Yes, friends, have YOU had cause to use the 'h-word' recently? And don't rush to tell me, "No, Colin, I h*cking haven't" (!). Because you may have "used it" just in an e-mail, without even knowing, like Yours Truly did - "muggins here" - earlier this month - to my cost!!!!
Let me explain! [Must you? - Ed]
"For my sins", I lead a local U3A 'History of English' group, founded in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire a few years ago. And I still lead it, even though I don't live in Cheltenham any more, so I'm not 'local' at all any more. I've twice moved house since 2022 and I now actually live 100 miles away from Cheltenham, in Liphook, Hampshire. Somehow, however, my "leadership" role has stuck to me - and I've failed to "shake it off".
Yes, leadership of a U3A group feels a bit like when you going through bush, and coming out with a bunch of "burrs" all over your 'onesie', and finding that you just can't shake them off - oh dear!! Don't quote me on that, though, or I'll never persuade anybody else to take on my 'job' !!!!
being leader of a U3A group: "a bit like having sticky burrs
all over your 'onesie'" - but don't quote me on that !!!!
Well, seeing as how you're obviously "gagging" to know the answer to that question (!), here's how it came about.
I've been getting really fed up with the U3A, because none of my group members has replied to any of the emails I've sent them this month, and I was just thinking of quitting as leader in disgust. Then today, one of my members discovered what had been going on, and sent me this email.
Yes, one of my History of English group members used the "h-word" to me in a recent email, and his email has become attached to all the emails I've sent out to our group in the last 4 weeks. And this seems to have sent all my emails "plopping" into my members' spam directories. So beware - it could happen to you, even if you're NOT leading a U3A "History of English" group, may I add!
And my thanks (!) to member Darryl for discovering the "snafu" (!), although as a downside, I find I'm still group leader - damn !!!!
[Is that all you've done today, Colin? - Ed]
Well, I've been having a quiet day, it's true - my medium-to-long-suffering wife Lois isn't her usual boisterous self, and there's been none of our usual "rough-housing" (!). And the reason for this is that she managed to put her back out yesterday, putting herself "hors de combat" for any 'horseplay' (!), so we just nip out to the local Liphook Co-op for a bunch of 'Cookshop' ready-meals, and leave it at that for today.
Well, I've been having a quiet day, it's true - my medium-to-long-suffering wife Lois isn't her usual boisterous self, and there's been none of our usual "rough-housing" (!). And the reason for this is that she managed to put her back out yesterday, putting herself "hors de combat" for any 'horseplay' (!), so we just nip out to the local Liphook Co-op for a bunch of 'Cookshop' ready-meals, and leave it at that for today.
Poor Lois has put her back out, so we just nip out to the local
Liphook Co-op for a bunch of Cookshop ready meals and leave it at that
What a vibrant presence Kathy was in our lives, to put it mildly. Back in 1982, Lois and I moved with our 2 young daughters - Alison (7) and Sarah (5) - from Cheltenham, England, to Maryland USA for 3 years, so I could complete some projects for a US Government agency. And just a few months later Kathy also moved to the States from Bristol, England, getting a job at the British Embassy in Washington DC, initially living with us in our house in Columbia, Maryland.
flashback to our Thanksgiving dinner, November 1984 with the very vibrant
presence of my sister Kathy (rightmost, then aged 37): me and Lois (both 38),
plus a turkey (unknown age!), and our 2 daughters Sarah (7) on the left and Alison (9)
Within a few weeks or so of moving to the States, Kathy had got herself a second-hand Ford Mustang - I went with her to the local Columbia garage she got it from; within a few months she had moved out from our house and got herself her own flat in Washington nearer to her work, and within a year she had met her future (American) husband, Steve. The rest is history, until Kathy sadly died on this day in 2013, far too young at only 65.
Kathy was born in November 1947, when I was just 20 months old myself, and so, until her sad death, I literally can't remember a time when she wasn't around, somewhere, and being her wonderful and unforgettable vibrant self from an early age, bless her!
flashback to March 1948: my second birthday, me seen here with
our mother in her stylish, late 1940's hair-do, and my sister Kathy (3 months)
I've been thinking today back to the 1950's and the seaside holidays we had as kids, as a family, with our parents and our little brother Steve.
[Don't tell us all about your childhood holidays again, Colin! - Ed]
Well, I've got to (!), because, you see, everybody, but everybody in Britain had seaside holidays in Britain in August in the 1950's. Nobody went abroad for their holidays, unless you were "Mr and Mrs Moneybags" (!), and so all the beaches along Britain's long coastlines were just "rammed" with people. And we all had to make the best of the unreliable British weather. You'd paid your money for the train and the boarding-house, you'd booked your 2 weeks off work, and so, if it was raining, as it usually was, you just sat on a deckchair with the kids, on the beach or on the "prom" (promenade), with a raincoat over your head - oh dear!
Happy days !!!
For me growing up, every year was defined by the seaside holiday we went on. And for us as a family living in North West London in those days, summer 1955 was Broadstairs, Kent, summer 1956 was Sandown, Isle of Wight, and summer 1957 was Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset.
And when on holiday, it tended to be our father, not our mother, who "did things" with us, while our mother "had a bit of peace and quiet for once" (!).
our 3 best seaside holidays as kids in the 1950's: Broadstairs, Kent (1955),
Sandown Isle of Wight (1956) and Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset (1957)
Not everybody had cameras back then, but there was always a good chance of bumping into a street photographer on the beach or on the "prom", who took a picture of you, which you later bought a copy of from his "shop", like these photos from Broadstairs, still with the photographer's numbers on them.
August 1955: Broadstairs, Kent, (left) me with Kathy and our father Ken
in the audience at an evening children's talent show, and (right) with
our little brother Steve, "basking" in the North Sea - brrrr!!!
August 1956: Sandown, Isle of Wight: (left) in some medieval stocks,
and right on the beach with our cousin Margaret (second from left)
August 1957: Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, (left) me reading a book
on the beach with our father, and (centre and right) me with Kathy and Steve,
going for a ride up and down the "prom" on the Giant Mechanical Swan (as you do!)
It's a pity, also, that these pictures are just black-and-white photos, because our father, Kathy and Steve all had the most eye-catching red hair, now lost to posterity. People used to look at us in the street, and I myself always felt a bit the odd man out, as the only "blondie".
Friends, did you ever ride the Giant Mechanical Swan at Burnham? Most of use did, if we were around at the time, didn't we. [Not me! - Ed] Just today I googled it and found out that the swan was called Priscilla, which I had forgotten. See this website for details, and also some of the recent history of the resort with pictures.
[Thanks I don't think I'll bother! - Ed]
somebody's internet memories of the 1950's at Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset: the children's
corner by the pier, and Priscilla the Giant Mechanical Swan giving rides along the "prom"
The website-writer comments that Priscilla had now disappeared, having "wandered off" somewhere, and nobody seems to know her current whereabouts. Has she been "sold for scrap" maybe? Drop me a postcard if you know!
Poor Priscilla!!!!
Will this do?
[Oh just go to bed! - Ed
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzz!!!!
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