Having sat in the camper-van on Friday, and had such fun, we decided it would be nice to go somewhere scenic the next day and have lunch in the camper.

We drove up to a beauty spot. The highest point in Yorkshire, where you can see the beautiful countryside for miles and miles.  It was another sunny day, but when we got to the top the wind was fierce!  Well you can’t be up that high and not expect some wind.

We had packed some sausages, fried onions and various sauces and it wasn’t long before we were tucking into delicious sausage rolls and drinking tea.

We noticed an ice cream van and we questioned who would eat ice cream in this cold wind.  We didn’t need to wait long before we saw just who would.  I wanted to take a photograph but without getting out of the camper, pointing the camera directly at her and probably getting pulverised, it was impossible. You’ll just have to do with my artists impression.

She was not the most glamorous of women, well she wasn’t remotely glamorous if I’m honest. She had a little boy of about eleven with her.  Poor boy surely must have been embarrassed, to say the least.  She had a very full, very short miniskirt on and was standing facing us.  The skirt was blowing up and exposing her black knickers and we were laughing at the fact that she wasn’t too bothered about showing her, less that glamorous legs to us all.

She turned around and we were stunned.  She wasn’t showing her knickers at all.  She wasn’t wearing any!  We had a good five minutes view of her backside and she didn’t even try to hold her skirt down!

Did we have a laugh that day?  You bet we did!

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It was a lovely warm sunny day on Friday and Mo and I found ourselves sitting in a camper-van, with our niece and her husband, drinking tea and eating home made chocolate birds nests.  We were having fun, chatting and laughing and the time just flew by.

Somebody mentioned that it was getting late and we said that we ought to be making our way home now.  We thanked them for a lovely time, stepped out of the camper-van, walked off their driveway and around the corner.  We were home in under two minutes!

Would you sit in a camper-van drinking tea and chatting while parked on your driveway, or are we totally nuts?  It was fun!

If you think I am nutty enough to get a smiley, please click the button below.

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For those that haven’t read parts one and two, and would like to, here are the links: Part one - Part two

During all the trauma of the accident, Jeanette and Sidney also had to cope with the fact that Britain was at war.  Sidney was not called to fight as he was in a reserved occupation.

It soon became apparent that London was not the safest place to be, with bombs dropping everywhere, and all school children were evacuated.  Waving goodbye to their children, as they boarded a train for the countryside, was heartbreaking for Sidney and Jeanette. Sidney fought back his own tears while trying to comfort the sobbing Jeanette.  Eventually, unable to stand the separation any longer,  Jeanette joined her children, leaving Sidney behind.  He worked hard in order to provide for his family, even though he was in continual pain from badly ulcerated legs.  These were a result of his accident and would stay with him for the rest of his life.

These years took their toll on their marriage and family life, but by 1945 the war was declared over and Sidney and Jeanette had had two more little girls.  One year later another baby girl was born and two years on, yet another baby girl.  This would be their last child.  They now had two boys and five girls.  Soon after this, a friend of Jeanette’s who couldn’t handle being a mother, handed her little girl over to Jeanette and Sidney.  They didn’t think twice.  They took her in as one of their own and she lived with them until she was fifteen.  They loved children.

As the years came and went, things got easier and Sidney’s earnings improved.  The country was slowly getting on it’s feet again.  Sidney was now able to provide more luxury items for Jeanette.  She had worked so hard for so many years, looking after her family, that Sidney vowed she would have every labour saving device and gadget that came on the market.  During the fifties and sixties their home was transformed from a war-torn dilapidated home to a modern, warm home with everything Jeanette could ever want.  Everything was centered around the kitchen which, because she loved to cook, was Jeanette’s favourite room.  Family came to visit and sat around in the kitchen.  It always had been, and would continue to be, the focal point of their home.

Sidney was a romantic and, now that he could afford it, he came home every pay day with flowers or a box of chocolates for Jeanette and sweets for the children.  At least those that were still living at home.  They had ridden a very bumpy road to get here, but had survived.  They were still very much in love.

There was, however, one more major bump on it’s way.

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I know Leona Lewis may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I was listening to this track in iTunes and just had to post it. It’s one of my favourites at the moment. I love the music build up throughout the song. I can imagine myself playing in that band

You need to turn up the volume on this one!   I do – nice and loud!

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What I like about Leona Lewis, besides her unique voice, is that she is a sweet, unassuming and gentle person.  I hope she stays that way.

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Sidney and Jeanette settled nicely in to married life and it wasn’t long before they had additions to their family.  Their first born, a little girl called Leeta, and five years later a son was born.  Life wasn’t easy as it was the time of ‘The Great Depression’, following the ‘Wall Street Crash’ of 1929, but they were very much in love and felt they could overcome anything. Another four years on and another baby boy arrived.  Sidney had managed to find work, so although life was hard they had an income, which was more than most.

It was their wedding anniversary and Jeanette was cooking a special meal for Sidney that evening, with all the trimmings. With everything prepared, and the two youngest boys in bed, she waited, with Leeta, for Sidney to arrive home.

He was late and Jeanette began to worry.   A loud banging on the door knocker broke the silence and Leeta rushed to let her father in.  It wasn’t her father, but a policeman, who proceeded to tell Jeanette that there had been a accident and that Sidney was in hospital.  He said she needed to get there quickly as he was not expected to make it through the night.

Sidney had been asked to work late, and was promised a lift home so he wouldn’t be late for his anniversary celebrations.  Everything went according to plan, but what Sidney didn’t know was that the passenger door on the lorry was faulty.  The lorry driver took a corner rather fast, the door flew open and Sidney fell out, and under the wheels.  The road they were travelling along was in the process of being re-tarred and gravelled, so it made things far worse. It was an eight wheeled lorry and it dragged Sidney quite a distance.

When Jeanette arrived at the hospital, she was informed of Sidney’s horrific injuries.  A fractured scull, a broken pelvis, his spine was broken in three places and his stomach was split open, causing his intestines to spill out. They, and his body, were pitted in tar and gravel.  “He will not live”, they said, but live he did!

The nurses had to spend time, each day, picking the little stones out of Sidney’s body.  They put him in plaster from his neck down to his thighs and he spent many, many weeks in hospital.  “He will never walk again”, they said, but walk he did!

Jeanette had to juggle her life between looking after children and a baby and spending time at Sidney’s side in the hospital.  It was not easy, but with the help of family, she managed to spend  best part of the daytime with Sidney and the late afternoon and evenings at home with her children.

Eventually Sidney came home, still wearing the plaster, that he was to continue to wear for another six months.  Jeanette had two children, a baby and now Sidney to nurse and care for.  Their life had changed dramatically.  Sidney would never be free of pain for very long, for the rest of his life, but they didn’t know that then.  They were still very much in love, and Sidney was still alive.  That was all that mattered.  They had an upward battle to face, but face it they did!

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Comment … You are such a fine storyteller.  Oh, please write a book!

Babs:  “No way! – Far too difficult.”

Comment … Yes, you should write a book. You’re an amazing storyteller.

Babs:  “It’s far to daunting.  I wouldn’t know where to start”

Comment … I agree with those above who think you could write a book.

Babs:  “No way! Couldn’t do it”

Comment … Sounds like something I would read in Reader’s Digest.

Babs:  “I wouldn’t know how to approach it…. Oh YES!  That’s how I could do it”

The first chapter is finished!

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It all started many years ago, in 1915, when two little children met for the first time.

The children were just 5 years old.  They played together under a kitchen table, while the grownups did what grownups do, chatted and drank tea.  Sidney, the little boy, was in awe of his new found friend.  He had never seen such a pretty little girl and he made a promise that day.  He promised himself that he would marry the girl that they called Jeanette.  Unfortunately life has a way of spoiling the plans of little children.  Jeanette was whisked away, by her parents, to live in America, where she became a child actress in the movies.  Sidney had lost his new found sweetheart and with her, his chances of fulfilling his promise.

Many years later, in fact about fourteen years later, Sidney, now a young man, was out with his father and they were rather surprised to bump into Jeanette’s father.  They were back from America.  He suggested that Sidney might like to meet Jeanette again, and gave him their address.  Sidney tucked the piece of paper into his pocket and after a short exchange of pleasantries, they went on their respective ways.  A short time passed and Sidney thought about that little girl he had met, all those years ago.  His curiosity got the better of him and he decided to visit.  He wanted to meet his childhood sweetheart again and see how she’d grown up.  See if she was still as pretty.

He arrived at the address, knocked nervously on the door and waited.  The door opened and the tiny frame of Jeanette’s mother stood in the doorway. Sidney could see that she was distraught.  “I’ve come to see Mr Fordham”  Sidney said. Mrs Fordham was crying as she led him into the house.  There was Jeanette! He recognized her immediately, though her face was pale and drawn and her eyes red from crying.  The sparkle had gone from those beautiful eyes. They led Sidney into the front room, to a scene that shocked him.  Jeanette’s father had just died quite suddenly, and was laid out in the front room. Things often don’t go as you expect them to, but this was not the time for Sidney to be thinking of himself.

Jeanette’s mother was French and couldn’t speak any English, and Jeanette’s sister, at 16, was the younger of the two girls.  It was obvious that they would find this a very difficult thing to deal with.  Although Sidney didn’t really know them, he decided that he couldn’t possibly leave them to see to all the necessary legalities alone, so he dealt with everything for them.  In fact he moved in, as a lodger, and looked after the three women, helping out wherever needed.  It was probably the best timed visit possible, in order for Sidney to be there when he was most needed.

In August 1930 it was a time for celebrations. Sidney fulfilled the promise he made himself under that kitchen table, when he was just five years old.  Fifteen years on, he watched eagerly as Jeanette, his childhood sweetheart, walked down the aisle of the church to become his wife.

This was the beginning.

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We were sitting in the waiting room. Mo had already had her mammogram and we were waiting for me to be called in.  There were two women sitting opposite.  Both held a slip of paper in one hand and a mobile phone in the other.  Both were squinting at the paper and tap, tap, tapping on their respective mobiles. Woman #1 finished what she was doing and slipped her mobile and piece of paper into her bag.  Woman #2 was not having as much luck.  It went something like this.

Woman #2 - moving her piece of paper back and forth to focus it…

“Mumble, mumble….This is too long…..” tap, tap, tap…..”I can’t see it…..mumble, mumble”…..tap, tap, tap…..

Mo and I chuckle.  Woman #1 looks our way and smiles…..

Woman #2 “How can I see what I entered?….it’s too long…..mumble mumble…..Look! It’s far too long …..Oh that’s nice!  They hung up on me!…..”

Mo and I laugh out loud.

Woman #1 – looks sheepishly our way and smiles again, while woman #2 mumbles on.

Mo and I  “What’s she doing?”

Woman #1 “Topping up” She smiles again and looks nervously at woman #2 who is mumbling for England.

Woman #2 “They hung up again!”…. tap, tap, tap…..”mumble, mumble…..”  She shifts agitatedly in her seat….. tap, tap, tap…..  “They hung up again!!!….”  silent pause….. “Oh I din it me sen” (Yorkshire for did it myself) A guilty, half smile crosses her lips as she realizes she’s been hanging up on herself all along.

Mo and I are in stitches now.

Woman #1 – while still looking nervous about laughing out loud, plucks up the courage to speak “She can’t even answer a text”

Woman #2 “well!…..tap, tap, tap…stupid things!…..mumble mumble…..”

Eventually woman #2 finishes and puts her piece of paper and mobile away, looking satisfied with herself and still mumbling about stupid mobiles.

I got called in for my mammogram.

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How’s your day been?

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Last week, something happened and I said to Mo “I’ll blog this”.  A day or so later something else occurred and I said the same thing.  I had plenty of material just waiting for the moment.

When the time came to write the post, my mind went blank.  It’s still blank. It’s been blank for a week now!  I have no idea what was so interesting that it deserved publishing here, all I know is that it’s lost forever now.

Those who know me personally would probably say “Your mind’s gone blank? Nothing new there then”  I have often been talking to someone and gone to mention, either a family member, or a close friends name and just stopped mid sentence, waiting for a prompt.  Thankfully I usually get one, though it has been known for me to have to give an account of the person’s (with the increasingly elusive name) life story – including their family tree, before the person I’m speaking to prompts me!  Whatever possessed me to start a blog?  Who was I kidding, that I would be able to hold stuff in my head for long enough?

To be really honest, I have a very good memory.  I can even remember expressions on peoples faces, where they were in the room in relation to me – I can see every little thing quite clearly.  It’s like watching a recording playing back in my head.  I can see things that happened forty years ago just as clearly! Why can’t I remember little things that happened just last week then?

Oh, I almost forgot.  The purpose of this is to tell you – Sorry, no post today ;O)

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