Flashback Friday - A Happy Time

Flashback Friday this week has the theme A Happy Time.

I did not do 'Happy' with any great conviction for much of my childhood or my adult life.  I don't think anyone would have said that I was a miserable person. I always tried to make the best of what I had and remained outwardly cheerful but there was something missing. Becoming a mum to my four beautiful daughters from my first marriage gave me a huge amount of pleasure but my 'Happy Meter' could never make all the way up the scale because so many other things were wrong with my life.

By the time my first marriage reached critical point and I knew that there was no way to salvage anything from it, I was already having the worst year of my life. An email from an old friend I had known at University came exactly when I needed it most. He was so supportive and made me feel that I could pick myself up and start again. We went to Paris together as friends and came back as lovers.

I had never known such feelings of complete happiness.

When my dad saw me for the first time after I came back from Paris, he could see it in my face that something had happened. It surprised me because I didn't think my dad was that sensitive, nor did I think I was that obvious!

I expected words of caution - people telling me the pitfalls of rushing into a new relationship on the rebound etc. But no one did. The happiness that showed on my face silenced any potential sceptics. This was real. This was love.

My future husband was living in Switzerland and our communication was by email, msn and telephone. He asked me to send him a photograph of the new smile that now reached my eyes and came from a place of genuine happiness.

My daughter took the photo. I don't think it really succeeded in capturing any mystical soul revealing expression but it does remind me of that Happy Time. The worst and best year of my life.

2005

Flashback Friday - Bathroom

As Mummy From the Heart Michelle has had me thinking about my house this week in the Nosey Blogger meme, I thought I would post a picture of my bathroom as it was when we moved in to our house five years ago.

Not only was the bathroom hideous, the plumbing was so bad that it would take forever to fill the bath.  We also had a truly unpleasant blocked toilet situation to deal with days after moving in. I knew I had made the right decision to be with my new man when I saw him up to his elbow in sewage trying to sort out the problem! Luckily for you, I did not have the presence of mind to take photographic evidence!

My bathroom is still a way from giving me my luxury spa experience but it does me good to look back at where we came from.

Flashback Friday - Horror

 

Hannah from Metal Mummy had us all thinking about Horror this week for her Movie Meme.

My sister Wendy and I both share a love of the genre.

I bought my first SLR camera when I was at University in the early eighties. It was an expensive hobby back then with the film developing costs but I had so many ideas that I wanted to experiment with. Wendy was always a willing model.

My Flashback Friday contribution this week shows a couple of photographs that we staged in our back garden exploring the theme of 'horror'. We were quite pleased with what we achieved with a little bit of make up, some fake blood and a lot of eye rolling!

Flashback Friday - Tortoises

When I was a child, tortoises were common pets. In the seventies, you could buy them for 50p at pet shops and to all intents and purposes, they required very little care. Blue Peter showed us how you could paint your tortoise's name on the shell to enable easy identification should your pet wander out of your garden and also alert your dad to their presence in the dug earth to avoid any unfortunate incidents with a garden fork. They also had tips on hibernation.

All of the tortoises that I owned eventually died during hibernation. One, met its end when my dad inadvertently put something heavy on top of the cardboard box that held my hibernating pet. Come spring, I found the flattened box in my dad's messy, disorganised shed. It was with a heavy heart that I opened it, knowing that the poor creature could not possibly have survived.

Others did not meet such a brutal end but I can remember the horrible feeling of pulling back the straw and finding lifeless bodies. We did manage to get our pets to survive some winters. In the spring, you would hear scratching noises when they woke and started moving around. It was if the scratching noises failed to happen that I would investigate and inevitably have to deal with death.

When the horror of the tortoise trade was exposed and imports eventually banned, tortoises entered the realm of pricey, exotic pets requiring specialist knowledge and equipment. The pocket money back yard tortoise days were over.

Eno (later renamed as Crusty Pie) loved strawberries

Me and little sister Wendy posing with our tortoise

For more of this week's Flashback Friday posts visit Cafe Bebe

Flashback Friday - Creme Eggs

The Easter holidays are here and the supermarkets are not about to let us forget that Easter means Easter Eggs. Despite the huge range of merchandise available now, the one thing that remains totally synonymous with Easter for me still is the Cadbury Creme Egg. In the interest of dieting I have yet to taste the sickly fondant loveliness encased within the thick shell of sweet chocolate made in the way that only Cadbury can. My mouth waters at the mere thought (although these days my poor sensitive teeth shudder at the prospect!)

It is a miracle that I was not put off Creme eggs for ever after witnessing the Great Beer and Creme Egg Race that was a big date in the social calendar of one of the Halls of Residence of Bristol University.

Relay teams of strong stomached students would compete to see who could most quickly consume 4 pints of beer each with a creme egg between each pint. The amount of vomit flying around and the wretching noises would act as a catalyst for yet more vomit as determined 'athletes' would push through the pain barrier of forcing yet more gassy ale into distended, fondant filled stomachs. Sick buckets were an essential piece of equipment.

Some teams took it very seriously with practice sessions and qualifiers. My future husband failed to make the grade but we went to support our foolhardy friends. Our friend in the white T Shirt is faring slightly better than the opponent next to him with his head in the sick bucket! As I recall, his composure did not last for the duration of the challenge.

Flashback Friday - Geoffrey Virgo

I love old photos that connect you strongly to the past and this is one of them.

The boy in the picture is Geoffrey Virgo, my husband's grandfather. He is standing outside the family sweetshop/tobacconist which was located in The Lanes in Brighton. You can just make out the 'Virgo' name of the shop.

I think it is incredible that this boy grew up to father a son who in turn grew up to father a son. That son is now my husband and I am proud that our son has Geoffrey as a middle name.

I also love seeing the familiar brand names - Fry's, Lyon's and Rowntree's. Will they still be with us in another three generations time I wonder?

Flashback Friday - A Practical Joke

I was one of three daughters growing up in a house that was too small and overcrowded with big furniture to comfortably accommodate us all. The close proximity we all lived in inevitably led to arguments and it was usual for two sisters (in different combinations) to gang up against one. As we all got older, this 'two against one' formation was used in good humour (mostly).

The series of photographs I have chosen for this Flashback Friday show a rare moment when little sis, Wendy and I worked together to play a trick on our big sister.

We were visiting our grandparents in the Black Country. Their house still had an outside toilet with no lock. I will let the pictures tell the story!

It was evil but she got her own back many times over.

Flashback Friday - Liz Taylor?

The sad death of Elizabeth Taylor this week reminded me of an old photograph of my mum, who was mistaken for the actress on more than one occasion. 

It is interesting to me that my dad does not like this photograph of his beautiful, glamorous wife. I think he objected to her showing that amount of bare flesh to the photographer!

Flashback Friday - Total Eclipse

I am not flashing back too far for this contribution to Flashback Friday.

Cast your minds back to Wednesday August 11th, 1999.

What occurred on this day was a once in a lifetime opportunity for many people to witness the spectacle of a total solar eclipse, visible from the UK.

The next time this is expected to happen is 2090.

I clearly remember the building excitement and the hushed silence as daylight faded to a spookily unnerving twilight.

I didn't even try to capture the celestial spectacle on camera but I did record my children's reactions to it as they gazed into the sky through their 'fun in the sun' eye protector glasses.

Flashback Friday - Student Days

As the prospectuses arrive through the letter box to help my daughter with the important decision about which Universities to apply for, I have been plunged back nearly thirty years to my own days as a student. I have been rifling through some old photographs and got to grips with the scanner to give you my Flashback Friday.

I think I always knew that this man would remain a much loved, loyal friend.

But how could I have guessed that years later, us two would get back in touch and fall in love?

Or that these two would be the best man and groom at my wedding.

It's funny how things turn out!

Flashback Friday - Dad

My poor old dad is nearly eighty and the wear and tear, to his knees in particular, is painfully obvious. It serves me well to remember that inside that imperfect body beats the heart of this proud and handsome Coldstream Guard.

The  young man staring out from this photo beneath his Bearskin had a whole life ahead of him. That life would include a 50 year long (and counting) marriage and the raising of children.

We may have had our differences over the years but I hope that he can be proud of the woman I have become as I am of the man he was and is now.