The older I get, the more I come to understand and appreciate all that my parents - particularly Daddy - did for me. Crumbs, where to start? Trains, machinery, craftsmanship (anything he did he always did so well that it never needed any improvements or repairs). He was also forgiving, generous, warm hearted and had a hell of a sense of humour.
My mother also contributed a lot but she was judgemental and that both alienated me and hurt my feelings to such effect that its taken decades for me to overcome some of her nastier moments of misguided parenting.
However one thing that I'm really grateful to my mother - hereinafter called Mummy - for, is the literary and artistic legacy she bequeathed to me.
Daddy had an account at Foyles, a famous London book store, from which I received a whole library full of books over the school age years.
Its only recently that I've realised just how much these books meant to me, how deeply embedded their values became especially since I have recently begun to reacquire some via Amazon's audiobook service, Audible which gives me one free credit per month to spend and my choices are all old books not a single modern one, so I can acquire a nice collection for nothing.
Mummy got me hooked on Arthur Ransome's 'Swallows and Amazons' stories which I can thoroughly recommend because though written for children they didnt talk down to them. The child protagonists are, in many ways, quite adult in their thinking even if their adventures and ideas are more or less the sort of things you might wish you could have done in your summer holidays.
As the volumes follow on from the original 'Swallows and Amazons' you find yourself growing up with them, they eventually branch off (presumably into the anonymity of adulthood) and the younger audience is more catered to by his subsequent stories set on the Norfolk Broads (whereas Swallows and Amazons is set in the Lake District) such as 'Coot Club' and 'The Big Six' which
are excellent too.
Dated though his stories are, they are also very interesting in the way they preserve a way of life that a fortunate few did enjoy whilst at the same time painting a picture of how one was expected to behave without driving the message home in some sanctimonious manner.
For a perfect example of the latter read Charles Kingsleys 'The Water Babies' or even the original 'Vanity Fair'.
How was one expected to behave? By being honest and truthful, showing respect to the elderly, however irritating, (read Ransome's Picts and Martyrs) for a perfect example of an unreasonable, bossy, irascible maiden aunt! One was expected to show courage when faced with the unexpected or unanticipated dangers of any situation and to do ones best to sympathize with those less able to cope and in particular to look out for ones younger friends and family members.
You, of course, may be entirely unable to understand or sympathize with my fuddy duddy recommendations but thats understandable, times change, but its your loss (not you Chloe) America as we can clearly see from the disgraceful situation extant in our political system such as it is.
I must stop or else I'll lose my thread and go off on a rant!
I love you - hope this letter makes for an interesting thoughtful read. More to follow once I've settled down. I was about to go off on a lament for the late Queen Elizabeth! Its all about values. Love Pop-pop
Message Thread
« Back to index