A feared rebel kid with an Alice Cooper obsession became my first real school mate at Penrith Primary.

But between ballroom dancing humiliation, tree bark cigarettes, getting blindsided by high school thugs, and a brutal hardwood floor accident, childhood was starting to feel a lot less safe.

As Season 1 comes to an end, I also share two bonus stories from infants school — including the day I accidentally joined the wrong “Recorder Club”… and a memory involving a mysterious pair of white panties that stayed lodged in my brain for the next six decades.

In Welcome To My Daymare, the cracks begin to show long before Heartless High ever starts.

The final bit of season one before we move on to high school. Includes some bonus bits from the elementary school days that might give you a laugh.

Footy on the field… and something else on the hill.

Sharpie chants.
Cold beers.
And a uniform that set them apart from the rest.

But when the music started…
the mood shifted.

A strange ritual.
A calmer side.
And a glimpse into a world few outsiders ever saw.

Welcome to My Daymare — Bit 13:
Sharpie Rituals at Penrith Park

At Penrith Park, the footy wasn’t always the main attraction.
For the Sharpies, it was about beer, chaos, tribal rituals… and nights that drifted into something almost surreal.

Welcome to My Daymare — Bit 13
Sharpie Rituals at Penrith Park

A flashy Ford Falcon.
A battered green Datto.
Sharpies drinking in paddocks.
A kid desperate to belong.

In this episode of My Daymare, a little revenge tastes sweet for a while… until one bad corner on Chain-O-Ponds Road brings the good times crashing to an end.

Two brothers. Two very different cars.

Two very different attitudes.

One of them ends in a write-off.

In Australia, An 18th birthday is a special one, because it is the coming of age day when you're legally an adult. Turning 21 is the day you get the symbolic key to the door, when you are trusted as a responsible member of the family. In our family, they were a great excuse for a huge piss up. The celebrations were chaos, with kegs of beer andtestosterone cocktails. Whichusually ended in punch-ups… ,police intervention, and brutal tests of loyalty.

When I was around ten years old, our Christmas holiday adventure was a 600-kilometre drive to visit Mum’s brother. Mum and Dad threw me and Vic in the car… and nine hours later we arrived to a welcome colder than lukewarm.

Come along for the ride and see how it turned out.

After losing my job… I set off on my biggest adventure yet.
Fifty kilometres of open road… a backpack full of sandwiches…
and one surprise visit that didn’t quite go to plan...

Welcome to my Daymare – Bit 8

The Chair Man & The Hit Man

Thechairman wreaked havoc.
Sue ran.
He hunted down his littleslaves…
The danger level was redlining.
Until… the hit manfinally showed his hand.