Firstly can I say a quick thank you to those readers who have left a comment, voted in the poll or otherwise contacted me privately with views as to what should happen when the counter hits 50. The overwhelming response has been “don’t stop!”, with “we don’t care what you do, just don’t stop” coming a close second. I’ve made no decisions yet, but suffice to say I need to have a think and I’ll let you know in due course.
In the meantime here’s this weeks post:
Six years ago last week was the anniversary of my Dad’s passing. That’s the two of us up there I reckon I’m about 3 years old and he’d be around 38.
I’m really lucky because he was a great Dad, sure we argued quite a bit, especially when I had my difficult teenage phase, but he acted as a role model for me in so many ways that at the time I certainly didn’t realise what was going on.
He remembered the Second World War, being “evacuated” (really they went to stay with family in the countryside to escape bombing of Portsmouth) and gliders going out (never sure whether this was as a latter part of D-Day or Arnhem). He was a member of the British Red Cross (which was where he met my Mum), a Special Constable, a carpenter, worked for Timothy Whites (which became Boots), and for a good proportion of his life was a Post Office Telephone Engineer (which became BT).
He had many and varied hobbies. Gardening (probably where I get that from), making and not making things - he once promised my Mum he’d make her a sewing cabinet, which he never completed. When I was clearing out some of his things I found a copy of the woodworking magazine that he’d been using for the plans:
He was a radio ham, photographer, and general tinkerer in many things. He was heavily involved in the local village fair which was run for the village children and to raise money for projects for the village kids.
He did so many different things it is really impossible to list them all here. I miss him and in many ways regret that we didn’t have more time to talk and for me to listen.
If you have a family member that you haven’t spoken to in a while, take a moment to go and see them for a chat or pick up the phone and give them a call. Life is short and it’s difficult to know when it will be too late to do some of these things so better to do them while you can.
Thanks for reading.