Summer

Summer is hot, as hot as it gets,

The man is in his prime.

He's fit and he's lean,

More action he's seen,

And he can do it time after time

*

Melbourne, Australia 1964.

Nineteen years to the day and I met Wendy for the second time.

The morning had started with the same madness as they all do in my business. Juggling drivers and loads, the diesels roaring in the yard and the usual stragglers and damaged survivors from the night before.

In the sixties and beyond, trucking in Australia, like most countries, was a game for hard drinking men who were ready to take a few...