As usual I struggled over the title for this piece - it may be a bit of a departure from my usual 'everything is changing, nothing stays the same' ramblings and it is a strange one, as it all started with a mouse.....We had a strong suspicion we had a mouse in the house (you can read that last sentence with a Scottish accent if you like) this suspicion became fact when I came face to face with our little friend a few weeks ago. It was in the middle of the night and I didn't have my specs on but I heard its tapping claws on the lino and saw it scuttle out of the bathroom door. (it had also left me a mousey present on the bathroom mat) Anyhow - this triggered a memory of childhood when my Nanna lived in this very same house where I live now, and she too had mice in the house! Now of course it's not the same mouse - and our house is now very different from when my Nanna lived here, we have modified it somewhat. My grandparents had a market gardening business and the field and greenhouses stretched for what seemed like miles into the distance behind our house. There was an old well and some large, black scary water tanks which I would stand on my tiptoes and look into and imagine all sorts of mystical worlds in the ominous, inky depths! There was even a story about how one of my great Aunts had fallen down the well, she escaped unscathed though - thankfully.
So the fields are now a housing estate and the greenhouses and tanks are gone, but the house lives on with us living in it and it's latest family of mice. It is indeed a house full of memories, one of my great aunts had started to write a book about her childhood here a few years before her death and it details some amazingly happy times she spent in this house where I now live with my family. There are some wonderful descriptions of the walk to school - the school which my Granddad, Mum and my sister and I and now my children attend. The present school building is spanking new but it's on the same site and has the same name. In the book my Great Aunt detailed happy Christmas times, hanging stockings by the fireplace ready to be filled with nuts and fruits.
Great Aunt Ada also wrote about hot and humid school sports days that she and her brothers attended, just like my kids were doing a few weeks ago, and like I did errr several years ago but she writes that they won prizes like a necklace, a dressing table set and many other things - her recall of these things suggest they meant a great deal to her. The sun is still the same sun that shone brightly down from the same sky. Different people, different times but some things never changing.
So in a way this piece is about change - the people, some of the buildings, the surroundings but this is in contrast to the bigger stuff, that same moon that I gaze at most nights, is the same moon that my Mum, Nanna, Granddad and all those other relatives looked at. Same moon, same sun, same sky, same bricks and mortar holding all those memories from everyone who has lived here......including all the mice.
Below are the first words transcribed from Great Aunt Ada's book which she began at the age of 70 but sadly never finished, there are about 30 pages in total and it starts like this:
"How well I remember the days that are gone,
Long days and golden we spent in the sun,
Green of the meadows and pink of the clover,
Magic of laughter, and innocent fun,
And my memories linger on of days long ago..."
"My memories are my dearest possessions, to turn back the clock, and to be once again in a loved place with loved ones......."
This is the old chimney pot which has always belonged in the garden of our house as well as the stone garden ornament below it, which has been around for as long as everyone remembers, we're not sure exactly what it is but seems to feature a pineapple!!
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