It started out as a normal day in our house but It didn’t end that way.  There was a knock on our door and mum or dad answered it.  Us kids ignored it, as we always did, after all, that was adult stuff.  We had much better things to do to amuse ourselves, at least we did until the stranger entered our home.

I don’t remember what he looked like just that he wanted us kids for something.  We were ushered over to a large window in our front room.  We were all given party hats to put on, and little union jack flags to hold.  He then told us all to look out of the window and wave our flags looking excited.  Lots of photos were taken, by him and by a chap out in the street.  The stranger thanked my parents and then left.

Us kids continued with what we were doing before the stranger arrived and very soon forgot the incident.  It seemed that, somehow, they knew we were a large family and that was of particular interest to them.  They could get their newspaper article (along with photos) written well in advance of the biggest story since D Day.  On 2 June, 1953 Queen Elizabeth was to be ‘crowned’ Queen Elizabeth II and we got our photo on the front page of the local newspaper!

As the old adage says, never believe was you read in the newspapers ;O)

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Having read the stories of Swubird and found them so interesting and heartwarming, It inspired me to write about some of my childhood experiences, growing up in the 50’s in London.  It will be a series of blogs that will last for as long my memory allows :O)  I will include photos wherever I can.

This is a photo of my family in the early 50’s.  I had six siblings - four sister and two brothers.  The tall chap at the back is my eldest sister’s fiancé.  Me? I’m the little one on the left of the photo and second to youngest.

Mum & Dad in the late 50’s

As WW2 had only been over a relatively short while, we were still recovering as a country, and things were scarce.  Various items were still rationed and we used books of coupons that you tore out and handed in before you could buy certain items of food.  As we were a large family, mum would swap the ‘luxury item’ coupons with friends, for the more basic food coupons so there was enough to go around.  They were tough times for most people.

Part 1
Christmas in our house in the early 50’s

The smell was unique, it hung around the house for many days leading up to this exciting and magical time. Each day would be filled with more anticipation than the previous day until we were almost bursting.  It was Christmas in our house.  The smell!  I couldn’t say what made Christmas smell so different, but it did.

We had all sent our letters off to Father Christmas.  We wrote them out on pieces of paper, folded them up and mum helped us to send them up the chimney.  The sparks that flew up the chimney when the fire was disturbed were the fairies that carried our letters up to father Christmas.  What had we asked for?  Not a lot.  We didn’t have a lot and we didn’t ask for a lot either.  Maybe a doll, some coloured pencils, a car for the boys.  Small things were enough.  The magical time was what was important, not so much what we got.

Christmas Eve upon us, us youngest five were ushered to bed, buzzing with excitement and anticipation for what the morning would bring.  Once we had reached that ‘Not quite asleep but almost’ stage, dad would creep up into our bedroom dressed as Santa to say hello and ask if we’d been good.  We never guessed it was dad!  By 6am (the latest) we would all be clambering down the stairs knowing that something really magical had taken place whist we had been sleeping.

On entering the room we would see a row of stockings all weirdly out of shape due to the various presents stuffed inside – books, coloured pencils, sweets, dolls, cars, spinning tops, colouring books and all sorts of little gifts.  The familiar fruit that always stuffed the toe of each stocking, nuts, an apple and an orange.  That smell, even stronger now, filled the room!  Us girls bubbling over with anticipation, eyes skimming around the room, looking for our very special present that came every year.  There they were, all hanging in a row.  Pretty party dresses, each different, with our names pinned on to our very own dress!  I can’t remember what the boys got in place of the dresses.  Our glee as we all took our dress and examined it, holding it up to our bodies and twirling in excitement at what we were to wear later.

Then the frenzied attack at our stockings! Mum and dad looked on with such love and who knows what else in there hearts, as we shrieked with pleasure at everything we got.  Each one of us rushing to them with every item saying “Look what I got!”   Mum and dad looking very interested as if each gift was a surprise to them too.

Mum and dad, who had only been in bed for about one hour when we rushed into their bedroom, waking them up to come and join in our excitement.  Mum, who had sat night after night making those pretty dresses for us and dad who had worked and worried so hard to get all the little presents for us.  We believed everything was from Father Christmas, therefore mum and dad never got our thanks, just immeasurable satisfaction from watching us and knowing that all their hard work had been worth it!

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Whilst we were out this afternoon, we decided to go for a walk.  I wish I’d had my camera with me but thank goodness for mobile phones.  These shots are from my iPhone - not bad considering.

Now the photos below are what I am really pleased with, particularly as I was taking them ‘blind’ so to speak.  The sun was shining straight into my eyes so I just had to aim and snap and hope I was getting it.

Not bad for a mobile phone eh?

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Do more than exist - live.
Do more than touch - feel.
Do more than look - observe.
Do more than read - absorb.
Do more than hear - listen.
Do more than think - ponder.
Do more than talk - say something.

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There I was, sitting at my computer, minding my own business.  Mo was in bed and the cats were all tucked up in their room.

Suddenly somebody grabbed my chair, pushing it against my back and shook it vigorously!  I turned to see who or what it was - nobody of course!  “What the?”…… it shook again, only this time so did the floor!  There was a very loud roaring sound, like thunder, and I knew…… this was an earthquake!

Fear gripped me.  “Oh my goodness, what do you do in an earthquake?”  The shaking stopped and I rushed upstairs to where Mo was asleep…….only she wasn’t asleep any more.  “What was that?” I heard her say as she scrambled out of bed?   We met on the stairs “I think it was an earthquake” I said, with adrenalin rushing round my body like a tornado.

We rushed downstairs and mo went straight to the front door and outside.  I said “Don’t go out there” ….after all the ground could have opened up and swallowed her…. all down the road lights were going on.  I was shaking and telephoned Sandie to see if they had felt it.   Sandie, who had apparently been rushing around like a headless chicken not knowing what to do …..aside from rush to the toilet, had, in fact felt it.

I immediately put the radio on and low and behold it was everywhere!  I don’t know why but that made me feel a bit better……it hadn’t just singled me out!
The adrenalin was still pumping round my body so I made a cup of tea…. well you do don’t you?  We listened to the radio and people were calling in and telling their stories.  After an hour Mo went back to bed and I stayed up. I still hadn’t totally relaxed and couldn’t have slept.

Finally I calmed down enough to go to bed and sleep.  It was the most scared I have ever been and I can’t imagine how they cope in the parts of the world where they have really big earthquakes.

The next day Mo said that the cats room looked like a bomb had gone off!  They must have been very scared, as they had gone berserk - even the trim on our units was on the floor.  Poor babies, we didn’t think to check them.  On reflection it was probably Sukie as she is frightened of everything.

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Just thought I’d tell you about this morning as it was an unusual service.  We started off singing, as we always do.  After a couple of songs the musicians were playing and Mo started to sing on her own.  She was making it up as she went along.  It was beautiful and the whole congregation was so blessed!  Anyway the singing really ‘took off’, so Dave came to the mike and said he would not preach today, instead we would just carry on singing.  For the rest of the meeting we were all just singing and dancing - it was really great!  In all the years we’ve been going to church, and even though pastors speak of days when that sort of thing happened, Mo and I have never known it happen.

After such a meeting who could just ‘go home’?  We went to Wortley Hall.  As we got into the car I caught my thumb, or rather the nail, and really hurt it. Look :O(

Anyway, it was a beautiful day and still plenty of frost around to help.
The first thing we saw were hundreds of sheep all walking one way in a very long line.  So long that we couldn’t see the end of the line in either direction!

Just look at that frost! You can’t see it in the photos, but the sun was sparkling all over the frost like hundreds of little diamonds.

I couldn’t resist a couple of macro shots, but even on macro you couldn’t capture the sparkle of the sun on the frost crystals.

In parts where the sun was you could see clear signs that spring is on it’s way :O)

Snowdrops

Daffodils

And now showing my ignorance…..another flower! ha ha!

And just another photo to show how wonderful Mother Nature is. Look what has grown out from, what appears to be, a totally dead tree trunk!  The photo doesn’t show clearly that it is shooting right from the side of the old trunk.

We sat for a while, on a bench outside Wortley Hall, and warmed ourselves in the sunshine.  The sun was so warm you could actually lay out in it, yet the frost was clearly all around - very strange.

One last picture to show how blue and clear the sky was.

We then went and had one of Sandie’s famous coffee’s with cream and marshmallows.

All in all, a lovely day!

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Some of you may not know that Emily now has a job as a puppeteer for a local Puppet Company called ‘Puppetechnics’.  We are very pleased that the years of training paid off for her.

Puppetechnics are making a film for the police.  It is being kept under wraps at the moment so I can’t give any details.  Emily had told them about us and that we made puppets so, as they needed some extra background characters, they asked if they could borrow some of ours.  I sent some photos of the few we have left and they said that they would love to borrow them.  We were then invited down to watch Emily at work.  We were thrilled, not only to watch Emily, but to get involved with puppets again - even if only for a short while.

It is being filmed in a special set the police use for training youngsters about all sorts of dangers.  We went to a reception area and was told that they were through the door on our right.  As we entered I thought we had gone outside again.  It was a large set that was rather like a TV set for a soap opera.  Here are some photos of the set.

I took this from an angle to show that it is just painted on board!

Below is a painted a wall and only the camera flash picks out the different texture and colours it differently. The eye doesn’t see the difference.

None of this scenery is real.  It’s all painted on a wall just in front of where Mo is standing.

Puppet props.

The two characters that Emily plays.

A character that had been ‘melted’ by a villain :O)

We arrived just as Emily was finishing up a scene - I might add at this point that she does her own, live voices too!  There were some real live policemen there acting along with the puppets.  It was great to see ;O)  We went to have a hot drink with Emily while the crew got on with stuff.  Soon after they had a break which left us free to wander around and take the photos.

They came back and David Thornton (the creative director) came and had a chat with Mo and I.  They are doing exactly what we were going to do.  All that stopped us was having someone like him on board!  He told us what he was aiming for and he certainly has a vision, with plenty of drive and ambition. It ended up with him saying that maybe we would like to come on board for some projects in the future.  A lovely thought :O)

They got back to work and Mo and I watched for a few moments and then made our exit, leaving them to get on with the filming without interruptions.

Below, waiting for the technical stuff.

Camera’s roll!

I will just add that we were really proud of Emily.  Not just her puppetry skills, but the way she handles herself while working with a group of mature adults in a serious, hard working environment!  Well done Emily.

The photos won’t enlarge as it makes my posting so much easier.  Anyone who would like any larger photos just let me know.

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I had a lovely birthday and Mo arranged a buffet in the evening. I received some lovely cards and here are a few pics of the home made works of art.

Leeta and Sandie’s cards. It’s nice to receive home made cards. They are all very original.

Close up of them.

Tina’s lovely glitzy card and a close up of the butterfly

This card from Bill & Anne wasn’t home made but I had to show you because the moment I opened it, Sukie grabbed the little bell in her mouth and tried to walk off with it!

I received two ‘alternative’ gifts for World Vision which were lovely to open.

You get that ‘feel good’ factor knowing you have done your little bit. It’s a great idea for those who have all they need, or for those who don’t :O)
For anyone wanting to find out more, here is the address of their site http://www.greatgifts.org/

The evening came, along with the family and Pam & Michael. Leeta wasn’t feeling well enough to come, which was a shame. It might be the time of year but it’s not unusual for members of my family to be missing on my birthday, through illness or such.

It was a lovely evening and for once Mo didn’t do too much food - just enough for everyone to have their fill.

A couple of pics of the loverly cake :O)

It was a lovely day :O)

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We realised that we need a couple of tables to go either side of the chimney breast for lamps or vases. I searched Ebay for something, and found that the only ones we liked were very expensive. You can’t seem to find any real bargains on Ebay any more, just hundreds of shops selling goods and not many private sellers.

Due to the success of our fire surround, and the fact that it seemed to go without any hitches, we decided to tackle another project, or two, or three!

First we will make a pair of tables for either side of the chimney breast. Next we will make one or two small occasional tables in the same style. Then, all going well, we might actually tackle a cabinet for our sky & Tivo etc. We shall see :O)

Some time ago we got a whole lot of wood from ‘Freecycle’ We used some of it for my PC desk but still had lots left. We knew it would come in handy some day!

I set about designing the table and sorting out how to actually make it. We wanted tables that roughly followed the design of the lovely oak table we had made for us. I drew a plan on my Mac (see below) and made sure it would be just the height we wanted.

Mo went down and bought the wood and the screws we needed. We still had the wood glue and varnish left over from our last project. The only thing we lack is proper tools to make the job easier.

Mo set to preparing the wood for me, sanding and drilling holes.

Making the tops was quite easy really.

The difficult bit was fitting the legs. Such a tiny space to get your hands in to put the screws in. Needless to say the automatic screwdriver was a no go! Poor Mo did struggle with those screws. I could never have done it. We decided that screwing one table at a time - eight screws to be screwed in by hand - was enough for one session.

Finally I got to glue the inside legs in. That wasn’t easy as we could have done with eight clamps but we only had two :O( That meant that I had to do one leg and wait until the glue had set before I could do the other one. I also had to improvise and use blocks of wood as wedges in place of clamps. What was it I said about ‘proper tools?’ Without them jobs always take far longer to do.

Finally one table complete. Well at least made up, we have to sand it all down and varnish it but we will wait and do them both together. We may put trim down the legs yet. It might look neater, and the table we had made has it so they would match better.

I will blog about the rest of the project when they are finished.

All Finished!

When I made the tops up and glued the 2×2 around the edges, we were left with about 4mm of top spare. I couldn’t understand why until I measured the 2×2. It wasn’t 2″ x 2″ any more it was about 2mm less both sides. I guess that happened when they went metric. Not being a carpenter I didn’t know that. All of my calculations had been based on the 2×2 so Mo had to use a plane, that Len kindly lent us, to get rid of it. I must say, she did a good job of it :O)

She does have a couple of injuries that she made me photograph for you all to see. She said “I cut the top of my thumb off!” which probably means she has a cut in it, knowing Mo. I’ll let you know when I can see it.

We decided to put the trim around the legs after all. I wanted to do it the same as our coffee table but it would have cost too much to get several lengths of 3″ battening, which would have gone down the sides and across bottom of both legs. We had to make do with a small ‘L’ shaped trim which was twice the work and not quite as posh. I’m sure it will look nice when it’s finished, but you know what it’s like when you can’t do a job the way you want to.

All of the trim had to be rounded off so it was a lot of sanding. I discovered that sanding makes me sneeze and cough continually so I have to wear a face mask, which then makes my face sweat! I hate the sanding down. We do have an electric sander but it’s a cheap thing and, as such, doesn’t work. We had to do all of the sanding by hand.

Mo had to do the clearing up because of my sneezing :O)

She did actually cut the tip off her thumb. Here is a photo of the wounded soldier ;O)

When it came to varnishing the tables Mo had to saw the handle off a brush for me as it wouldn’t fit between the legs for varnishing. I turned them upside down and did 4 or 5 coats on the legs first then I did the tops.

And here are the tables in situ :O) You’ll want to click these and see them larger coz they’re soooooo cool.

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For any of you that don’t know this is an iPhone - Made by Apple and nobody else :O)

All photos can be viewed larger by clicking on them :O)

Desktop and the reverse side.

I have to say that I have had some gadgets in my life but this is the best of them all! It’s just like having a mac in your pocket. Soooo user friendly and easy to operate.

I will list a few things (with photos) that it does, but it has a lot more on it as you can see from all the application icons. The camera is fantastic!

I’ll start with the obvious - the phone. As you can see from the photo, it has huge numbers (and makes proper tone noises), not that I will need to use them much as I just type in the first letter of the name and the ‘contacts’ list comes up, I just need to touch the phone number in my ‘Contacts’ and it phones automatically. It also does what you would expect and turns off the iPod volume when you answer the phone and then turns it back up when you ring off. You can have two or three people in a joint phone call if you wish. It does a lot more but I haven’t used it and maybe never will, like visual voicemail etc.

The ‘Contacts’ is my complete address book including birthdays, web sites, email addresses, snail mail addresses etc. It also has a photo that is used to show who is mailing, ringing or texting me.

The next is the texting. I always hated that on my mobile phone as I always hit the wrong buttons and the automatic spelling always did strange things. The iPhone handles texting just like MSN (see photos) It also has a lovely keyboard that highlights the letters as you type (for fast typing). If you make a mistake it’s a standard keyboard so you just delete the letter easily.

Email is exactly as on my computer. So is the web browser. It has full browsing to all my favourite sites and searches. I can only use these feature if I am near a Wi-Fi hot spot though (I think) :O)

Web browser and a section zoomed up for reading.

I have a direct link to YouTube for watching videos. It works a bit like iTunes and must be a special ‘Mac’ link to it.

The iPod part is, I expect, like any iPod but as I have never had one I’m only guessing :O) It has all sorts of options and ‘Cover Flow’ for your album search.

‘Cover Flow’ for searching through your albums.

As I said, it has many more features and applications but I haven’t used them yet - except ‘Maps’. I almost ignored this as I thought it would be only for US. How wrong was I? From the world map I managed to pinpoint, and see, our own house, down to the shrubs in the garden :O)

It also has a Calendar programme that keeps all my appointments and reminds me of birthdays etc. A Photo album that I can view slide shows from, The local weather from wherever I am, Calculator, a ‘Notes’ programme and a world clock.

Here is a photo taken on my iPhone, at night with no flash and no adjustments to the photo!

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