Remembrance Sunday.
Always gets to me …
In the family, up until recently, it was usually centred around dad's brother Tony.
He was a tailgunner. Just nineteen in the closing months of the war, his plane was shot down and crashed into the side of a hill. Nothing you could do if you were tailgunner. No room in your turret for a parachute …
We lost dad four years and a week ago, so this time of year I really miss him.
But lately, I've been scanning in lots of mum's old pictures for her, so to cheer myself up a bit before my rotten forty-eighth birthday tomorrow, here's a bunch of silly ones to remind me of dad:
When Elvis ruled the world …Dad makes sure the fields and trees hear the good news that rock and roll is king.
Me and Phil got the old Dansette when mum and dad bought a radiogram in the sixties. You could load stacks of LPs on it and just let it play for hours. That's dad's box of 78s, which we still have. Early Elvis, Little Richard, Jerry Lee, et al … Wonderful.
This is the reprobate who somehow romanced mum (before the RAF mended his ways). Handsome devil, isn't he?
And this one cracks me up. Mum when she was around ten, wearing what looks like some old curtains, and with a table mat on her head. Somehow, these two were allowed to breed …
I like this one. This is dad in Mdina, Malta, a few miles from where I was born. He served in Cyprus on 39 Squadron nuclear bombers, but the wives were based in Malta and he certainly looks happy to be here.
And this is him in Cyprus. "Active service" they called it … Hmmm … Very active.This, kids, was our nuclear deterrent at the height of the cold war. Tremble in your boots, mighty Soviet armies!
And this last one I've put in, not just because I'm in it (ain't I cute?), but because it's the only photo of my childhood nemesis, filled with spiders and darkness, the terrifying outside privy!
That's it: the door on the left (the door on the right is the coal shed). It looks quite benign in the daylight, doesn't it?
Don't be fooled. On a cold winter's night it was the most terrible place on earth to me … Brrr … I shudder even now to think of it.
So that's dad in his youth. He was great and I miss him loads.
9 comments:
Oh Dive, these are great pictures. He's a pretty handsome guy, wasn't he? Standing there with his hands on his hips, listening to the King and looking out at the great wide world--what an image.
My father died in 2000, about 2 weeks from now. We weren't close, but there I times when I miss his mischief. Thank you for posting these, even the shot of the privy.
Hee hee. that privy I DON'T miss.
And thanks, Robyn. He was a bit of a looker in his younger days.
And the mischief and fun are the things to hold onto.
Those are great pictures of your dad (yes, you were cute). It must be hard to miss your dad. I'm sorry for that.
Nice privy.
Thank's Sassy.
It's pretty rotten at this time of the year. But he still turns up in my dreams, and does all the weird shit that people in dreams do, which is nice.
And no it was NOT a nice privy!
And I'm still cute. Just stuck in an uncute bod.
Bummer …
I forgot to mention that you were cute as well, Dive. Not just your father.
Happy birthday mate! cheer yourself up with the hope that you may (if extremely lucky) get as good looking as I am when you're all grown up;)
Nobody's that ;ucky old man, but cheers anyway.
Oh, what can I say that these other fine folks haven't already said - he was a looker. And you are cute and the youngest 48-year-old that I know. Hope you treated yourself to something nice today to cheer yourself up.
I accidentally gave my age away at work, which brought some nice compliments (some slightly worrying ones from some of the men) …
The oldest anyone guessed was "early forties, and several of the girls said "34". (hah!)
The best and most truthful reactions I got were from some of the new girls who put me in my mid-thirties and wouldn't believe I was over forty, even when offered chocolate.
I put it down to good genes (Levi 501s), but it really cheered me up.
And yeah, I'm cute.
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