more Pictures

Just notice post by my son, and yes Alan that is at least my third meter :)

Here a few more photos of the past.

The guy holding the baby is my Dad and, yes, the delightful baby is indeed myself. :P. This would make my Dad about 21 yrs old and about to become a father for the 2nd time. His parents who are pictured below, were not delighted at all but then my Dad never did do anything that delighted my grandparents at the time, I suspect.

The lady on the right is my Mother, who was about 20 at the time and waiting on the birth of my sister, Julie (her 3rd baby). Mum wasn't too thrilled to be pregnant again so soon after having me and, I think, the wry look gives her feelings away.

Mum had a rough childhood which I suppose was fairly common at the time. However, it has taken me nearly 50 yrs to appreciate my Mum. Dad was always God to us girls and Mum was the wicked witch. Trouble is that, yes Mum had a rough childhood but for reason she always found ways to embellish the story here and there, so you never really knew if it was the truth. Also unlike Dad, she wasn't the cuddly type, in fact the exact opposite.

The first lie I ever caught her out on was when I was about 9 yrs old and discovered not one but 3 birth certificates in my name. The first one had my middle name as my given name and the surname was her maiden name. The second one, had my now given name and her maiden name. Finally the third had all the correct information on it. Of course at the time, I was crushed, convinced I must have been adopted but when the real story came out, I began to understand even then, why there was this antagonism between my Mum and my Nan.

Over the years I became privy to lots of Mum's past life, which included an alcoholic father, a completely useless and spoilt mother, being thrown out of the house at the age of 15, onto the streets and having her first baby at 17. There was no welfare state then, so she was fending for herself and of course, it all ended up in tears as she really didn't have any natural mothering skills, how could she with a mother like her own. A girlfriend arranged for the baby to be adopted privatedly, by which time she had already met my Dad. No wonder my Nan was nervous of her son marrying this woman.

As I said above this is a picture of my Grandparents, on my Dad's side. They were a huge influence on my life, especially my Nan. She was little women, under 5ft but she had the temper of a demon when it was lit. One New Year, when I was about 12, was particurlarly memorable, as she got very drunk and made it clear to everyone in the house, that she thought my Mum was slut. Believe it or not, after that New Year, my Mum got on better with her than she ever had since I was born. Why, because, My Dad finally stood up to his Mum and made her apologise.