Two winners John and Pat, John's first
"For what remains" is next month's
THAT
WAS A RELIEF.
WE
USED TO SEE THIS MAN AROUND QUITE A LOT. HE SEEMED DIFFERENT TO US
KIDS. THERE WAS NOTHING IN PARTICULAR THAT WE COULD SAY IN A NEGATIVE
WAY, ABOUT HIM, BUT WITH TYPICAL CHILDISHNESS HE DIDN'T SEEM TO US,
LIKE OUR PARENTS. THIS WAS AT THE END OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR, AND
WITH ALL THE UPHEAVALS SURROUNDING FAMILIES, MUM AND DAD WOULD ALWAYS
WARN US ABOUT ANYONE DIFFERENT, NOT IN A NEGATIVE WAY AT ALL, BUT
JUST MAKING SURE THAT WE WERE CAREFUL WHEN CONFRONTED BY A NEW FACE
THAT WE HAD LITTLE KNOWLEDGE OF. THIS MAN TURNED OUT TO BE OUR NEW
MILKMAN AND OF COURSE WE DID BECOME MORE RELAXED TOWARDS HIM AFTER HE
STARTED DELIVERING TO US. HE HAD BEEN COMING FOR A WHILE AND WE EVEN
FOUND OUT WHERE HE LIVED. AFTER BEING SO VERY WARY OF HIM, WE
DISCOVERED THAT HE WAS QUITE A PLEASANT PERSON AFTER ALL. HIS NAME
WAS BILL BROWN, AND IT TRANSPIRED THAT HE HAD BEEN DISCHARGED FROM
THE ARMY IN SOUTHAMPTON, AT THE END OF THE WAR, AND DECIDED TO STAY
IN THE AREA. HE SAID THAT HE'D ORIGINALLY COME FROM COVENTRY, BUT
DIDN'T WANT TO GO BACK THERE. IT DIDN'T REGISTER TOO MUCH WITH US
KIDS, BUT THE RUMOURS STARTED TO CIRCULATE THAT BILL WAS A BIT OF A
LADIES MAN, THE LADY NEXT DOOR APPEARED TO BE GETTING MORE THAN 2
PINTS OF MILK A DAY, OR SO IT WAS SUGGESTED, BUT AGAIN WE WEREN'T TOO
INTERESTED UNTIL THE DAY WHEN MATTERS CAME TO A HEAD. WE WERE PLAYING
OUT IN THE STREET, WHEN BILL APPEARED IN THE MILK FLOAT, AND ONCE
HE'D PUT THE HAY BAG ONTO THE HORSE, WHICH HE ALWAYS SEEMED TO DO
WHEN DELIVERING TO NEXT DOOR, HE DISAPPEARED INTO MRS JONES HOUSE. WE
KIDS ALWAYS WONDERED WHY HE TOOK SO LONG TO SERVE MRS JONES. WE
THOUGHT HE JUST WANTED TO GIVE HIS HORSE A LONG REST. WELL, UNBEKNOWN
TO US ALL HELL WAS ABOUT TO BE LET LOOSE, WHEN MR. JONES SUDDENLY
ARRIVED OUTSIDE THE HOUSE. AS HE WENT IN I THOUGHT THAT THAT WAS A
RELIEF, BILL THE MILKMAN, WOULD BE ABLE TO GET ON HIS WAY, AND IN
SOME RESPECTS HE WAS. ONLY HE MADE A RATHER UNDIGNIFIED EXIT WHEN HE
WAS SUDDENLY PUNCHED OUT THROUGH THE FRONT DOOR BY A VERY IRATE MR
JONES. WE KIDS DIDN'T UNDERSTAND SOME OF
THE WORDS BEING EXCHANGED, BUT FOR SOME REASON MRS. JONES ALSO SEEMED
QUITE UPSET, AND SHE SEEMED TO US TO BE RATHER UNTIDELY DRESSED. WELL
THE HORSE WAS DRIVEN OFF AT QUITE A PACE BY BILL AND BELIEVE IT OR
NOT HE PACKED UP BEING OUR MILKMAN ALMOST STRAIGHT AWAY, AND FOR SOME
STRANGE REASON MRS JONES ALSO DISAPPEARED AS WELL. OF COURSE WE
MISSED BILL FOR A WHILE, AND MORE TO THE POINT OUR DAD'S ROSES WERE
NEVER THE SAME WITHOUT THE BUCKET OF MANURE FROM THE HORSES WAIT
OUTSIDE OF OUR HOUSE, THE NEW MILKMAN WAS ALWAYS MUCH QUICKER THAN
BILL.
THAT
WAS A RELIEF
Does
the weather bother you? Do you let it interfere with your plans for
the day? As a child I don't remember it stopping us playing outside
unless it was raining cats and dogs as they used to say.
The
winter weather certainly divided the nation. If the roof didn't leak
and your local roads drained well it barely affected you. Then
there’s the unlucky minority, many of whom are still waiting for
their homes to dry out. The wood from fallen trees was put to good
use. Fences repaired, tiles replaced, telephone and electricity lines
reconnected. Jobs for all! Then there are the potholes...why can't we
have a super emergency team? Its a long story.
The
unusually stormy weather produced the most wonderful cloud formations
for anyone who cared to look up.
Also,
thanks to the floods in Cornwall, Britain’s only tea plantation is
having a record harvest. Who would have thought!
Has
the so called 'man made' rise in temperature has caused all this? If
so, what caused the end of the Ice Age, when the seas rose causing
England to separate from Europe and then divide from the Isle of
Wight? Did Man cause that? No? That’s a relief then, we can all
carry on polluting.
