I’m going home, but not to the house in Semaphore. I’ll get a place of my own—our own, if Val’s still with me then. A quiet place where I can hear the sound of the sea late at night. We’ve both just made big decisions, but I think it’s been hardest for Val. I don’t know how it will work out between us. He can be moody and afraid of his feelings, but I want to give it a try.
I’ve been thinking about what Ulla said. I might not be the best fashion designer in the world, but it’s what I want to do. I don’t have to work for anyone famous; I can just work for me. I can make clothes and sell them, open a little shop somewhere. The whole world doesn’t have to like them. I’ve had some ideas that I’ve started sketching out, inspired by the Afghani dresses I saw the women in the fields wearing. Not the same as them, not western versions like they sell to hippy girls, but inspired by them—dark floral dresses with patches of gold embroidery. I might get more ideas in other places.
I’m still heading East. I don’t know the exact route, but for the first time I know where I’m going. And I’ve got someone to keep me company.
Acknowledgements
Memory is a strange thing. Some moments are crystal clear, but there are many places, people and events that are dimly remembered or completely forgotten. This is a work of fiction, but it’s the first book I’ve written that has in any way drawn on personal experience.
I couldn’t have written this book without other people’s memories. I’d like to thank all of my friends who travelled the Hippy Trail in the 1970s and who shared their recollections with me: Jill Wheeler, Drew Hopkins, Chris and Jan Martz, Tony and Wendy Faehse, Rhonda Holdsworth, Chris Langman, Cara Pilkington and David Wilding. Special thanks to Tony Murray, whose memory is a lot better than mine, and who was kind enough to send me his thoughtful and amusing memoir.
When we travelled through the Middle East, photographic film was expensive and the need to record one’s life in minute digital detail belonged to the distant future. We took ten photos. I am therefore grateful to all those people who have posted their photos on the internet. These sites were particularly useful:
www.indiaoverland.biz/
www.flickr.com/groups/hippietrail
Thanks also to those who knew things that I didn’t, and who were generous with their time and knowledge: for information about London taxis, Steve Olsen and Brian Hickey of London Taxi Weddings (www.londontaxiweddings.com.au); for Citroen 2CVs, Michael and Annette Molesworth; for Mercedes Benz models, Randall Smith; for carnet and fuel issues, Tony Wheeler, Derek Amey and Colin Forsythe; and for Afghani carpets, Najaf Mazari.
For a complete bibliography visit my website at www.carolewilkinson.com.au/research/bibliography_sugarsugar
I’d also like to thank everyone at black dog books for their support and input, especially Andrew Kelly and Karen Tayleur, who made this particular journey with me, for their editorial skills, insight and patience.
Last, but definitely not least, I’d like to thank my husband John, who travelled the Hippy Trail with me, for his support and encouragement; and my daughter Lili who always finds the time to read pre-draft drafts and listen to my writer’s laments.
Carole Wilkinson, Sugar Sugar
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