I have many many memories of my dear brother, far too many to put here and certainly a few that will have to wait until his son is a little older to fully appreciate. But here goes the first of many:
1. A summer's day in August 1970. I am in the garden and an ambulance brings home my mum with my new baby brother. They did that in those days. My room becomes our room. A quiet baby sleeps.
2. A year or so has passed and my now boisterous baby brother has a habit of putting anything in his mouth. Trying to get out of his cot, he manages to unscrew a bolt and swallows it. My mum turns him upside down until he coughs it out.
3. Fast forward to age 6 and Tommy's habit of hanging onto the back of the front seat in our car causes a major panic. My dad turned a corner out of my aunt’s road to drive home and his driver door opens. Tommy is flung from the car. I tell mum 'Tommy has fallen' and she turns around to see him missing "no he has fallen outside!' Luckily it was late and there were no other cars on the road. He had some nasty bruises on his face that day and it was really then that my own protective instincts were awoken. By the way it was a two door car. No rear seat belts either which was normal back then.
4. A year or two later and we both get new bikes. I have a red Raleigh Grifter and Tommy the smaller Boxer in blue. He learned to ride on two wheels at the park with all the kids in the street willing and cheering him on. Tommy was always a crowd-pleaser! It was not longer after that when his confidence was really up that we both used to ride to the park every day and practice like ‘Evel Knievel’ with make-shift ramps jumping over things. I am not sure mum ever found out what we did there! But she must have wondered why he so often sprained his wrists – now you know mum!
I have many many memories of my dear brother, far too many to put here and certainly a few that will have to wait until his son is a little older to fully appreciate. But here goes the first of many:
1. A summer's day in August 1970. I am in the garden and an ambulance brings home my mum with my new baby brother. They did that in those days. My room becomes our room. A quiet baby sleeps.
2. A year or so has passed and my now boisterous baby brother has a habit of putting anything in his mouth. Trying to get out of his cot, he manages to unscrew a bolt and swallows it. My mum turns him upside down until he coughs it out.
3. Fast forward to age 6 and Tommy's habit of hanging onto the back of the front seat in our car causes a major panic. My dad turned a corner out of my aunt’s road to drive home and his driver door opens. Tommy is flung from the car. I tell mum 'Tommy has fallen' and she turns around to see him missing "no he has fallen outside!' Luckily it was late and there were no other cars on the road. He had some nasty bruises on his face that day and it was really then that my own protective instincts were awoken. By the way it was a two door car. No rear seat belts either which was normal back then.
4. A year or two later and we both get new bikes. I have a red Raleigh Grifter and Tommy the smaller Boxer in blue. He learned to ride on two wheels at the park with all the kids in the street willing and cheering him on. Tommy was always a crowd-pleaser! It was not longer after that when his confidence was really up that we both used to ride to the park every day and practice like ‘Evel Knievel’ with make-shift ramps jumping over things. I am not sure mum ever found out what we did there! But she must have wondered why he so often sprained his wrists – now you know mum!
