On this day, 45 years ago, I arrived in Australia.
It was a stinking hot day and after 36 hours in the air from London via New York, Los Angeles, Hawaii and Fiji, I met my wife’s Adelaide family for the first time.
Immediately, my new brother-in-laws whisked me over the road to the pub. One asked the barman, “A schooner for our Pommy brother-in-law”.
“Oh, you’re a Pom”, said the barman. “How long have you been in Australia?”
“Twenty minutes”, I replied.
“What do you think of the place?”
I must have given the right answer because not only did I get an ice-cold beer, I’m still here in this astonishing country forty-five years later.