And then it would get rung again

14:52

get rung again at the end of the day. And you had the opportunity to be able to ring the bell. And I finally, after two years of asking, it was my turn to ring the school bell at the end of lunch. And I'm standing there and it was people who, you know, our age will certainly remember this. It was an actual bell on a frame and you got a stick like a broomstick.

15:18

And you would put it into this little thing and you would push it up like that. And the bell would ring anyway. I'm standing there 10 minutes early waiting for, you know, the time and wedding and just before it was supposed to be rung, this other kid in our class ran up, grabbed the stick off me, whacked me with it and then rang the bell. And I was so upset. I don't know who the kid was. And I certainly don't have any bad feelings about it now, but I just remember this I'd waited so long that that's

15:46

That's the way school was back then, you know, it was that way. The kids were like that though. I sort of, I guess, I'm so sorry, Kayleigh. I didn't realize that it meant that much to you when I took that stick away. I do remember, I do remember the stick and being able to ring the bell. I think I, we must've all got a turn at some stage. I think we all got a turn. I didn't get my turn after that, but it was, yeah, amazing. There's some unresolved issues going on here, isn't there? I think so. I think we can, we can air them all now on the podcast. I think.

16:16

Given the school is, it's what 50 years, didn't you say next year? Yep. Yeah. Is there an opportunity maybe just to make amends for that and maybe? Yeah. Ring the bell if it's still there. Pop down, let's pop down to the school next year for our 50th anniversary and I'll see if I, if the bell's still there, I'll give it a ring. I'm gonna feel better. Yeah. Look, I think you've waited long enough. I think it's fair. We just need to find a stick now and hopefully that other kid isn't, I mean, it's just you and I. Maybe it was Rob. I don't remember.

16:44

I'll ask him. He'll deny it. This episode of the Big Six-O brought to you by Louis Carr Real Estate, helping people in the Hills District find their dream home since 1992. Ready to buy, sell or rent? Check out louiscarr.com.au for all your property needs.

17:07

You talk about the bell ringing and like, you know, it, obviously you go into your classroom and then you've got your, you know, recess or I think it used to be called play lunch at the time. Little lunch. Yeah, whatever it was, you know, and, you know, and then you'd rush out and I just, I was thinking the other day about some of those games that we used to play at school and the things that probably just aren't around anymore, like, you know, Jacks and Elastics and all that things. What was the point of Jacks?

17:37

What was it? What were we trying to do with Jacks? Was it like you put them in your hand and then you threw them up and quickly turned your hand over? Yeah, there was a point of it. I don't understand. I don't remember. I'm sure it was a dexterity thing. I mean, you're a legend at school if you could get like, I think it was like thread the needle or, you know, under the arch. And then there was overhand onesies and overhand twosies and all those sort of things. And, you know, it had its 15 minutes of fame and then you'd go back and, you know, then it'd be either.

18:06

I never understood elastics. I think that was a girl thing. Yeah. Because we all had elastics in our hair. So I think elastics was, and you try and sort of thread them through and do this business with them. No, no, the one, the great big bits of elastic used to put a part in a pole and Oh, that one, yeah, yeah. Was it called elastics? And you'd used to jump on the, girls used to jump on the elastic and then jump off and then you Oh gosh, I can't remember, but remember like skipping and you'd have

18:33

two people, one each, and you had to skip and then they'd go really fast and you'd have to try not to trip over the skipping rope. And I did it and tripped over it every time. I was very unco. I don't quite remember it that way. But do you remember that you talked about sporting things? Do you remember what house you were in at school? Wouldn't have a clue. I think the color was green. Oh, you would have been in Kookaburras then. What were the other options?

19:00

There were kookaburras, carawongs, rosellas and kingfishers. No, I have no idea. I can't remember. Oh my gosh. Do you remember the sports carnivals, the swimming carnivals at all? Not really. Or were you just too much of a sporting legend that you were just so focused? For the swimming carnival. I don't remember. That was down at Dance Park at Ebbins. Oh, of course. Yeah. No, I don't remember. I remember swimming down at Dance Park, but not as part of the carnival. I don't think. Oh, you must have been in the zone.

19:29

You know, elite athletes are. Well, that's right. Yeah. And it's like marching, marching in lines and in unison, you'd practice marching around the YMCA over the Epping as part of the, as part of the school sports carnival. Yeah. So, you know, I don't think any, does anyone really do that? I mean, they don't do it at the Olympics. They just wander in as a rabble. Yeah. I don't know. And I think there was a, there was a handball game we used to.

19:57

play and everyone tells me it's called handball but for some reason when we were at school it was called KP. I know. Do you remember that? What did that stand for? Someone told me it stood for Kingpin. All you needed was a tennis ball and a bit of chalk to draw a line and the whole point was to keep hitting the ball back to the other person, the tennis ball and people would do fancy moves and they'd do it under their leg and behind them and I was never that clever at it. Yeah I remember KP it was yeah that was a favourite as far as lunchtime but then if it was you know.

20:26

Once again, if it wasn't your thing, you'd go and play forcings back on the oval. Forcings? Yeah. Or what they, British Bulldog. Where did that came from? Do you remember that? What was that? I know. What's British Bulldog? You had one kid standing in the middle of like, you'd have like a dozen kids on one side and another dozen kids, and you'd just run. You'd just run and try and get to the other side. Oh, okay. And the kid in the middle would try and tackle you. Oh, okay. And sort of, and maim you. I don't know why it was called British Bulldog. Because that's maybe what a British Bulldog would do.

20:55

Should we call it Sniper or something? And that was the thing, you know, because all these games now, I mean, I don't think kids are allowed to run on the asphalt or as it was drummed into me, asphalt by one teacher. Asphalt. Oh, okay. Yeah. And because you'd come home with grey's knees and elbows and you know. But we did all the time and it didn't seem to be an issue and you know, that was just part of growing up, wasn't it?

21:25

grazed elbow, she had a bit of a cry and mum would stick the bandaid on or the teacher wore to whatever and you go home and that was the end of that. It was just a mark of, you know, your bravery and, or coming off the monkey bars or whatever. Oh, the monkey bars, yeah. Hanging upside down on the monkey bars, that was always great fun. Yeah, how more kids didn't do more damage, I don't know. I know, I know. And you talked about tunnel ball and captain ball. Now,

21:50

Tunnel ball I remember because all the kids are standing in a line with their legs spread and you'd throw the ball, the person at the front would like shoot it down to the person at the back. Correct me if I'm wrong here. And then the person at the back would come running up to the front and then they'd do it. Is that right? You've nailed that. Okay. You're obviously a tragic. Very pointless game. And captain ball was similar, except the captain would stand out the front facing the queue and then throw the ball to one person.

22:17

that person would run down the back and then he'd throw it to the next person in back. Have I got that right? Yeah, yeah, pretty much. I mean, I think they used to, you'd throw it like, you know, and then that person would captain that that person would duck down and then throw it to the next person. They'd duck down. And then when you got to the very end, the last person would catch it and run up to the front and the person throwing it and stood at the front of the queue and then it would start again. Where did those games come from? And at what point were they not cool? We played them for hours on end. So what was medicine ball then?

22:47

Oh, medicine ball. I remember was a really big, heavy ball. Yeah. I don't remember what we were supposed to do with it. Someone will know someone will send us a message. Yeah. Someone was like rounders. Did you ever play rounders? No, it's sort of like a cross between it. It's, I think some of the people just call it continuous cricket. And basically what it was is that they used to put a garbage bin in the middle and you had like a, a cricket bat, but it wasn't, and any kid could throw the ball to you and it would have to try and.

23:16

hit the bin, but if you hit the ball, you had to go around a base and come back to the bin before someone threw the ball at the bin. And surely Captain Ball, Tonneville, Medicine Ball games, surely they're cool again. I mean, it's been long enough, isn't it? Yeah, I think bring them back. But I also think, you know, these days, as you know, recently mobile phones have been banned from a lot of schools in New South Wales. And I think it's a good thing.

23:42

because those games and things, I mean, I'm, I know I'm sounding my age and young people are probably rolling their eyes at me now, but we played, we made stuff up in the playground and we just played with whoever was available, whatever group it was. And these games that just seem, you know, and the lunch breaks seem to go so fast because we were so busy frantically running around playing chasings or those sorts of, or tag or whatever. And these days, you know, I, I worry that kids are sort of in their phones a bit too much and not.

24:11

doing those sorts of things that we got up to at school. Yeah, it's like a completely different era, but it taught you resilience. It taught you sort of social skills as well, where if you didn't get on with someone but they were playing KP or Captain Ball or whatever it is, you sort of had to get along. And yeah, look, there's sort of those schoolyard barnies that went on, but seriously, I mean, there's a lot of challenges that kids have to confront these days purely on the basis of

24:39

social media and all those sorts of things. And, and back in our day, did we want our parents or anyone else to know where we were after school or what? No, I mean, it's, it's just done that whole one 80 where everyone wants to know where everyone is and what everyone's doing. And of course, you know, if we were rolling down hills or a bit of cardboard on a steep grassy slope, and that was just a whole lot of fun all of a sudden. And then you'd get home and mum would say, where did you get all those grass stains from and they'd never come out.

25:09

But these days, every 10 minutes, oh, here I am doing this or, you know, whatever. Yeah. But yeah, I think you're right. I think that, you know, kids, if you were having trouble with somebody at school, call it bullying, whatever, you'd go home and it would stop. Yeah. Because you were home. But these days it doesn't stop and that makes it really difficult for a lot of children. It can be a real issue when kids are being bullied on social media or on their phones because they've got access to them. And I'm not against

25:39

mobile phones at all. I think that's just the way the world right now. And one thing I do feel though with the internet and with that technology, it's the one thing our generation could not teach our children about. We could teach them how to drive a car, ride a bike, cook food, whatever. The internet and that technology, we will always be playing catch up, always. They'll always be one

26:08

That's the world that they live in. It's, you know, that's the way it is. And I think it's better for us to try and adjust to it and try and keep them safe in that space, because it's not going away, whether we like it or not, whether we think it's a good thing or a bad thing, it's not going away. We just have to try and manage it, but we will never be, I don't think as good as our kids are with the technology. I know I won't be. No, look, I think when it comes to other things like, um,

26:37

whether we can play the glockenspiel in percussion or the symbols or, you know, even fashion trends. Like, you know, but I think that's probably discussion for another day because mum told me that I actually have to be home before the streetlights come on. So I better go. Time to go. I better go. Hey, do you want to come around to my place next time? I'd love to.

26:59

Yeah, cause mum said that she's going to buy some Tang and maybe some honey jumbles. So I'll be with Bill. I'll ask my mum. Okay. Well, I'll see you then. Okay. Just before I go, boys are strong like King Kong. We don't have to say that anymore. See you next time. Yes, you can. Okay. See you next time. I'll see you later. Bye.

27:22

The views and opinions expressed on the Big Six O are personal and reflect those of the hosts and guests. They do not represent the views or positions of any affiliated organisations or companies. This podcast is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice. Please consult with a qualified professional for guidance on any personal matters.