This is a favourite old photograph I got out to make a copy of, to give my cousin David for his 30th birthday. He's only three months older than me, so there are many, many photos of ous together - he blonde, photogenic, cheerful, and I with my dark hair, scowling at him or the camera. This one was taken in Nanna's hallway in about 1978. The house was a bungalow, that's the bathroom behind Dave, and the loo behind me. I love the photo because I'm very fond of Dave, and I like the three patterns in it - his jumper, the very '70s wallpaper and my security blanket.
I sucked my thumb till I was about 12 (only at night time in later years of course), which accounts for my poky-out top front teeth and pushed-in bottom front teeth. That cot quilt I'm holding was my 'byebyes' (never tried spelling it before), which was what Mum's pupils bought for her when she left teaching to have me. I used to hold it in one hand whilst sucking my thumb, and ram the other arm into the kapok inside the quilt, through a hole which had appeared in the seam. When I was five my parents tried to persuade me to swap it for a hanky, which I refused. When I was six I finally gave it up in return for a cuddly puppy toy from Woolies. I miss my byebyes...
Recent Comments