Fakenham writer’s post-op thoughts on travelling, collecting and sending
In his weekly Wensum column, Fakenham writer Jim Harding discusses emigration, boys’ collecting habits and birthday cards…
Some families live within relatively easy range of each other beyond childhood. Not ours. My sister was the first to go when she married her Australian boy friend and flew off to settle down with him in Sydney. She was actually able to take early advantage of the £10 settlement scheme which had at the time just been introduced.
Next to go was my brother who, post-university, had gone out to work in America. He married there and settled in New Jersey where he continues to live.
It was some years beyond this era when my eldest sister, already married, followed up the chance to go out to Uganda and help teach in a school there.
My own travels as a 20-something with a rucksack were because I had the opportunity and the determination to 'see the world' on my own terms when I was young enough and fit enough to take off. My parents grew up when their lives were very much constrained by difficult circumstances and the freedom to roam far and wide not really an option.
So the fact that they managed to achieve what they did when they did really impressed me. And to add a small personal benefit, the colourful stamps on the letters from Australia, America and Africa, added to my own stamp album collection, something in which I took great pride. I still have it and have increased my range substantially down the years. What is it about boys and collecting things which can be put in some sort of album? I even stored up cigarette cards, available from dad in his packets when he used to smoke, collecting sets of animals, birds and whatever. No doubt these are still lying about somewhere in the house but I certainly have no idea just where.
With age, there's a tendency to send and receive birthday cards which reflect aspects which we know about but tend not to mention. Plenty even dread the thought of a birthday. This saddens me as I still want to 'keep going' and birthdays are a significant indication that, despite a few setbacks which seem to go with the territory, us oldies can still enjoy life and contribute positively to the society which surrounds us. We should celebrate every milestone we reach. On a recent birthday, I liked the 'wisdom' referred to in this card - you might too. Entitled the Senility Prayer, here's an extract: 'Grant me the senility to forget the people I don't like anyway, the good fortune to run into the ones I do and the eyesight to tell the difference.'
Post-operation, I'm recovering slowly at home. Amongst other lapses, my memory often lets me down. To begin with I found it hard to remember the type of medical contraption I took home with me to help ease my recovery through the coming weeks. So I sought a reminder which, ultimately and perhaps surprisingly was provided by Wuthering Heights and the relationship between Cathy and Heathcliff. As long as I held on to the 'Cathy' factor I was able to conjure this word out of the fog and refer to it quite easily and readily. Sounds silly, perhaps, but anything which prompts recall in my present 'world' is worth hanging on to.
