Just Life

While our family photo's are rare, we would have put the Addams Family to shame, not that we all wore weird black outfits and my Dad certainly didn't rock a pinstripe suit and pencil, moustache.  The thought of my Mum and Dad doing the tango is just so far out of my experience it boggles my mind.  No, we looked, to the outside World as perfectly normal, however, the things we got up to when we were bored is a little odd. Sunday afternoons, especially rainy day ones, usually saw us all bored.  We had stuffed our faces on dinner and pudding, dishes done and a bag of sweets for us all,  The afternoon film was usually left unwatched while me and my dad sat doing the broadsheet crossword, me doing the checking for answers in the encyclopedia, I mean, who really knows names of obscure lakes and rivers in the Andes?  No Google then, just heaps of books everywhere, including a really old medical one that had graphic pictures of smallpox that I had written Trevor ...

Well Hello 2018, when I was young 2018 seemed like forever away. I always imagined that after 2000 we would be wearing tin foil catsuits, little ankle boots and everyone would have platinum blonde hair cut in a very sharp bob.  We would be flying around on little jet ski type things and food would come out of a machine you hit buttons to order in your kitchen.  Obviously I was influenced by Lost in Space and Blakes Seven. I never for one moment imagined home computers, iphones and people glued to their phones all the time, I never imagined snap chat, Face time or text messages.  Don't know that I think humanity has really benefitted from them, I loved getting proper letters with paper and ink, I enjoyed ringing someone just for a chat and I hate that when you go anywhere people are forever looking down at their phones instead of up at people's faces. I came out of Marks the other day (that's M&S, not a bloke called Mark) and, as I am wont to do, smiled at...

When I was little, that's younger not smaller, my Mam and Dad always seemed to be either in the throes of an argument, starting one or not speaking after having one.  When they had a row, my Mam would take herself off to the parlour and get her old Jones sewing machine out and make me clothes. Now, my Mam was a wonderful cook but a seamstress? nope, not on your Nellie. In the absence of fabric, she would root about and often ended up cutting up old curtains or a bedspread and fashion me something to wear.   The resulting clothing bore no resemblance to the lovely frocks Julie Andrews made from curtains in The Sound of Music, if they had sleeves I ended up looking like I was on a slant, and had to lean to one side to move my arms, she never managed sleeves very well.  On one occasion she decided to make me a beach tunic so I could wear it and not get sunburned.  I am a redhead, I have never, ever done sun very well and always, but always end up a very bright red,...