Laughter

 “ He has been with me for all of my life, so far, I’ve had no one as loyal or as long-standing in my life “ 

So did a patient describe her brother to me the other day. 

It was a quote that lingered in my mind like a YouTube song 

And is one that has a resonance for I got the quote as soon as it left the patient’s mouth.

I’ve mentioned it here on Going Gently a few times, that my childhood wasn’t a particularly happy one. Like many sixties and seventies kids , we’re a product of our age…..emotionally absent parents but well looked after, we had siblings and grandparents to nurture us, so we were the lucky ones.

But inside our own four walls things were often somewhat sad.

My patient shared a memory of her brother with me and told me of it’s significance. And over sixty years I  thought of what one memory I could share that summed up my sisters’ and me.

I found one easily,  perched happily in a cerebral cul de sac of childhood memories in 1972 or there abouts. Janet and I were around 10.

My sister Ann’s house  One Saturday afternoon 

I think we were making Christmas cards 

Ann was singing badly. Singing the theme tune to a popular children’s magazine show at the time

And all I remember was laughter

Pure, unchecked, silly, belly laugh, laughter

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Remnants

I always go for the domed ones (American: thumbtacks)

Some readers may recall  that last August Shirley and I spent an inordinate amount of time clearing out my late brother Simon's rental cottage. We tried to be ruthless but even so a few boxes of his rescued stuff were brought back to our home in Sheffield.

Largely those boxes have remained untouched as I wait to see Simon's financial affairs brought to closure. The process has been incredibly slow and frustrating. Amongst the rescued items were things that belonged to my mother, father and the rest of our family.

Anyway, today I addressed two of those boxes and managed to reduce them to one. It was a success measured against the past five months of my procrastination. Something of a psychological nature has been going on here though I can't quite explain it.

Here are some of the items that surfaced today. Remnants of the departed...

A commemorative tin from 1981. Charles and Diana were married in the same year as us.

My old school badge - I hated that institution with a vengeance. The three crowns 

echo the city's coat of arms - Kingston-upon-Hull

My father was a proud trade unionist within the teaching profession and 

these badges acknowledge his terms of office as President of The National 

Union of Teachers in East Yorkshire

In this old pill jar I discovered a full set of brass RAF 

buttons from World War II - in desperate need of polishing. 

I believe my mother cut them from her old WAAF  uniform.

A box that in truth contains a stop watch though it was clearly meant to 

contain studs for old shirt collars that must have often got lost. I hope you 

didn't think that the term "stud" referenced  sexually proficient gentlemen. You 

can see a fellow under a bed searching for lost shirt studs.

My father was a pretty good cricketer and I suspect that this was his post-war cricket cap 

when he must have represented The Old Maltonians Association. Malton is a little 

Yorkshire market town east of York. and that is where Dad went to school - Malton

Grammar School in fact. Should I just throw it away?

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Sunday

 It’s been 

A great weekend

Checking in 

With all

Of you

How are y’all doing my loves?

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Web Page

 

I’ve not had much free time over the weekend but I’ve knuckled down and made more than a start on the Community Association web page, which I’m pleased about.

https://trelawnydcommunityassociation.blogspot.com/

That’s one less thing to get done. I have yet to expand the page suggesting the hall is an ideal venture for a “ do it yourself “ wedding. We’ve had a few of those over the years and they have proved to be quite delightful.

There is nothing I want to see at the cinema this week. 

Spielberg’s homage to cinema and his family is on next week but this week’s offering of Babylon has left me somewhat cold.

My book club book arrived Three Hours By Rosamund Lupton 

I will give that a go

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