by Lynette Berntsson

Created on: March 27, 2009

It was 1978. The year I turned 18 years old Abba, Rolling stones and Led Zeppelin were the songs of the day. High heals, tiger skin pants, fluero lights and disco were the scene. I had just moved in to my room, which I rented from the most horrible landlady in the world. Started my first full-time job and generally was pretty happy with my life. It was my best girlfriend's 18th birthday. Jenny and I did not drink alot. Our strongest drink was blackberry nip and lemonade. She "borrowed" a bottle of Chivas Regal from her older brother and brought it over to my new room. We mixed the deadly poison with coca cola. Not ever experiencing strong drink we did not know what we were in for. It was near easter and the first time I had seen, an Easter Moon, that is when the moon is the closest to the earth. That particular night it was so close you could touch it. I lived across from Sydney Harbour and from my room you could see the ferries come in. There was a park just across the road and I had a little porch where we both sat and started to partake of the famous Chivas Regal. After a while we began to study the moon and tried to see what was obviously the most fascinating view. Singing and dancing to Jenny's 18th Birthday we took it up a notch when we began to howl. We left my place and met several groups of people and eventually arrived home.

The first thing I remember was Jenny was on top of the bed and I was underneath the bed with a hangover that would kill a horse. At 6.30am I remember a knock at the door. It was the witch, the landlady. "Miss Berntsson there has been a complaint about you, that you were howling at the moon". Mrs. Treaby I would never do that, I replied. "Yes, you are always prompt with your rent and I do not believe it." With that note she departed. With a sigh of relief I tried to get my girlfriend up and sober her up as she had to go home. Her father was a crown sargeant of Police and I did not want her to get into trouble.

All day I made sure that she was alright and by that night she had been showered, disinfected, fed and hydrated, extra layer of makeup and totally respectable enough to avoid her father's suspicions.

We look back now to those days and laugh but she always remembers the Power of the Easter Moon. I am sure to this day that the moon does have a drawing power. Coral spore in a full moon More crime is committed on a full moon and human beings are more than 50% per cent water and I believe that we are drawn to it. Neil Armstrong and his men must have been so overwhelmed and in ore of what they saw when he said, "One small step for man one giant leap for Mankind."

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