My daughter was going through some stuff she rescued when my mother was moving into a hostel. She found a journal page I had written, and had it framed as a Christmas gift for me. The text, as nearly as I can decypher it, is, CrisTmas Day 1952 (I am six + a half) Granny sick stayd home for dinner. Went to Nanas + Pas for tea (Wy is it Dinner + tea at Xmas + lunch + dinner other times?) FOR XMAS STEVE + I GOT EACH-SAXAPHON,TRUMPET BUILDING SETS, COWBOY HATS, MODEL JET AIRCRAFT (DAD MAKING), MOUTH-ORGANS, TRUNCKS, SANDALS, MONY BOXES, HANKYS, AND HAD A XMASTREE. MIKE GAVE ME A GUN. IT WAS A GOOD XMAS WE SAVED MONY FOR MUM (AND) DADS PRESENTS BOXING DAY PA, WARBERTONS, SEDENS, CAME June 1953. I had my tonsils out, 17th Jun [...] asthma [...] bad time 5th Dec, 1953. rainy day, thunder storm afternoon Morning hot. fri. 23 june, 1954. Pop came rained in [... rest not visible] It was actually good because I can remember that Christmas Day. I didnt remember all the details, but I do remember it was very hot, and we sat on a side porch at Hadley, my paternal grandparents house. It was barely big enough to fit the six of us, but it was a little cooler there than inside the house. Because my maternal grandmother was sick, unlike most Christmases, we didnt go to their place that day. I remember my grandfather (Pa Green) told me about sucking and blowing to get the full scale on the mouth organ, and I worked out how to play at least part of O, Come all ye Faithful. The aircraft I mentioned were two scale, non-flying model Avro 707 delta winged experimental aircraft, precursors to the Vulcan bombers. He made us one each out of timber: beautiful detailed work. Our father was very good at such things. After I had my tonsils out, on the day I was to go home, I had an asthma attack which triggered an haemorrhage, so I had to stay in a few more days. I remember the ward sister pressing swabs soaked in Friars Balsam on the wounds using long tongs. It stung a bit but helped stop the bleeding. Ive always liked the smell of Friars Balsam since then, and liked to keep a bottle in case of wounds, but its hard to get these days.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 14:43:19 +0000