100th Birthday in Heaven :)

My mother Barbara would have been 100 years old today, February 17th, though I doubt she would have wanted a telegram from Charles and Camilla - Princess Anne, maybe!  Mum died in 2019 when she was 93, after having suffered from Alzheimer's for 10 years.

I was taking a look at what London was like when she was born there in 1926, the year of the General Strike, and picked out three (very short) videos.  I can't add videos to this blog at the moment, but these links take you to YouTube.

London 1926 1.51 mins long

London Bridge 1926

General Strike 1926

Photos of London life in 1926, HERE

Mum in the middle, about 1941 :)

In 1926, when she would have taken Mum out in her pram, this is what my grandmother might have paid for her shopping.  Back then, of course, the currency was pounds, shillings and pence, but I've converted it into decimal currency for ease of comparison:

A loaf of bread: 4p

A pound of butter: 8p

Half a pound of cheese: 4p

Eight Sausages: 6p

Six eggs: 5p

Five pounds of potatoes: 3p

A leg of lamb: 30p

A whole chicken: 25p

The large family home Mum, her parents, brothers and sisters grew up in, in West London, probably cost her father around £1,000.

On the right, aged 8

With regard to this time in my mother's life, I came across an amazing coincidence via a Twitter friend who lives in Massachusetts - it's HERE if you're interested.  It's short, fear not!

I have to just mention this, while I'm on the subject of familial coincidences - during WWII, Mum's brother Geoff was in the Navy, while her brother Ken was in the Army.  They never knew where in the world each other was from one month to the next (and indeed the world was a much larger place in those days), but one day down a little street in India, Uncle Geoff literally turned a corner and bumped into his brother.  Of all the streets...  below, from one of Mum's many photo albums.

This was taken in about 1951, in Beccles, Suffolk, where Mum met our dearly beloved father.  I love how elegantly people dressed in the 50s.  I remember Mum wearing white gloves in the summer, particularly to church.  I also remember her saying, some decades later, 'Why doesn't anyone dress properly anymore?' 😄

This snap by my sister Julia; it's just so like her.

Happy birthday in heaven, Mummy :) 

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Birthday Memories

August means my birthday, so I thought I'd put together some birthday memories from years gone by :)

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Not my actual 0th birthday, but ten days after I was born - my first photo, with Mum and Julia (and Coco).

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On or around my 3rd birthday, which occurred on this holiday in Great Yarmouth.  That's me in the groovy bloomers, with sister Julia and cousins Gerry and Sue (to whom we are still close). I remember going out on a boat with Uncle Geoff and Gerry, and crying because I was scared.  

(I've just realised that Julia was wearing said bloomers in the photo above.  The curse of the second child - you don't get to wear new clothes!)

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My 18th.  I remember being most pleased with that jumper - it was £1 in a Miss Selfridge sale the year before.  Light blue sparkles going darker towards the top.  Well, it was 1970s.  Kept it for years.

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22nd.  Staying in a hotel in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire.  Can't believe I ever had that much hair!

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My 29th birthday party.  The 2 litre bottles of Websters/Adnams beer show what a classy bash it was.  This is me clearing up afterwards.  Sort of.

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My not-so-big 3-0.  I was going through nasty divorce at the time and not in the mood for partying, but my friends Ruth and Lesley took me out for dinner at Luigi's, which was the best authentic pizza restaurant that ever existed.  I can still remember the Napolitana.  Olives and anchovies.  

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35th - The Foundry pub, Northampton.  Always loved this photo, not least of all because there aren't many of me, my brother and sister all together.

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My 36th.  In the Rubicon casino, Northampton, which my then-boyfriend Marcus (standing) used to frequent.  Opposite me is my friend Abi, but I don't know who the bloke is - some gambling mate of Marcus's.  

Those who spent many hours at the Rubicon used to think it was great that they got free lavish meals (great breakfasts, or three course lunch/dinner), never considering that they'd paid for them a hundred times over....!

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On my 37th it rained all day!  Had stayed at my friend John's house the night before, and in the morning were walking the three or four miles home.  Then the downpour came - had to give up and get on a bus, and we were so drenched, dripping onto the floor, that all the passengers laughed when we got on.

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38th - the aforementioned friend John threw a party for me at his house :)

Abi, John and my brother, Eddie.

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My 40th - had a party at our house that started in the early afternoon, so that my parents and people with children - like my best friend from school, Ruth - could come before it got too raucous.

Much later... it's my party and I'll pole dance round the coat stand if I want to.

Then-husband and I spent the whole night in the garden because lots of people wanted to stay over and all the beds and sofas were taken.

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43rd - in the King's Head, Cromer, Norfolk; had moved there two years before.  The very beautiful Claire (on the right) had the same birthday as me, and we would usually have a drink together at some point during the day.  Claire's mum Kirsty was the landlady of the Kings Head.

Birthdays in Cromer entailed drifting from one of the six pubs to another, and being bought drinks, I seem to remember.  A very small town where everyone knew everyone, and life centred around licensed premises!

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45th - actually the day after.  In Sheringham, about five miles up the coast from Cromer.  Julia and me at our friend Denise's cafe.  I loved that top I'm wearing but someone nicked it off my washing line.

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48th - a blowy night on Cromer pier, with Julia and John (and Steve who took the picture).  There's a bar at the end of the pier, but many people just take bottles of wine etc to drink at the tables outside.  Amazed it's allowed, but have had many a jolly afternoon/evening there!  

The square pale yellow-ish building next to the long grey one in the background is where I lived at the time, a flat on the ground floor.  Moved out a month later because it was cold and damp - but I loved living there, and being able to look out on the sea. 

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A couple of days after my 50th.  Turkey.  Too hot to wear make-up! (and yes, I'm wearing the same dress as I was in the picture from two years before!). 

Little bit of background here: the holiday was actually a 50th birthday present from my employers - but I could only go to Turkey, as that was where their main suppliers were located (thus, business expense).  Six weeks later, I told them I was leaving (to move to where I live now), so they scoured MySpace for evidence of a reason not to pay my final month's salary, thus recouping any money they'd spent on the holiday.

The offending pictures?  A toy rabbit in various places around the engineering establishment.  They got me on health and safety, and wasting work time.

Offending rabbit.  He had his own MySpace page.

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52nd.  Love this photo!  In our flat where I live now, with dear husband.

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Another 'milestone' birthday (no numbers mentioned!) - an idyllic few days spent in Cromer for get-togethers with old friends  Still the same - the afternoon traipsing from pub to pub, albeit more low key than when I was younger!  

....and the cake Julia got DottyAboutCakes to make for me!

More Cromer pictures from that lovely week here.

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2021 - no make-up, waah!  Not making a statement; I just snapped it when I got up :)

....and 2022 - with presents, including Leo socks from Julia :)

2023 update... this is how we like them after a certain age, especially first thing in the morning with no make-up on - nice and blurry!!!

2024 update....

2025...

~ Happy birthday to all who are August born! ~

My Mum

... is ninety today.  

Me, Mum and Julia, 1987.  1980s big hair all round!

Julia, Mum and me
~ August 1959.  That's me in the shawl!

February 17th, 2016 ~ Mum is ninety today, though she won't know about it because she's had Alzheimer's for the past seven years.  Dad will take a card to the care home where she lives now, from all of us, but it won't mean anything to her; she hasn't known about dates and times for some years now.  Sometimes she thinks I am her sister Angela, who lived in Australia and died not so long ago; she has also asked me where she knows me from! :)

(Note from later:  Dad said she seemed to enjoy looking at her cards, even though she didn't understand what they were!  Or maybe she did ~ alas, we don't know)

Mum, bottom left, with her family, probably in about 1937, definitely pre-war anyway.  Her brothers at the top, Ken and Geoff, both fought in the war.  My grandparents, in the middle, were born in 1888 and 1891 - seems amazing!

Mum with Dad at her care home, a couple of years ago

Before crappy old Alzheimer's, Mum was a funny, witty, intelligent woman who was always more interested in reading books, doing cryptic crosswords (and learning her lines for various am-dram performances when she was younger) than doing domestic stuff - obviously where I get it from!  The house was always immaculate and we were wonderfully well looked after, but she wasn't a dedicated 'homemaker' and never encouraged me or my sister to be so, either.  She used to knit for us when we were children (because women just did, in the 1960s, didn't they?), but she only ever made a token attempt at things like dressmaking.  I remember Dad buying her a posh sewing machine once, and she stubbornly refused to use it ~ she was (and still is!) a very contrary Aquarian! 
 

Mum in the conservatory in her and Dad's house, about 12 years ago, I think

About twelve years ago, the two of them came to visit me in Norfolk.  It was bitterly cold, and we were walking round the lovely little town of Holt.  Dad wanted to buy Mum a nice furry hat to keep her warm, but she refused to wear such a thing, saying that she 'didn't want to look like some batty old woman'.  She was seventy-eight.  When she was over seventy and she and Dad moved into their village, she was asked if she was interested in meals on wheels.  She said that yes, of course, she'd be delighted to help out ~ not realising that they were asking her if she required them herself :) 

Mum and Dad in Portsmouth, 1955

Sometimes, when I go to see her, I see a little spark of the real her that still exists; she'll laugh about something in the way she used to, or even recognise me.  I'll be thinking of her today even though I can't go to see her - and now I'll stop before I get overly sentimental, or start blubbing!

Dad, Eddie, me, Julia and Mum ~ February 1999

In the care home, 2012

Mum, right, aged 8, in 1934, with her younger sister, Angela.

February 17th, 2021.  My parents are no longer with us, sadly; Mum died on March 28th, 2019, aged 93.  This was exactly 18 months after Dad, who died on September 28th, 2017, aged 88. I told her about Dad's death, and even though her Alzheimer's was more advanced then, she understood. I am so glad I wrote posts like these, while they were still alive.