Peter Kabanoff

From the past:

"When the crystals were put out and the moisture evaporated from them they became explosive. He used to put them on his desk and wait for a fly to land on the crystal and watch it blow the fly to bits..."

2004

After leaving school I joined the ANZ Bank and worked in a number of city and country branches. In 1970 I was made accountant/teller at Yass branch, but as there were no pay increases to cover the extra responsibility, I decided to move back to Sydney and went to work for Neeta Homes, where my father was already working. I worked for them for 5 years in the construction division. I was offered a better position at one of the suppliers, a building supply company. I was in charge of the warehouse and deliveries and worked for them for about 7 years, moving to larger premises 3 times.

I decided at that time I wanted to work closer to home in Springwood as I now had 2 young children. I worked for a number of hardware companies till 1982, when I was offered a job as a sales rep with Braemar appliances. I worked ther for 2 years till they were taken over. I then applied for a job as computer as a computer salesman. I worked my way up over the next 18 months, till I became manager of a large computer centre in Sydney CBD. Because of constant changes to my pay scheme (usually for the worse), I joined a small computer company at Birkenhead Point as head of their dealer division. After building up sales from $10,000 per month to $200,000 per month over a 2 year period, I was once again cheated out of promised bonuses and decided I had had enough of working for others and decided that I would start my own business.

With all the experience I had built up working for the building company, I decided I would go out on the tools. This was by far the best decision working decision I had ever made. Within three months I was working full time as a carpenter and handyman and have been doing so ever since. I have also branched into landscaping. I have had full employment since I began and I do no advertising, getting all my work from word of mouth. It is just great working for yourself, getting great satisfaction as you complete each job. Also the benefits of doing physical work, as well as working outdoors for 95% of the time is keeping me fit and healthy.

As a hobby I started stamp collecting as the kids were growing up and this has now grown into a nice little hobby business as a stamp dealer.

On the personal side, when I moved back to Sydney to work for the builder, My brother had been going to a local church regularly and invited me to come along. I did go regularly and was converted shortly after. I met my wife Susan at our senior fellowship and after going out with her for 2 weeks we decided we were meant for each other and were engaged. We married 4 months later and have now been happily married for 33 years.

We have three children. Joanna is 31 years of age, single, and is working on completing her PHD. Timothy is 30, married to his high school sweetheart Jane. He is a pathology lab technician at Mater hospital and Jane is a nurse at Royal North Shore. Sarah is 25, married to Shane who is a primary school teacher. Shane has been married before and has 2 young children who are living with his ex-wife. Sarah and

Shane have a baby of their own (our only grand-daughter) named Miranda who was 1 year old 2 days ago.

My wife was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome shortly after we were married and both my daughters inherited the disease when they were 16. It has been a real struggle for us all to cope with this insidious disease.

As mentioned at the beginning I can scarcely recall many names. I do remember in the few months leading up to the Leaving Certificate, a whole bunch of us used to wag school and go to someone’s place who lived nearby and play cards all day. Can anyone recall names of those who used to go.

I recall there was a boy in one of the fifth year classes who used to make up a chemical which he kept moist in a test tube he carried around. When the crystals were put out and the moisture evaporated from them they became explosive. He used to put them on his desk and wait for a fly to land on the crystal and watch it blow the fly to bits. One day he had an extra large crystal on his desk, when the teacher, who was wandering around the room, saw it and poked it with his finger. There was a loud explosion and a cloud of purple smoke appeared as the teacher jumped about 10 feet into the air. Needless to say the culprit was invited to visit our friendly vice principal at recess. A few days later there was an announcement made at assembly that the boy was in hospital after his test tube had apparently dried out and blown up in his face, his eyesight saved because he wore specs.