Little Me

I was really stuck today for something to write about. I am sure we all get like that at times.  However, as we have been scanning and saving old photos, negatives and slides, I thought I would post the only known baby picture of me:-

Just look at the size of that sun canopy!! They do not make them like that anymore, not to mention the old fashioned pram.  Could that really be me?  Yes and for some reason it is the only baby picture ever taken of me . I next appear in photos at the age of around three and a half.  Lots and lots of my brothers but only this one of me.  Still, it is better than nothing.  Mind you, the war was on and my Mother probably had better things to do with her time than take photographs.

This is where I was born:-

It is an old postcard and has not scanned well. I have marked with a blue arrow the actual building where I was born. Yes, behind one of those two big windows was where I first saw the light of day.  The property is still there, it used to be an Ironmongers shop but I believe it is a gift shop now.  A truly beautiful area in the Brecon Beacons in South Wales. You would probably have to be a millionaire to live there now because it is right in the heart of the tourist area.  Mike and I love Wales and always talked about retiring there but we could never leave the family.

We have been back a few times. On our first visit, Becky was quite young.  We were walking down Bridge Street and came to a cottage where a table with bric-a-brac was outside and we stopped to have a look.  I picked up something I liked and entered the front door expecting to see someone who would take my money.  It was just a living room and it was totally empty. "Hello" I yelled.  No answer.  "Hello, is anybody here" I called again.  A voice in a lilting Welsh accent said "I am in the bath, won't be a moment."  I was stunned.  You could never do a thing like that in the South East of England!  Leave your front door open and disappear into the bath.  Anyway, this lovely elderly lady (when I say elderly she could not have been much older than I am now) appeared.  She chatted to us and asked us where we were from. I told her I was re-visiting the place of my birth.  She asked where and I told her - no. 19.  She was taken aback.  She asked what year and when I told her, her face lit up.  "I remember you as a baby and I remember your Mother - you have two brothers don't you?" I admitted I did.  She then told me that my eldest brother Geoff had been at school with her daughter.  So we ended up having tea with her.  A lovely memory.  My brothers had a lot of schooling in Wales and when they returned to the London area they could both speak fluent Welsh.

This is what the area looks like:-

No, your eyes have not gone peculiar.  The lines down the postcard really are crooked.  We took mostly video film of our trips there so I can only put postcards on here.  I can imagine how bleak it is in the winter but I still love the place.  It is amazing how on our trips back I immediately fall into a Welsh accent myself.  I did not notice at first until Mike and Becky picked up on it.  It just happened.  I guess when you spend your really early years surrounded by the lilting Welsh voices, it must leave a lasting impression on you.

Here we are on one of our return trips:-

Well, the sun is shining and picking up the dust on the t.v. screen and other places.  I was busy doing other things yesterday and never got around to cleaning this room.  So, I had best away.....