Friday 9th April

I had an email today that started me off reminiscing again.  I was thinking how differently we used to be towards our neighbours.  By 'neighbours' I mean the people in our street, not the general population.

We had Aunties and Uncles, lots of them, but they were actually no relation to us.  Nor were the 'uncles' our mum's boyfriend!!  No, they were all immediate neighbours or people mum and dad were friends with.   Everyone else was Mr so-and-so, or Mrs.   You could actually determine the degree of friendship which existed by how they were addressed.  Well, that didn't occur to us at the time but, when you come to think about it............

Next door was Auntie Betty and Uncle Harry.  When I picture them I see a tall woman who wore her stockings rolled down round her ankles, a turban and a crossover pinny.  I can't recall her voice except it was LOUD.  Uncle Harry was a little guy who had been a sailor.  You could tell because he had a tattoo on his forearm and I once or twice got to try on his sailor hat so that proved it.  Their kids were Ann, Paul and Graham, friends after whom we named various dolls and Teddy bears.  Ann had something wrong with her teeth, which we were always told was because she crunched her sweets.  It was nothing of the kind but a good enough excuse for our mum and dad not to buy us sticks of seaside rock!

Next door the other side were Auntie Joyce and Uncle Walt.  There wasn't much to remember about Uncle Walt.  He was reputed to be Welsh though I never heard any sign of it and, even then,I knew what a Welsh accent sounded like.  He was a kindly man, as I remember, but he must have been absolutely terrified of Auntie Joyce;  everybody else was!  Oh she was a harridan, she was.  Her kids, David and Brian, were always in trouble, or so it seemed.  They couldn't do anything right poor things.  David, the eldest, was reputed to be 'backward' as they called it then.  I'm not sure what they call it these days - but 'backward' was a cover-all expression for anyone who was not the sharpest knife in the drawer.  I remember we were discouraged from playing with him and, by association, with Brian too.  I was sad about it then and I'm sorry for it now but in those days you didn't question your elders.  Auntie Joyce was reputed to be 'a bit odd' because she had a brain tumour and might die any minute.  Well she never did and I believe she's around to this day, though Uncle Walt's gone.  Don't blame him!

Next door to Auntie Joyce were Auntie Jessie and Uncle Pip. parents of Kevin and Shane.  My mind's eye picture of Auntie Jessie is of a small, pretty woman with beautiful shining, short, brown hair and a lovely Northern Irish accent.  She must have been exempt from the turban which everyone else's mum wore.  I don't recall her ever wearing one.  I don't recall any pinny either. Uncle Pip was a carpenter and obviously very clever with bits of wood.  He once built a collapsible caravan in his back yard but I don't think they ever used it.  They always had a nice car - a rare thing to see parked outside a council house in the 50's.  There is one incident concerning Auntie Jessie which must have made a huge impression on me, though I won't have known what it was at the time, I'm sure.  She had been getting really fat for ages then suddenly,one day, Kevin and Shane weren't allowed to come out and play and we hadn't to make any noise in the garden or the field beyond.  Such intrigue and no-one breathed a word to us, though women seeemed to be popping in and out of there like nobody's business.  We found out much later that Auntie Jessie had given birth to a 'blue baby' who needed his blood changed but died before they could get him to the hospital 30 miles away.  Tragic.  Tragedy just would not leave that family alone.  They went 'home' to Northern Ireland for a holiday, where Pip died.  Auntie Jessie and the boys stayed there in Ireland. 

These were the only grown-ups whose Christian names we were allowed to utter.  Everyone else's parents were Mr and Mrs.  Even as an adult now, anyone who was Mr or Mrs then would be today still.  Quite diffrent from today when Christian names is the norm.  I don't mind in general unless it's a call centre.  "Good morning, Duh-di-Duh Limited, Perry speaking, how may I help you today?????"  The first thing they ask is your first name.  This is just so they can be your new bezzie mate.  Well, just for them, my first name is Mrs!

Enough for today.