Brummie Gal In Cardiff

One of my favourite sentences from Molly: ‘Tell me some stories from your life’….she says this every time I babysit or she stops over ….I haven’t done much ,to be honest, and rack my brain each time (sometimes she will want a story repeated) but how lovely she wants to know ………..

I remember all the wonderful stories my family have told me over the years- stories I retell to George and Molly – not as wonderfully as originally recited but I give it a good go!
My Nans wonderfully dramatic ‘boy who stole bananas for his ill mother’ story, or her fabulous story how they snuck out to cinema in crushed velvet dresses only to end up dirty and disheveled running for the last tram as they returned from buying, rationed, Cadbury chocolate …..
My Moms story of Alec ( who looked like James Villiers) who had a false arm he had to click into place to hold her when they kissed and bought her an orchid corsage ( she always loved them – I bought her one for Mothers Day with my first wages)
My Dads stories of evading the local dog ‘Nipper Gardener’ and how the animal would double back to corner them or how he walked out of Blind School taking his totally blind friend Alan Salt with him ( Dad became a jobbing Drummer and Alan left home to live independently – they were friends for life )
This is why I’m so happy to have videoed Jonathan ( Fab Hubby) on Facebook in the days of his illness – I wish I’d done it before ! To see his humour, his personality , his happiness ….well, it makes my heart soar!

What are your favourite family stories??

My Nan was registered as Emma Winifred Breeze ; but she was always called Pem ( she hated Emma!) She was second eldest of 11 children.

                       My Great Grandmother and GrandFather

Pem excelled at English ( a family trait) she won prizes and could recite On Bosworth Field ‘off by heart’ up till her 70’s.
She loved her Mom and Dad with all her heart so eventually succumbed /listened to their disapproval of her husband and returned home with my Mom – leaving Bob (whose real name was Wilfred) to carve the life he did before his death and leave her with a rude awakening !

My Nan had a bedroom sideboard and two double wardrobes. The wardrobes hid fur coats that her brothers would don and walk with an arm on each others shoulder singing ‘Underneath The Arches’ as they made their way to the their freezing bedroom ( no central heating in those days!)
The wardrobe also held the tin of letters – as mentioned in My Mom post. It was difficult to get Nan to speak about him, she would let others. She wore her wedding ring till the day she passed away .

          Alice( formerly Frances) Mom, Nan ,Letty (family friend with her baby)

My Nan often went on holiday with her sisters (Floss,Letty and Alice) They enjoyed fishing in Ireland – the locals loved that these English women would go fishing most days though my Nan said ‘One morning we went to post cards and there was a bar in the post office- when we got out it was dark!!” On another holiday there was a group of people singing Welsh songs at the top of their voices, not to be outdone the sisters stood up and sang the National Anthem, Land of Hope and Glory etc…they all became good friends over the holiday.
We went on a couple of holidays with her and my Aunt Letty-my best memory was visiting a wax works in Weston-Super-Mare : whilst walking around Mom had become aware of what she believed to be a suspicious looking man (we didn’t know this) Nan in the meantime had an idea……as we approached The House Of Horrors section she hid behind the door and as she said later ”I screwed my face up as bad as I could!” and waited for Mom …..it was a good job we were the only ones there when Nan jumped out on her! My Mom began with a scream and ended with” You evil, evil woman!” – My Nan loved it!

                              Nan, Letty, (family friend) ,Alice and Mom


There were always family gatherings at Nans house whether Birthdays, Christmas’ or just weekly meet ups …cousins ,aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews would pile in .Food would be eaten, beer drank and the ‘turns’ would be expected….Nan would do her recital, Letty would recite Barbara Frietchie , Uncle Bill would sing then request my Mom to sing ( he voiced his disappointment at Moms funeral that there wasn’t a recording of her singing ‘one last time -beautiful voice’) luckily us kids got out of the performances. These times faded as Nan and Letty got older, though the weekend visits remained as much as possible

                                               Letty, Floss and Nan

.One memorable afternoon the sisters (Nan, Letty, Floss and Alice) were having a ‘fashion show’-Alice and Letty had bought a couple of dresses- when ,upon seeing Letty in one of the dresses Nan screwed up her nose and remarked ”Oh, I don’t like that one- It makes you look old!” There wasn’t one of them under 70 at the time!

Often ,she would tell stories to us and especially enjoyed relating the sad tale of the boy captured in a shop stealing bananas because his mother was ill and they had no food – ending in the shopkeeper and customers giving him food for his family; she loved the drama -especially if one of us cried. She also enjoyed pretending to young children that there was a mouse in the overhead  light and conducted various conversations with him in a squeaky voice whilst barely moving her lips.
My Nan had what my Dad called ‘a permanent smile”- it was the same smile in every photo, it never altered! (apparently I have inherited this trait- could be worse!)
She also had a good line in sarcasm- one of her favourite remarks to anyone who indulged in any kind of relentless self promotion used to be ”Oh I love me -who do you love ? has arrived”
I visited her in hospital , not realising she would pass away the next day, the lovely nurse on duty was telling my Mom she had managed to get Nan to eat her pudding ”And aren’t you bleeding proud of yourself!” she said, a twinkle in her eye…………

                                                   Nan and Aunt Letty

This is Ziggy- he’s an Australian Labradoodle who came into our lives (aged 18months old)  at the end of 2013 as we all settled in our new lives without Fab Hubby.

He is adored by us all and returns this love unconditionally ( although the odd treat is enthusiastically welcomed!) Ziggy is a true family dog- always ready for a walk , mischievously awaiting the next food source whether a dropped crumb or ,as we discovered, an unguarded defrosted chicken! He will follow you around and remind you – with a careful paw – that he is there, ready for some fuss. If you are happy then he will  joyfully join in any games. If you are sad he will suddenly appear with those big ,brown eyes and nuzzle you as his way to show he cares.

My love of all things Canine began one day when we acquired a stray dog from Birmingham Dogs Home – a Tramp-style mutt of a dog – we loved each other immediately. I was reading about a dog called Tip at school and so the name stuck:

                   From  Jack and Janet ,Tip (the Wire-Fox Terrier dog) and Mitten (the black cat) 

Tip was amazing! He palled up with next doors dog ,Patch, a crossbred Jack Russell. They would go out for hours; sometimes days together- only to return absolutely knackered but well-fed.
I watched them on several occasions (these dogs did not like being confined at home and ,always, found a way out!) Tip walked up to the Zebra Crossing and waited …..a car stopped (the driver was highly amused!) and Tip calmly walked across before disappearing down another road, Patch duly following him behind. Another time we found out they had been spotted getting on a bus into town!
One day the butcher up the road ,who adored him, gave him the biggest bone he could find and chuckled as he watched Tip drag it determinedly back home ”I bloody love that dog!” he said.

                                   This is the only picture in existence of Tip with my sister, Ann.


Tip would wait for us outside the School gates every day and walk us home – I hadn’t taught him this – but I had taught him sit, stay and retrieve .One day on the way home he seemed to be having trouble walking but wouldn’t let me near him , staying ahead .
Eventually, Dad managed to get hold of him and he yelped in pain. Dad took him to the Vets but it was too late- he had broken ribs and internal bleeding.  (The Vet suspected he had been hit by a car but couldn’t say when)….even as I write this tears still fill my eyes ……..

Ann with Tip 2


Some years later, after many cats  *shudder* (I try to like them I really do….) we bought a cross Border Collie – a lively ,cheeky gal who loved alcohol (she would slyly slip her tongue into anyone’s unguarded glass!) plus ,if she had had enough time at the local park she would pick up her lead ( I was training her to hold the lead in her mouth so she would wait till I was in the midst of this to make her exit!)and walk all the way home just far away enough so you couldn’t catch her ( I didn’t dare run because she would too – and we lived by a main road)
Tip 2 also fell in love with the local mutt who resembled Gnasher from ‘The Beano’ and was called ‘Scruffy’ – much to my Moms disgust , who use to desperately try to keep her in when she was in season ”I can’t see what she sees in him!” Tip would often visit my Nan and Aunt a few streets away – we would always know where she had gone as she loved playing with their dog, Blackie ( a dark chocolate cross Labrador) When it got late my Aunt would say ”Go on then – go home!” and off she would trot!
Tip 2 was my Dads dog – he absolutely loved her spirit! ( and her love of spirits ha! ha!)They would often play Tug of War with an old rag – Dad could lift her in the air and she would not let go!
I was living away from home by now and noticed she had got thinner and almost seemed to have eyeliner round her eyes- that’s when Dad quietly told me she had Cancer…….

                                                    Tip 3 with Ann…again xxx

The last dog that bore the legendary name was equally happy at home or out and about as much as the others were. This ,finally, was my Sisters dog .A German Shepherd cross.
My Sister is foremost a Cat Lover (urgh!) so it was with amusement that people would say she had bought the dog up like a cat .Once, Tip 3 went missing for over a week: Ann and Mom were really upset – I remember my Dad saying they were all watching TV one night when he saw her reappear absolutely filthy and exhausted ,she lay down in front of the fire.
My Dad loved that he was the only one who saw her ; so he casually said ‘You two haven’t noticed something..” They both looked at where Dad was pointing and the commotion was only predominated by the stench that clung onto the dogs coat…..it took a week to clear!!!

My fondest film/book memories, as far as dogs are concerned, will always be :

                                             Old Yellar (1957) and its sequel ‘Savage Sam’

So , tonight I was thinking about a new post and this song popped into my head- when I YouTubed it I looked at it and smiled ….

As long as I can remember We always had a  one -sided volatile relationship….my side. I always  walked or ran out  at the beginning of our relationship. I was good at running away,….I hadn’t the nerve to stand and fight my corner – it scared me , still does sometimes to be honest! If only I had taken the time to cherish every moment instead of being afraid of Life…..

My Mom reckoned I had low self esteem – in fact I remember her saying ”I wish I could be you for a day – I’d bloody show ’em!!” …. Opinions were for the brave, the committed, the informed- all I knew was how I felt -I couldn’t articulate it with the passion it required. That involved confrontation, debating and discussing as well as defending .I  wasn’t up to that- I just knew- I still know .Its that gut feeling, that conscience within.