These two youngsters are Norton Schluter (left) and John Rutter. They’ve been pals for nearly sixty years.
John, our neighbor on French Street, wanted us to meet Norton, so he and wife Agatha drove us to up Greenock to spend an evening at the Greenock Hotel, which will have been owned by the Schluter family for 150 years come January 2020. Dinner was delicious and so was the conversation.
John and Norton have been able to spend a lot more time together than most best friends. They devoted many holidays to exploring the vast Australian outback, visiting places so isolated and desolate that few — perhaps an occasional aborigine or wayward explorer — had set foot there before them.
They may be in their eighties, but they’re still the youngest men I know.
I noted that John, the village doctor, and Norton, the village publican, had occupations that allowed them to know almost everything about everyone in the local community.
Maybe that’s why they had to spend their holidays as far out of town as possible.
Leave a Reply