This is a loose collection of memories, some big, some tiny, and some that probably don’t mean much to anyone except me, and no-one e;se will really care about. I’m trying to get them down before they disappear completely.
Take all dates with a pinch of salt. Unless I have firm evidence, they may be out by a year or two, but they’re close enough for me.
1975 - The Day I Built a Bomb - not quite as alarming as it sounds, but probably still one of those things best explained properly.
1977 - "The Great Milk Escape" - I’m guessing I was about 10, and my sister Andrea was approaching nine, when we were asked to nip to the shop for a pint of milk. For younger readers, I should probably explain that milk bottles back then were made of glass, with a little foil cap on top.
Andrea had the milk bottle in the bottom of a plastic carrier bag and started swinging it around like a windmill. The full pint gave it a decent bit of weight, so she got a proper swing going, until the foil cap must have come loose and some of the milk escaped.
My dad, quite reasonably in hindsight, thought we’d just drunk some of it and didn’t believe we could have lost milk by swinging it round in a carrier bag. I’m fairly sure we got into trouble for that.
1982 - "A Drop Out of the Ordinary" - I remember a mate of mine, Chris, drawing this for a school art project; a splash of water, with one tiny droplet picked out in a different colour.
2005 - "A Tiger in the House" - I guess Rebecca was about six or so when she came running from the conservatory, or the “it-ree” as they used to call it, saying there was a tiger in there. Being the fun dad I was, I followed her in. She pointed to the corner where the tiger was and said, “There!”
I looked over and could only see the rocking horse that their grandma Pam had bought them. “Is that it?” I asked, playfully. “No, Dad!” Rebecca replied, in her sternest six-year-old voice. “That’s a horse.”
It proper put me in my place.
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