In 1939 the war was declared in Europe. It was a sad time, particularly for my family. One day when we were coming back home from my aunty's place in Mormandie, my parents had a car accident. They had fallen in a deep ditch. My dad was badly injured, but the terrible thing was we lost my sister, Huguette. She was crushed under the car when it rolled on top of her. She was only twelve years old. My mum was very sick for a long time. I still remember, vaguely, my sister Huguette, like a shadow coming back from school with my older sister Lucette, hand in hand.  At this time we lived in a small building in a dark street, which was nearly a lane. One night we woke up with the song of sirens, automatically my mum took her handbag where she kept all the family papers and we all went down in the shelters. I wasn't well then.

I remember someone gave me an orange. When we got out, after the alarm had stopped. There was dust everywhere, we could see and smell the powder of the bombs. One bomb destroyed the grocery store on the corner of the street and the railway too. Then we moved a few streets away. Now we lived at number 2  Marcel-Sans-bas, a nice street with beautiful trees, in a three storey house. In the front was a little garden with rose bushes and a garage. When you entered the house there was the hall with the stair leading to the first floor, there was a kitchen, a dinning room with the lounge next to it, also a study. On the second floor there was a toilet, three bedrooms and a bathroom. When you got to the third floor there was one more bedroom and a small room full of shelves, plus a huge attic. My sister, Paule, and myself used to play there. From the kitchen you had access to a veranda which had winding stairs to the rear garden. In this garden dad was cultivating some vegetables, rhubard and tobacco. There were also two big beautiful lilac trees, one white and one pink with large flowers. The smell was very strong, but nice. The street was very long with the grocery shop on one corner as well as a bakery. Nearly all the houses looked the same. I remember we had to have tickets to buy the groceries and bread. Meat was more of a luxury.
Next door to us on the left there lived a nice couple, Mr & Mrs Marcie. They had a beautiful black cat. I loved this cat, it smelled like baby powder. It's fur was very soft and he was very cuddly too. 

I remember this couple well. One day I saw the Germans coming and they took Mr Marcie in a big truck. People all around were worried for him. A few days later he came back home looking frightened and much older. He never told anyone about his few days in jail.

Soon after this I found a cat in the street. Mum was worried, she knew that dad didn't want cats in the house. Even so, I still kept this little grey cat, with the understanding that I must look after it properly by myself. So I trained it to go to the toilet. I played a lot with my cat and took him to bed when nobody was looking. I never understood why my cat had disappeared when he had grown. I never saw him again.

It was the war you see, and some people were eating anything.  I learned this only later, when I was older. During the war we managed with what we had and worked a lot with our hands. My older sister Lucette was very good at making hats, she made hats for everyone who asked her. She was also good at curling hair. She had a curling iron that she would heat up on the stove. Every Sunday before we went to church, she curled my hair and she put a nice ribbon in it. She was very good at cooking too, especially making cakes.Every Christmas she would bake a cake. I remember Christmas eve. Paule and myself placed our shoes in front of the chimney. Early in the morning we would run to see what Father Christmas had left. This Christmas due to the war, we only received a doll and an orange each. My doll was blonde and my sister's doll had brown hair, but what I liked best was the Christmas tree with its candles and the open fire place when it was snowing outside. I loved the songs and stories the adults told us. But mostly I remember the warmth of Christmas. 

School was three kilometres away. When we went to school during winter, there was snow everywhere and at school they gave us vitamin tablets and soup everyday. On Christmas eve we received one brioche (cake) each to bring home. I never stayed long at school, I was still too scared, if there was thunder storm. I was screaming so much thinking it was the bombing again that they had to take me back home from school, plus I was sick a lot, but that didn't worry me. I liked to stay home with my mum and play with my dolls and my cat more than I liked to go to school.

In 1945 the war was over. I remember all the people running in the street, kissing everyone, the bells ringing and I saw for the first time the General De Gualle, he was a very tall man. I saw the Germans running away panicked and scared, because the American were coming in. The American were camping along the road, for us children this was a big attraction. We could saw them shaving in the morning. They gave us biscuits and chewing gum also.

All the Germans weren't bad. One day on the tramway going to the city, one officer tried to gave us some chocolate but my mum wouldn't accepted it, she was worried of what the other passenger in the tram will be thinking of her. But when the tram stopped and we went off, the German man followed us in the street, he then approached my mum again and asked her to accept these bars of chocolates for my sister and myself. He told my mum, he himself had children in occupied Germany, he was hoping the people over there would be nice enough to do the same for his children, so at this time my mum accepted with gratitude and a smile.

The city of Lille wasn't too damaged because there were during the war a lot of Germans stationed in the city. Unfortunately we saw what the war did to other places. like the city of Creil, an industrial city fifty kilometres from Paris. Creil was a place with many factories, a big train station and an air base.  So you can imagine the air bombing this part of France had. This was a new place we moved too in 1946 for my dad's job. We didn't liked this place at first. My sister Lucette and my mum were crying all the time, because they lost all their friends at Lille.

The house was bigger, but with a lot of rubbish, mice and broken windows. My dad quickly did everything he had to with the help of tradesmen, painters, carpenters etc. And soon we all felt safe and at home again. 
It was around this time also that I remember we spent most of the summer at my uncle's farm. It was a big farm with a lot of animals, cows, horses, sheep, pigs, chickens, ducks and geese. My uncle had four boys and one girl. Sometime there were more than thirty people at the farm, cousins, uncles, aunties, and so on. This made the sleeping arrangements very difficult, but I remember there was one very large bed in one room. You could sleep more than six people in it.

I liked to be with my cousins and I used to follow them out to the barn where they milked the cows every night. They soon taught me how to milk cows. I have to admit my first attempt was very funny. I was standing watching Jacque who seemed very grown up to me but he was only eighteen, milking the cow with his hands. It looked easy.

 "Can I try ?"I shyly asked Jacque.
 "Sure sit down here on this small stool and I'll show you what to do"
I was eager to learn but was anxious about touching the cows udder.
 "Will it hurt?"I asked
 "Who? You or the cow,"laughed Jacque
 "Both,"I grinned nervously.

Then Jacque grabbed hold of the cows udder and squirted milk at my face. It was warm and sticky, and I squealed and ran away. They all laughed at me. But what I loved the most was to go with my uncle into the fields on the big tractor or on horseback. September was the time of the Vendange when the grapes were harvested. In the early hours of the morning we all set off in the carts, taking food, drink and the little buckets which we needed to put the grapes in. In the afternoon, when we had finished and the sun was going down, we returned in the farm, tired and hungry. There the men would transfer the little buckets into a huge tub. And then the festivity would begin. Everyone would take off their shoes, and they would start stamping the grapes with their feet, laughing, singing and dancing.  And that would be the end of one wonderful day.

Later on my sister Paule and I started school at Creil. We made new friends in this school, which was a girls only school. It was in this school that I started classical dance. I did this for three years. We were also doing a lot of sports. We had school from Monday to Wednesday. Thursday we stayed home. Friday and Saturday there was school again. So Thursday we started going to the cubs club, and when we were older we went to the guides. That was fine. We were going camping and we learned to do a lot of things with rope and wood. I was ten years old when I did my holy communion.
On this same day my sister Lucette also had her engagement party. One year later, in 1949, Lucette married. This was a beautiful wedding. We were all very busy getting ready. Paule and I were wearing long blue dresses. Most of the Proche family were staying at our placed. In the morning flowers and presents were delivered. Dad was so proud when he left for the church which was opposite our house. The police had to direct the cars and people outside. We had the lunch organised in my dad's office, but at night time we all went to a reception room for dinner and a dance because there were more friends coming in. Life was beginning to be a lot better. We saw a lot of people and families in our house coming and going.

My dad had his office business in the entrance of the house. He was the director of an insurance company. My dad was very well known by a lot of people for his work but also for what he did with the church and the community. Some people called the house"The House of God"because everyday there was a place ready at the table for anyone knocking at the door. Dad helped a lot of people, sometime forgetting himself or his family. I liked to go and look in dad's office and play with the typewriter and touch all the things . Dad was never impressed when he found me there, no sir, and would always speak to me severely,

 "Nicole, what are you doing here?"I would Jump, scared whenever he coughed.
 "I was just looking around, dad."
 "You know this's not a play ground."
 "Yes dad!"My eyes were nearly watering
 "Now run along and go and play with your dolls,"dad would say with his strong voice.

I would be so agitated that I would run quickly to my mum, but I must say I was very naughty because I always left a big mess behind me. I just couldn't resist going into my father's office.

Sometime after this time, my mum became very sick. One day she went to the hospital. There, they removed her right breast. Everyday after school I would go to see her. I missed her a lot. She stayed in the hospital for one week. I was only twelve year old, and I had never thought that one day I would never see my mum again. I loved her so much. When you are small, you never imagine losing a parent. But the reality was different. Two years after her operation, everything started again and in three months my mum was gone. I will never forget the pain and sorrow I felt when I lost my mum. I lost one part of myself. Later on I finished school.

I was fifteen when I started working in a big store, Magasins Michel Bremard I started at the bottom, first learning to roll the material, learning packing and so on. Soon I got up selling baby clothes and later on underwear for men. I loved my work and I stayed in this place for seven years.
My sister Paule was a secretary in an office, Lucette, my older sister already had two children, one girl and one boy. Lucette was staying at our place when my dad suddenly fell ill also. She called us at work, asking us to come back quickly. When we arrived we could see they already were taking my dad in the ambulance to the hospital. He passed away the same night. So at eighteen years old of age, I had lost both my parents.

My sister, Lucette, decided to move and stay with Paule and me. It was at this time that my brother-in-law decided to ask my sister for a separation. So we stayed in the house together with my two nephews. We rented my dad's office to a doctor, a specialist in physiotherapy. Life wasn't easy for us now, with my dad gone we had lost the principal bread winner. But hard as it was we worked harder. For nearly two years we never went out. I remember wearing black clothes all this time. We started going out only for birthday parties at some friends' place, most of the time their parents were there supervising. In this time families were very strict, just as my dad was too. But we were one nice group of friends, boys and girls, we were doing everything together, going to the movies, picnic and dancing on Saturday nights.

One day I went camping with some of my friends in the riviera Cote D'Azur for my work holiday. We took the train which took us ten hours to complete the journey. When we arrived over there we had other friends with their families waiting for us at the station. The weather was so nice, most of the day when we finished our chores we would go to the beach. We played volley-ball or we went swimming, At night time we would go dancing. I didn't know if this was restful but I enjoyed my holiday on the Cote D'Azur.
In March 1960, I got married. My wedding was more simple than my older sister Lucette's wedding, in view of my parents absence. Still it was a nice ceremony, all my friends were there, one of them played the violin at the church. I wore a nice white dress, offered by the doctor who took my dad's office and who was now a good friend of the family. Someone else offered me my shoes also. At the church there was another surprise. The priest who did my first communion and saw me grow-up, but was now a bishop, came specialty to perform my marriage.

Not long after this, my husband and I moved to the North of France for six months. In April 1961, Veronique, my first baby daughter, was born. At this time we lived in a furnished hotel room in the 14th arounddismount of Paris. We had only one bedroom and kitchen. It was very small. The only thing I brought with me to this place from my dad's house was a Westminster clock. But we never rewound it, so as not disturb the neighbours.

One night about three o' clock in the morning when my baby was only one month old. my husband and I were suddenly woken-up by the noise of this clock, the music and also twelve loud chimes. At first we were astounded, but soon I realised something must be happening. So I got-up and run to the basinet. What I saw shocked me as my baby daughter was completely covered by the blanket. At this instant I knew my dad was calling and was also looking after my little baby.

When I felt pregnant for the second time, we moved to Versaille, where my seconde daughter, Nathalie, was born in July 1962. At this time my husband was selling cars, so we were provided with a car from his work, and this was also the time we moved into our first apartment. I was very happy then, we had two bedrooms, a dining room, kitchen, toilet, bathroom, and a large balcony terrace. Our life was beginning to be better, because until then we had had more downs than ups. Later on, my husband found a better job in his field, which was engineering. At this new place he was responsible for the security of the whole factory. But he was then transfered from this factory in Paris to Gournay-en-Bray, a little city three hundred kilometres away. So we moved again.

We could have taken an apartment there but instead my husband found a little house four kilometres away in the countryside, with only farmland all around. It was a very pretty place with hills and valleys, a lot of trees, birds and a sweet little church, but for me, it was too lonely. Every Sunday my husband's friends from work would came with their families, because we had a big block of land surrounding the house with a little river running down below. The children could run about and enjoy themselves there, I must say the adult enjoyed it too. But for me something was strange in this place.

Every night after I put the girls to bed and was waiting for my husband to return from his work, I would feel very scared for some reason. The dog we had at this time didn't help either. Because it would go from door to door barking and after this it would jump into my lap trembling all over like a leaf. As I said this house was very strange. One day some of our friends after being in our place for the day, asked us to come back to their place for dinner. So we closed the door with the security lock and went out. When we come back, I was the first to get out of the car to open the door. But there I stopped, because the door was open but the funny thing was that the door lock was still locked. My husband took his shotgun and went in, looking everywhere, into the basement and the attic too. But he found nothing, so we forgot about this incident for a while. When you come into this house there were double doors leading into the lounge. These double doors were never closed, we alway left them open. In front of one door there was always a chair and in front of the other door there was a big drum from Africa. 
One day when I came back from picking-up the girls from the school, which was only five minutes away, there it was again, the front door open and inside the double door was closed but the furniture was still in the same place. I was very upset, so I went to my neighbours and I asked if they had seen someone going to the house, but they had not seen anyone. This happened two more times. Two weeks before we were getting ready to come to Australia. I went to the next village to the grocery shop. There the shop keeper started talking to me.

 "So you are going away?"
 "Yes" I said. "We are going to Australia."
Then she told me something quite strange.
 "You know, we were surprised you stayed in this house so long."
 "Why?" I asked her.
 "Do you know what happened in this place?" she asked with a strange smile.
 "No, I don't," I replied, my interest aroused.
 "Well do you know that the owner, who was also my auntie, hanged herself in the attic."
 "No I never knew that." I was shocked.
 "Yes!" she said, smiling at me.
 "This is why the people never stay there for more than two months, you know."
 "Ha well! I never knew," I said most surprised.

So I finally understood the mystery of the house, but I can tell you I was very happy we were going far away from this place.

Two days before leaving for Australia we were very busy packing things away. We gave some of our things to our friends, like plants, records, books, pictures, etc. But most of the furniture was bought by our friends. Before"J Day"all of our friends were coming for dinner. Claire, one of my friends, proposed to do the cooking. She was cooking fish, her speciality, sting ray in black butter sauce, very tasty. When Claire was preparing this meal, I went to arrange the table and also the flowers. Rene, my husband was preparing the drinks and the wood for the open fire place. When the rest of my friends came in they brought presents for us. Josiane, my best friend, who had a make-up and lingerie shop, and for whom I was working twice a week, gave me two brassieres, one petticoat and some French perfume, as well as after shave for my husband. Another one gave me a manicure set. We enjoyed ourselves until late into the night. But when the time came to say goodbye, we all had watering eyes. It's very hard to leave your friends and family.

Early in the morning, we went to the station to go to Paris. There, we were taking another train to go to Geneva, Italy, where the boat was waiting for all the people going to Australia. We arrived in Geneva early in the morning, we quickly understood that we had to fill out more papers. At this time the girls were very restless. Later on when everything was finished we all went on board the ship, where they took us to our respective cabins. Our cabin was situated in second floor. In it there were four bunks, one wardrobe, commode, and one basin. The shower and toilet were outside next door. Then the girls were jumping and deciding who would be sleeping on the top of the bunk. When the time come for the departure, we all went on the top deck. People were throwing paper streamers overboard, some of them were happy, while others were crying. 

This boat was very big and beautiful too. In the dinning room we were sitting with others French people with whom we soon became friends. That first night a lot of people were sick because of the motion of the boat. Every day the children were going to the club on the third floor, there they had nice ladies looking after them, playing games and there was also a swimming pool. As to the adults, most of the day we were lazing around, swimming or going dancing or to the movies. There was also a post office, shops, and so on on the boat. But the first day we were in the boat something happened to me and one other lady "Maryse". We decided to go looking for the washing machine, so we went, and sure enough, we soon were lost in this big place. So we kept going down. Ah-Ah! We were now very happy we had found some very big washing machine, but our happiness was quickly over. Because suddenly one officer was in front of us screaming and asking what we were doing there. 

 "We were looking for the washing machine," we said. 
 "Do you know it is very dangerous to be here alone?"
 "NO. Why?" we asked him. 
 "Because you're in the men quarters, and these men have not seen one woman for more than three months. What do you think could happen to you if I wasn't coming down?"
 "But we were lost," we said to him. 

We were not proud of ourselves at this time. After this, he took us back the right floor and at the same time directed us to the right room where there was the washing machine. Soon after we were laughing at our own adventure, and from this day we became very good friends.

But not too long after this, we were again in trouble. One morning after breakfast we decided to go swimming, we were surprised but very happy too, because we were alone, we were enjoying ourselves, when again one officer was screaming to get out of the swimming pool. Quickly we got out this time."Can't you see the sign/, Not swimming, we have to empty the swimming pool because the sea is becoming too rough."In the same day they were closing all the portholes in the cabin. Still we fell asleep like babies rocked by the swiftly of the sea. In the morning we learned that, the Captain had made a detour to avoid the storm during the night.

Passing through equator was a event. There was a big fete with a lot of games for everyone. The children also celebrated Christmas Day, yes in July. For this special day we made costumes for the children, for my children I made Hawaiian costume, nice colourful skirts and flowers for the hair and ankles in paper. My daughter Veronique was given a big dinner set and Nathalie a doll, they both were very happy.

We had a few stops on our way to Australia, Geneva, Naple, Iles Canary and South Africa ECT. In South Africa Johanasberg we went into the country side in buses to see the"Zulu tribe"they danced and sang for us. They also asked for money. First I was very shocked by what I saw, when we stopped in Johanasberg, everything was so different, toilets, coffee shops, buses, everything was separated for the black people. I had never seen that before.

A few days later we started to see the Australian coastline, but first we saw the dolphins. We stopped in Fremantle, then in Adelaide and after that we arrived in Melbourne on the 17th July 1969. We went through customs for checking our passports and luggage. We all went out to the buses which were taking us to Bonegila in the country close to NSW. We were then given a box with sandwiches and drinks in it for the trip. It was very late when we arrived there and we were very tired. Before taking us to some little house, they gave us hot food. It was the middle of July and the night was very cold. 

The little house only had two bedrooms. In the morning when we all got up, we went to the bathroom which was situated outside as was the toilet. After we went to the biggest room, the canteen, where they served breakfast, lunch and dinner. The food wasn't too fancy but it was food anyway. All around, the park  was very green with lots of trees and birds. What I liked the best was the magpies. Not too far away, there was a big lake where my husband was going fishing with some other men. We stayed in this place for one month and the people started going away. My friends from the boat decided to go to Adelaide while others were going to Sydney or Queensland.

When we come to Australia my husband knew that he had a job waiting for him with the Diecraft company, but we couldn't remember if it was in Melbourne or Sydney. We asked the officer, but they were very evasive and they sent us to Sydney to another hostel. Over there the place was very big. The place they gave us to live in looked like half a water tank turned upside down, but it was big. We had one big room with tables, chairs with a sofa bed, plus one smaller room with a double bed for the children. There we stayed again one month. When we asked about my husband's job they still don't know. This time my husband was starting to be very upset.

Finally one day, he met with his future boss, they talked for a long time. After this, he gave my husband one return plane ticket to Melbourne where the factory was. My husband stayed over there one week all expenses paid. Before he come back to Sydney to pick us up, he found a flat not far away from his place of work. In the morning we were very happy when we saw him I must say. My husband went to talk to the officers again, and they booked for us the tickets for the train back to Melbourne.

The flat wasn't very big, one bedroom, one large lounge, kitchen and bathroom, toilet on the second floor. We bought a double bunk for the girls, one sofa bed and wardrobe for us and table and chairs for the kitchen, just the basic necessity.

A few days later we took the girls to the school  "Lakeside school". They didn't like this school. Everything was different for them, first they put Veronique two classes down,  in the same class as her younger sister Nathalie. They were very shocked by the attitude of same of the teachers too. One day Veronique was telling me she saw her teachers undies. One man teacher particularly was very bad, throwing ping-pong ball in the face of my daughter Veronique. When my husband heard this, he was very mad, you see Veronique had only one good eye with which she could see. So my husband went to the school and in front of all the children he took the teacher by the collar of his shirt, pushing him in the door. On the same day my husband took the girls from this school.

Soon they started school again, this time in the catholic school of Reservoir. The girls felt better in this school. But we were still very lost in this country. When we came in Australia we never thought it would be so different, the language, ECT. It was very hard to do the shopping. I remembered we were talking more with our hands.

Two month later, I found I was pregnant this was a big surprise after seven years. So I went to see a doctor. I was lucky because this doctor was very friendly. The first day I saw him, he asked me to come back for meet his wife, Sibil. Sibil was waiting for her first baby also. She was from England and could speak a little French. We used to see each other every week, as she would come to pick me up to do our shopping together.
So ten months after we were here, Sophie, my third daughter, was born in Brunswick hospital on the 11th June 1970. She was very small but so beautiful. For a few days I wasn't very well, because I had to have a caesarean operation for this baby. I was crying a lot too, because I couldn't speak English, so I was feeling very alone. But after Sophie was born when I woke up in the morning, the first thing I saw was one big basket of flowers and one present. When the nurse gave me the card, I could see, this present and flowers were from Dr Dower and Sibil with love.
Sibil and Franch Dwer were the first friends we met in Australia.
My husband was working very hard and longer hours too, sometime twelve hours a day. Every penny we could put away were going toward our goal, to buy our house. Nearly three years later, our dream was happening. We bought one land and built our first house in Bundoora. I never forgot the filling I had the first time I got inside. The house was Spanish style with rockface bricks, big arches in the front and French windows. Inside was the hall, three bedrooms, one kitchen, a dinning, one big lounge, a bathroom with separate toilet and laundry. Veronique and Nathalie were just starting high-school.

Two years later Sophie started primary school. I found not to faraway a part time job in a factory from 9 am. to 3 pm. One day when I was preparing dinner after coming back from work. My daughter Veronique was looking in the newspaper, 'The Sun'. Suddenly she said to me,

 "Oh Mum, this's funny, someone just got married and they have the same family name of us!"
 "What's the name?" I asked her
 "Jeanne Marie." 

When I heard that name, I was suddenly alert, so I went over to her to look myself. To my surprise there was my nephew picture on his wedding day. "Jean-Marie" I took the newspaper and ran outside, shouting to my husband, who was working in his vegetable garden.

"Rene! Rene! your brother is here, your brother is here!"
He turned around quickly, thinking I was becoming stupid. When I put the newspaper under his nose, he nearly fell over.

After lot and lot of phone calls, 'The Sun' newspaper gave us the address. But it was already late afternoon, so we waited until the next day to go to see them. The next day after work we went to their place, my husband went out of the car to ring the bell. My sister in-law opened the door, her eyes popping. She started to scream. Jean, my brother in-law who had just finished to take his shower, so he come to see what was happening. He was very shocked too, jumping and crying when he saw his youngest brother in front of him. They could not stop kissing my children. This was also the first time for them to met Sophie, my last daughter. 

Six years had passed already, I might say in my husband family they don't like to write, so they had lost contact with each other. My brother in-law during four years in Australia, had phoned to anyone with the same family name. But the name Katona is a very popular name like Thomas in England, in Hungarian "Katona Mine Sergeant". But any way we had just the phone connected in our house. We talked for a long time, before going back home. The next day everyone took out a day off from work and school, and we all met again, We had so much to say. At the weekend, we all went for one picnic with my nephew too. This was a good feeling to have some family after so long. The first Christmas together was wonderful life was beginning to be better.

Unfortunately not for long, one day my husband was coming back from work feeling under the weather. After we went to a doctor we learned that he had a lot of diabetes and cholesterol. This was just the time my husband changed his place of work, now he was working in Moorabbin, much further away, and sure enough, he decided to sell our house and move more close to his place of work. I said he decided, because my advice was never taken in consideration. He was a very dominating man, what he said was what you have to do. I wish I have the courage of saying non. Because soon after we sold the house and moved away, my husband had his first heart attack. They took him to Dandenong hospital where he stayed for two weeks. We were renting, when waiting for the builders to finish our second place in Endeavour Hills.

A few months later after we have moved into our new place and we were starting enjoying the house, my husband had his second heart attack. This time we saw the specialist, who told us, my husband had to have bypass operation. Later he went to Alfred hospital, the operation took a long time-eight hours. I nearly faint when I saw my husband with all these machines and tubes connected to him. But the operation was successful anyway. When my husband came back home, he could do only little things, he stayed home for three months. Life in this time was not easy, no money coming in, but bills still to be paid. 

After one year thing happened again, my husband decided to sell our new house, this time for buying a business in the country. I wasn't pleased but in the same time I was scared, if  I gave him an argument, it would make him more sick. So, we moved again, after we sold the house.

We bought a mix business in Bonnie-Doon, one take-away restaurant, a grocery, a butcher, a fishing accessory and a petrol station. We were working with my daughter Nathalie and some employers. Sometime after school, Sophie gave us one hand too. In the weekend Veronique with her fiance came for helping too. This was a very busy place and hard job too. Sometime we worked fifteen hours a day. But we had some good time too with the young people coming in summer for water ski. We had also some personality coming in the restaurant like John Foreman, Tony Barba with his family, Girls from the TV movie prisoner, and actor from Cop shop, ECT. We did most French and Hungarian cooking, so the first two years were going well, but after this nothing, everything started to go down the hill. For the next following two years, there was no snow and no water in the lake. The lake was completely empty This business was a season business, so after four years, we loose everything. Fifteen years of hard working days for nothing. At this time my husband was filling very bad morally and physically too. We not only loose the mix business but also my husband business of"Engineering Tools  Making"in Moorabbin. I was filling sad and sick in my stomach. With the help of friends and Veronique fiance we moved away again.

First, we stayed at Veronique's place until we found a place to rent. We received the sickness pension, the only money we had to live on, my husband couldn't work at this time, his health was declining rapidly. After four months my husband contacted a pneumonia and sadly one night he passed away; one massive heart attack. When this happened I was alone with my youngest daughter and frankly I didn't know what I was doing, so I woke Sophie up and told her what just had happened. Sophie was very brave, she phoned to the ambulance and also to her sisters. Poor Sophie, this was very hard for her, she was only fourteen years old. I never thought I could manage now all alone, but I had Sophie to look  after.

We moved from one place to another until we finally came to Ascot Vale. Between this period of time, Veronique got married, I myself found a part time job.

Now I stay home and have just started English classes. I have four beautiful grandchildren. Veronique have two girls and one boy and Sophie one girl. 
Now twelve years have passed, I still live alone, but I am happy, because if you have good health, you have the best in life.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Nicole (1996)