I wondered where our indian head plaque had gone. It was up in the attic. It must have ended up there during a decorating campaign. This week I was pleased to see it back - like a reunion with an old friend..
I have known that indian for over sixty years. He was brought back to England from Canada circa 1960 by the grown up daughter of the village school's caretaker - a fearsome, pipe-smoking man called Alf Assert. She gave it to my parents as a holiday souvenir and it was pinned up in our house for decades until my mother died and I claimed ownership.
Through most of my childhood, that proud indian head seemed to represent an otherness - somewhere different far away and if Mr Assert's daughter could get there then surely I could do the same. One day. Along the neckline these words are inscribed: "Niagara Falls, Canada". The plaque is made from some sort of wood composite resin...
Over at e-bay I found a very similar plaque but this time it was a souvenir of Montreal. The indian mould is identical.
Anyway, back to Niagara Falls. Eventually, I did get there in the summer of 2002 with my wife and children.
We had flown into Boston and spent four days in New England before driving across New York State and along the south side of Lake Ontario right into the town of Niagara Falls. And the next morning, there we were on "The Maid of The Mist" in the middle of the spuming waters of the falls themselves.
I am sure that it was the indian in league with Alf Assert's daughter who had guided us there.
from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/LNoTe6z