moment in time

August 18, 2009

3rd May 1916 Strait of Gibraltar
Gazing out, mesmerised by the landmass looming ever closer, Father and I had been on deck for hours. Now we were able to see the quay, and even make out people swarming about. I strained my eyes for the first glimpse of Alec.
Tomorrow at St Andrew’s Church here in Gib [...]

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old friends

August 13, 2009

Is this my time to turn away?
Basking in the warmth of now and turning my back on history?
I was angry, I was always enraged.
You, in all your guises, brought me relief.
But now, with you or thinking of any one of you and the way you still do not respect me
(and now people do respect me)
I [...]

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mother – an end and a beginning

July 14, 2009

My mother died in 1995. I was with her in the last couple of days of her life and I kept a journal. I think that was the first time I ever used writing as a tool to get me through a difficult situation. Later that year  I started the journal about my life which [...]

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11+ hothousing – plus ça change

July 7, 2009

The top class at my junior school had a reputation to maintain. As a matter of course a good 90%+ of the pupils passed the 11+ and went to either the boys’ grammar school or the girls’ high school. I must be clear that this was not because we were outstandingly bright, it was more [...]

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dresses – more about Firhill

June 8, 2009

A cubby hole in the kitchen, where a servant used to sleep, now housed the ironing and the safe, and became a stage for my endless theatrical performances.
The costumes for these extravaganzas were housed upstairs in the tiny box room where a chest contained my great grandmother’s Victorian and Edwardian clothes. Every afternoon, whilst the [...]

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Firhill – living in family history

June 3, 2009

Firhill had been a family home for my maternal great grandparents and their ten children. My great grandfather, and then my Uncle John owned the Albert engineering works at the foot of the hill opposite the house, so presumably they were fairly affluent. Certainly the photographs would indicate this, plus of course, the size of [...]

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gamelan

June 3, 2009

13th July 1987. A warm night. In a garden, previously a grass tennis court, surrounded by rhododendron bushes. The midges were driving us all crazy, they were not put off one jot by the joss sticks we had burning everywhere.
This was the night my life changed forever. I played music for the first time, I [...]

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sad

May 21, 2009

Sad little memory. Sad there’s so little memory. My father returning home from months at sea. Late evening? Maybe the middle of the night. Lights on in the hall, bustling, hushed voices waking me. Excited, but I must stay in bed. I’m 3 perhaps, or 4. Daddy pops in to say goodnight. He shows me [...]

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a rite of passage

May 20, 2009

How far into the past do I want to delve? Last week is history in a sense and, in my life, it was marked by a sad farewell to my father-in-law. Though my dad died when I was four and my mother went some 14 years ago  I am nevertheless very aware that many baby boomers [...]

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Granny boots

April 16, 2009

Back in the day (early 1960s), most adults wore ‘granny boots’ in the winter. They were short, and fur-lined, with sensible soles and a zip up the front. Ghastly. And uncool, that’s for sure.
Long, calf-hugging, sexy, stylish ‘Kinky’ boots  were all the rage amongst the fashion-conscious and, aged 12 or 13, I desperately wanted a [...]

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