It was about a month after my brothers 21st birthday that we had a formal party, I'd travelled back from London to Whiston in Lancashire and the rare night of a Weldon "do" was upon us.
That year, my younger brother Paul must have been 6 years old and I followed him around the hall watching as he put a handful of peanuts on each table, around 15 peanuts or so, bang in the middle of each table. That was his job, but nobody had explained how, so he made it all up as he went along.
The hall was about a mile from home, and near the end of the party, I grabbed my girlfriend and we snuck out, walking back to the house for a bit of "how is your father", "Percy Filth" or as Austin Powers would say, a good shag.
It was a good night and my personal introduction to Pernod.
Alcohol and time, space, speed of walking, speed of vehicles. It all didn't matter to us, however, perhaps a few minutes into it all, the secret front room was no longer our own as the light went on and (at least) my mum and Auntie Alda strolled in, catching the pair of us at it.
The light went off quickly and the door closed.
And nothing was ever said......
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
The Start
The start of my working life, back there in September of 1974, was the opening of a chapter that would, in my case, last 33 years, ending in September 2007.
It was the start of debt, in fact I believe it was only a month into my working chapter that I bought a motorbike that I could not afford, on the "never never" as my mother would put it, mind you, in the years before starting work, my mum had done little to avert the habit, her Kay's catalogue was always available for the kids to spend their pocket money on inflated priced trinkets.
The motorbike, well, it was a liability for sure, besides that monthly payment, there was an expensive insurance policy, repairs and not forgetting the occasional brush with the law, with ridiculous fines for something as trivial as not having an "L" plate affixed. At a time when I was earning 14 pounds a week, a 20 pound fine was devastating.
Then I dropped the bike, damaged a Mercedes back tire along with my pelvis and the bike was off the road with a dinged front fork.
Oh, but the payments never stopped.......
It was the start of debt, in fact I believe it was only a month into my working chapter that I bought a motorbike that I could not afford, on the "never never" as my mother would put it, mind you, in the years before starting work, my mum had done little to avert the habit, her Kay's catalogue was always available for the kids to spend their pocket money on inflated priced trinkets.
The motorbike, well, it was a liability for sure, besides that monthly payment, there was an expensive insurance policy, repairs and not forgetting the occasional brush with the law, with ridiculous fines for something as trivial as not having an "L" plate affixed. At a time when I was earning 14 pounds a week, a 20 pound fine was devastating.
Then I dropped the bike, damaged a Mercedes back tire along with my pelvis and the bike was off the road with a dinged front fork.
Oh, but the payments never stopped.......
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
I'm not in Love
The diary of 1975 that I refer to, chronicled the demise of the single lad into the manacled, quick to grow up young man.
Big boys don't cry.
It's all there in that 1975 edict, the very apparent "two timing" that my girlfriend at the time was undertaking, and the many breakups because of it, and then, in the latter parts of 1975, the Walter Raleigh Weldon, throwing his coat down in a puddle to apparently save the young lass.
At the time, when I'd plucked up enough courage to tell her in the kitchen that drama filled night, my mum said that "if she's done it with you, she's done it with others" which, at the time was in direct opposition to my blinkered beliefs, yet was, in retrospect, true.
Always listen to your mum.
Life didn't work out too bad, after all, I ended up here didn't I..?
Big boys don't cry.
It's all there in that 1975 edict, the very apparent "two timing" that my girlfriend at the time was undertaking, and the many breakups because of it, and then, in the latter parts of 1975, the Walter Raleigh Weldon, throwing his coat down in a puddle to apparently save the young lass.
At the time, when I'd plucked up enough courage to tell her in the kitchen that drama filled night, my mum said that "if she's done it with you, she's done it with others" which, at the time was in direct opposition to my blinkered beliefs, yet was, in retrospect, true.
Always listen to your mum.
Life didn't work out too bad, after all, I ended up here didn't I..?
Birthday
In 1975 of course I was 18 years old, today, at 51 years old, things feel different.
The diary says that it was quite a normal day really, and that's probably true of most birthdays, things have not changed besides the number had increased. I went to London and bought a cassette for my brother's birthday (October 18th) and that weekend received a cassette from Rob, a model off my younger brother Paul and five pounds off my grandad, ten pounds off mum and dad.
The cassette jammed, so I had to take it back.
Today is another normal day, 33 years later, although grandad, mum, dad and Paul have gone, so no prezzies from them, in fact, birthdays are more for celebration, eating and drinking, not so much about material things any more.
No reason to be sad today, woke, brewed some coffee and prepared for another normal day.
The diary says that it was quite a normal day really, and that's probably true of most birthdays, things have not changed besides the number had increased. I went to London and bought a cassette for my brother's birthday (October 18th) and that weekend received a cassette from Rob, a model off my younger brother Paul and five pounds off my grandad, ten pounds off mum and dad.
The cassette jammed, so I had to take it back.
Today is another normal day, 33 years later, although grandad, mum, dad and Paul have gone, so no prezzies from them, in fact, birthdays are more for celebration, eating and drinking, not so much about material things any more.
No reason to be sad today, woke, brewed some coffee and prepared for another normal day.
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