Thursday 28 February 2013

A Closer Peek... & 10 Things....

I had a few comments about the photographs on my desk for WOYWW this week... and so I have decided to share two of  my very favourites with everyone. Firstly... oh, how embarrassing... a photograph of two adorable children taken round about 1972-3. It is my older brother and me (with a lollipop). I just love the expression on my brothers face - like he really doesn't want to be there at all, and definitely didn't want his photograph taken.
The next one is a photograph of my great-grandmother Winnie and her brother Fred.
Winnie's nick-name was "Fairy" because of her long blonde curls... and her father named his fishing boat after her too - "The Fairy". I love this photograph of brother and sister looking so serious... it reminds me in so many ways of their father, and our history - it's a very long and quite sad story - but a story that got me hooked onto genealogy and tracing my family back through generations. One family line (from Winnie and Fred) I have traced back to the mid 1600's.

All this reminiscing brings me onto "10 Things" - a little challenge.
It's a simple list of ten things I miss. This was an idea of a friend of mine, a way of getting to know other people and remembering things about our childhoods, how things used to be, and having a bit of a giggle.

So, here's my 10... I Miss:

1. Sonic booms. When I was a little girl, Concorde would set off loud booms in the air, and all the children would stop playing for a little while and look for the distinctive plane flying overhead.
2. Hearing a plane engine and just wondering where it was flying to or from... rather than hearing a plane engine and listening to changes, wondering if it will get to where it's going to safely. Post 9/11 changes have been drastic.
3. Kentucky Fried Chicken. I'm a vegetarian because I can't digest meat very well - it makes me quite sick. Quorn, TVP and Tofu etc, are brilliant at mimicking most foods - but KFC cannot be replicated. I miss it so much *lol* I miss bacon too - another food that cannot be copied without the non-meat rashers looking and tasting like insoles.
4. My Nan's trifle. She used sherry in the jelly, rum in the custard, and brandy in the cream topping. You could have one serving of her teatime treat and not pass a breathalyser test!
5. Not being the baby of the family. Not only was I the younger sibling... I was also the only girl for two generations on my Dads side of the family. I was so spoilt :) Sometimes it would be nice to go back to the times when I had no responsibilities, and all the attention... just for a few moments.
6. Hedgehog flavoured crisps. I just really liked them - and, no, they really were NOT hedgehog flavoured :) I liked strawberry wotsits too.
7. Billy McIndoe. I don't actually miss Billy... I miss the bread delivery he made. Every Saturday morning, he'd come round the estate in his large white Mothers Pride emblazoned van, selling bread and cakes and all sorts of scrummy things from his van. Okay, I admit that when I was about 7 years old, I had a huge crush on Billy. But then, I loved David Essex too. It may have been the hair. *lol*
8. Christmas Eve as a child... that feeling of excitement and wonder is something that stays with me... but it's never quite intense as when I was a little girl. Perhaps it's the lose of naivety that is the difference?
9. Seeing my feet when I stand up. I really should get back on this diet *lol*
10. Quiet roads. I can remember visiting my grandparents in West Dean when I was little... driving for over an hour in the car just to get there on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, and hardly seeing another motorist on the road. This was only the 70's... yet things have changed so much!

Well, there  it  is (or there they are?)- 10 things I miss. Of course, there's a whole lot of other things - grandparents and people I have loved who have passed on. Crisps at 4pence a packet, Bagpuss (my cat, not the television programme), my grandfathers voice, grandmothers wisdom, being a child in the six weeks holidays... but the idea of this is to list the things that other people might not miss...
So... are you up for the challenge? Can you list 10 things that you miss? It was actually harder than I thought it would be. Let me know if you blog your "10 Things" by leaving a comment and a link to your "10 Things" post- then I can have a peek too :)

1 comment:

Sian said...

so much has changed, indeed. I think, if we go back to the 70's I miss someone else making the dinner! It was so nice to come home and see Mum serving up a chop or two..