A BLESSING IN DISGUISE

There are four children in my family, myself Michael the eldest, then my little brother Stephen four years younger and then my sister Diana who was a toddler and last of all Madeleine who was still a baby when this story is set in the year of 1958.

My parents had decided that we all would spend a summer holiday down in the South West peninsula of Cornwall where my auntie Winnie owned a string of coastguard cottages adjacent to the Pendeen light house.

Both fathers, Winnies Bill and my own father another Bill were mining engineers who were constantly on call to go abroad on short notice to solve problems or advise on equipment purchases, in Europe and South Africa. So the mothers needed somewhere peaceful amidst a safe rural setting where they could bring up the babies whilst the boys explored the countryside thus relieving mum of the stressfull need to keep two boisterous lads out of trouble, or so they thought.

My brother was my responsibility but there was nothing for us to do except either walk four miles each way to go to the only shop in the tin mining village of Pendeen to obtain candy or venture further afield in search of adventure along the cliff tops and down to the shore. This was a series of rockpools amidst the jagged granite outcrops but no sand. The rockpools were full of sea life of every kind, sea anemones, shrimp, crab, even fish and lobsters and some pools were as big as swimming pools.

Rockpooling is a fascinating pursuit. sea anemones are beautiful to watch, their myriad fingers in many luminescent colours waving gently until the merest touch makes them instantly retract into little brown bumps.

Lobsters make clicking sounds from their hiding places and theres so much more to observe that one could spend all day exploring a single pool were it not for little brothers requiring constant amexthan myself but I told him tales about the smugglers and pirates that haunted this coast with the exploits of wreckers and various myths and legends thrown in for good measure.

I loved Steve but we were on dfferent wavelengths. I was an avid reader quite happy with my books and a mechanical turn of mind whereas he was a very boyish lad happy to play ball and ready to make friends but you could safely leave me with my model trains and Meccano construction set all day long.

So after a few days I was very glad to discover a nearby farm with a couple of boys of his age who promptly took him off my hands and showed him their world which meant wandering further afield under the watch of Gerald a village lad of 16 who could be trusted to keep them out of danger as they roamed around the local tin mines which were unsafe without expert guidance.
PART 1 TO BE CONTINUED