I spent a lovely weekend in Norfolk, visiting my Nana with my cousin. It's been years since i've been to visit. It was nice to reminisce and hark back to a time when we were both much younger.
I'm slightly envious of my cousin who has stronger memories of the Boat Club and summers spent on the water. Although i still have some. One of my earliest memories is when i was up in the loft/box room and Papa was putting me in a yellow life jacket to see if it would fit. I can only have been about 3 years old and my only experience of life jackets up until that moment were on aeroplanes (i travelled young). I must have made the connection that you only put life jackets on when you are going to die on a plane so i remember yelling and crying telling Papa that "i don't want to die!!!I don't want to wear it!". I think it took some time to reason with me as i could be a stubborn little brat (and still am!).
My Papa was a great Grandad. My Mum has often said how different he was with his Grand kids compared to a being a Dad. From what she says, he was fierce and had a real temper. I don't remember that. What i remember is him messing around with us at the dinner table when all the other adults had left the room, stealing food off peoples plates and putting his elbows on the table (this was a bit of a family joke-good manners in our family came from sitting properly at the table, no elbows and waiting until everyone was seated before you started eating. Papa started a game where if he spotted anyones elbows resting on the table he'd rap his knuckles on the surface and catch them out. Originally it was just meant for us kids, but it soon became a running game every meal time to try and catch one of the adults out.)
Papa really did dote on us kids and we loved it. I think for my cousins who didn't have a Dad on the scene, he was a real father figure. He would discipline us, but it would always be quite light hearted. I never remember him raising his voice.
When my sister and i were were little, we loved it when Nana and Papa came to stay. We'd sneak into there room early in the morning with books for them to read to us. We'd always make Papa sing The Owl and the Pussycat and get him to tell us the story about the fairies at the bottom of the garden. Even though we knew both by heart, we'd always get him to do it, without fail. Even when it was six o'clock in the morning!
As he got older, Papa began to lose his hearing. He would wear a hearing aid but would turn it off occasionally. He'd play on it though and it used to wind Nana up so much. She'd come into the room and ask if he wanted, tea, coffee or a beer. He'd be reading the paper and say "yes". Nana would sigh and leave the room and he'd just smile at us kids and we'd all start giggling.
My Grandparents were adventurers and i've always admired them for that. They had their yacht and would sail around the world for 6 months of the year. Even when Papa got cancer and they had to sell the boat (which saddened everyone of us)when he felt a little bit stronger he went out and bought a camper van so they could travel around the UK!
One of my last memories of Papa were of when my grandparent had a party to celebrate their 50th Wedding anniversary. Never have i seen two people so in love as my grandparents still after 50 years. We were having a massive buffet for the family (of which there are a lot of us) and lots of their friends. Prawns were on the menu but they hadn't defrosted quite enough. I remember watching Papa sat in the conservatory with a tray of prawns, him wielding a hairdryer, trying desperately to thaw them out!
When he died in 2003 it really rocked us as a family. But we all have very fond memories. The one positive thing to come from the sadness of losing him, is that my cousin and i became friends. Growing up we didn't have anything to do with each other, he's seven years older than me and i was always his annoying younger cousin, he my tall cousin who barely spoke to me! The night before Papa's funeral, we stayed up late and drowned our sorrows and in our sadness realised we were more alike than we had ever known. Since then he has become more like a brother to me. In fact i feel closer to him than i do my own sister. I'm hoping that one day i can have this type of friendship with her. Perhaps we just need to get drunk together!
Not sure why i felt the need to write this all down. I guess my weekend has provoked some strong memories. Families are complicated things. I hope that one day we can all get together like the old days (although there are even more of us now, we'd need some kind of hall!)who knows, it could happen.
