The figures read from left to right (where possible). Sorry if I have misrepresented Dot and/or Els, but I could not ever work out which lady was which. Les tried to include his sisters in the fun, but they tended to be helping Mum inside, whereas Dad and the boys were busy outside.

Scattered throughout will be the explanation of the figures in Les's own words, plus some of the family memories. The drawings (when scanned) were hard to decipher: I've washed them through Paintshop Pro to sharpen the lines.

Life at the Reed's (11 Downs St Brunswick) between the years of 1920-1928 (approx) as remembered by Les. My earliest memory was a very vivid one as depicted when I was only about two years old, installed into me by fear and never to be forgotten - my initiation into battle so to speak -- sitting on the pottie in the back yard when Dad and my elder brothers, and probably a handful of Dad's cricketing friends from Brunswick started cricket in the back yard -- not kid stuff -- but fair dinkum hit it as hard as it deserved. I know they weren't aiming directly at me -- just trying to hit the ball as close as possible so that in the case of death the coroner would have declared it heart failure -- not manslaughter. But everybody in the yard were having fun -- except me, so I suppose it is no wonder that nobody heard my impassioned plea of "Dun dem!" repeated many times.

"War" on Guy Fawkes Night. Dad is organizing a Catherine wheel whilst Syd, Ron, Les and Bobby hurl penny-bungers at Len, Ern and Els. Note the skyrocket in the bottle.

A Plague of Moths around 1925. Les, Bobby, Syd and Len try to beat the insects with ping-pong paddles.

Dad seemed to hit a tennis ball higher than I (that is, Les) thought possible. Ern, Els and Dad (with racquette) watched by Len, Syd, Bobby, Ron and Les.

Ron after a friendly game of football against Port Melbourne. Dad is applying first aid to Ron, as watched by Les, Mum, Ern (holding a bandaid????), Bobby, Els and Dot, Len and Syd. This drawing includes all the family!

Round and round the mulberry bush: who tipped the finger? A joyous game enjoyed by the younger family members. Les is "he".

Clearing a blocked drain. Dad and Bobby are applying a length of wire, whilst Les barracks from the step, Syd provides a broom, Len goes for a scrubbing brush and Ron a cup. Ern is on standby with a running hose. Looks like fun!

Renaissance Man: The many talents of Ern. 1/ Violinist. 2/ He could sharpen a lead pencil to a needle-like point with his old black-handled penknife.

Making the heavy roller. Ern saws whilst Syd and Len prepare the sand. Bobby is in charge of the gravel and stones. Dad carries a bucket of water to Ron, who is mixing the cement. Les is in charge of the tap. The bag is marked "Portland Cement".

The light roller. Whereas Els waters the garden, the senior Reed males apply the light roller. Their passengers are Bobby and Les.

Back to Les as he explains the background to the sketches and the Legend gives much more information Of course there were lots of happier moments and I have tried to sketch them to create a pictorial record of our lifestyle. This sounds easy, but when you are no artist it is a lot harder to put the pictures in your mind onto paper. To start with, it was over a period of eight years and like Topsy we just grew, so I had to symbolize every one so they could be recognisable in each sketch. Also in sketching I have tried to show the main characteristics of each person, as I remember, rather than making each one a Beau Brummel or a Clark Gable. Then again I could have drawn another 100 sketches of these days - but that would start to make it boring -- so I limited the volume to about fifty -- enough to keep the interest and also depict our lifestyle in those money-less days at 11 Downs Street. All the incidents depicted actually happened and I tried to keep them as accurately as my memory will allow -- but don't forget it was in the 1920s and '30s. I may have left somebody out of some sketches -- my apologies. I may have included others in sketches where they weren't involved but I liked to include as many of the family as possible. So be it. Of course there were all the other boys in the street that we played with: Clem Robertson, Kevin Sullivan, Gouldy Gum, the Carolan Boys, the Hedigan Girls etc and also there were school friends of Dot and Els -- Claire Farrow, Thelma Pope, Icky Muir, Nettie and Kath Barling, Coral Banner, Sybil Sainsbury. But although they took part in quite a few of our activities, they are memories only and not included here. The sketches are basically for the Reeds only.

Mr Jack (the grocer) posts a letter to Father Christmas for Bobby. "Bobby, are you sure you want this posted? Are you sure it is addressed properly?" Bobby eagerly replies: "Oh yes! My sister did it for me". The letter is addressed to Mr Rumptump Grump Sir Thump Bump Rump, Timbuctoo, Victoria. The post office was no more efficient in those days than it is now. It was returned "Address not known in Victoria".

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