Archive: “Family”
I was three years old at the commencement of the Second World War in September 1939. My parents became anxious to move us away from this particularly dangerous area to somewhere slightly less in the line-of-fire. Accordingly we moved, in December 1940 to Wellington, in Shropshire, or, to be more precise to an area known […]
Read more »This momentous event occurred when I was about six years old and as innocent as a new-born lamb. We were seated ‘en-famille’ around the kitchen table: Father, Mother, sisters Betty and Gladys, brothers Ted and Ron and of course, little me. At some point in the proceedings I decided to demonstrate my familiarity with the […]
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Standing beside a large, shiny cylinder which appeared to be draped in white cloth and thick, silky ropes. I was four and my eldest brother had taken me to see this landmine, which I presume had been made safe! Crazy! — The occasional lesson taken in the garden of Chelsfield school on a sunny summer’s […]
Read more »In November 1947 we moved to a new council house in Orpington. The road in which we lived, Robin Hood Green, resembled a wine-glass in shape, with our house situated on a corner which would represent the top of the stem. The inner part of this shape had no buildings, but was left as a […]
Read more »In the early 1970s my wife, Susan and I bought a little touring caravan, which gave us considerable pleasure, and allowed us to become familiar with many parts of the country which we otherwise may never have seen. The children, Lee, John and Sarah all became experienced caravanners in their respective childhoods, and although we […]
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This was when I moved away from the VW badge, but stayed within the “family”. Lee and I were driving through Westerham one day and I suggested we should visit a garage, which had been well-known to us for decades. This was a former Volkswagen dealership, Wolfe Garage which had undergone a change of identity […]
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The summer of 2003 had not been a particularly happy time for me in terms of my health. Over the preceding three years I had been a frequent user of the local primary health care facilities, visiting the Health Centre and summoning the Doctor-on-call on numerous occasions. I experienced a variety of ills; palpitations, panic […]
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Sometime over the weekend of 18-19 June 2005 I had a hint from Sarah that John was thinking of driving to Nordwalde, near Münster, in north-west Germany and that I might be invited to accompany him. A little background information is required here. John is building a ‘project’ car in his garage, at home in […]
Read more »Some years ago Lee, my elder son, took us on a day-trip to France, took us in the sense that he drove us in his car. We drove around to various well known sites from WW1, including the monument at Thiepval and Albert. Walking through a public garden in the latter town I spied a […]
Read more »A couple of years ago my wife, Susan and I drove to Maidstone Hospital where my daughter Sarah had an out-patient appointment. The hospital was undergoing building extension works and car parking was ‘difficult’. Having driven around the car park at the front of the hospital several times without finding a space I went to […]
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