A little story or two

Sorry about this, a friend's recent blog about his bucket list wishes, sparked these particular memories for me and so I thought I would share.

My family whilst not being financially rich were and are very rich in many other ways and I am very grateful for that.  They have always been practical hands on people with a can do attitude.

My father was a very sociable fellow - he was the life and soul of a party or a get together and was always very comfortable in his surroundings. He was often the person to break the ice and get everyone chatting and enjoying themselves.  My mother however was shy and did not feel comfortable around other people.  She always felt socially inept, something that she also passed on to me.  My brother however like my father was full of cheek and very much took after my Dad with his confidence and ability to pass things off very easily.  I still struggle to this day.

I don't know about you but as a teenager one of the highlights of the week for me was listening to Top of the Pops on the Radio on a Sunday evening. We used to record the music on the new cassettes and then play them back as and when we wanted.  In our house we did not only listen to the music we used to dance as well as my Dad always took the opportunity to swing us around the lounge floor to the latest hits.  This was classed as practice for going to dances and family parties.  He wanted us to go out and enjoy ourselves.

I love dancing although I am not particularly good at it. However, nowadays I enjoy it for what it is although in the early years I was terribly self conscious.  I think that was the main reason Dad used to have us dancing at home.  He used to get mum up as well.   

All was well with the dancing at home until a new carpet arrived. Not long afterwards a hump formed in the carpet and three times they came out to it. They even had the manufacturers out to it.  There was a lot of scratching of heads as to what was going on with this carpet with no obvious answers. By the last time Dad had realised what was going on.  It was all the dancing that had made the carpet go rogue and develop a hump.  After the third visit the carpet settled down but I don't think he ever let on what had caused it to the carpet fitter.

Our former family home was bought new by my parents' and was built on a new estate which had a Residents association which held a dance every so often up at the local Senior School.  Dad was intent on making sure that I knew how to behave when out socially and indeed we went to lots of dances and do's with family and friends over the years.   Family parties were favourites as well, as my mum's brothers all grew up in the Rock n Roll years and were quite proficient at doing the twist and the jive  and would get all the nieces and the nephews up on the dance floor as well.  There were no safe places and no excuses allowed. 

However, my first Resident's Association dance was in my mind one to remember.  I had a regular babysitting round and had saved up my pennies to buy myself a long A line dress with a frill on the bottom, with a square neck, three quarter sleeves with a frill at the elbow.  It was a patterned dress in a creamy white and orange print which glowed under certain lights.  It also had an orange velvet ribbon around the bust line.  This was my first grown up dress and I adored it.  I had had my hair cut, and was allowed to wear a little makeup and Dad duly took me to the dance.  Mum did not want to go so he took me on my own.  

Our neighbours had also attended this same do.  They lived just around the corner with their family and they did not recognise me.  All they knew was that mum was not there and there was "Mike" with a young woman.  The wife in particular was a bit perturbed about the situation despite being told that it was me.  In the end she had to come over to my Dad and me and have a chat to satisfy her own curiosity.  It was only when she spoke to me that she realised that it was indeed me and not as she thought a fancy piece.  They just had not recognised me all done up nicely.  I was only about 15 years of age at the time.

That dress was worn to death and eventually passed on to another member of the family as was the norm in those days, but it was a pretty dress and I still wish I had it today.  It was after all my first grown up evening dress which I had saved for out of my babysitting round.

Later on, I and some of my friends from the Senior School used to do waitressing at these Resident Association events.  The most famous one for me and the last event held there by the Association was when Roy Castle of Recordbreakers fame was the main event at a meal and dance.  He was a lovely man, I was the one selected to take his meal to him.  This was in the year of the Queen's Silver Jubilee.  I remember it well as we all had to dress in Tee shirts provided which were white with the Silver Jubilee logo on it.  We also wore red neckerchiefs and black trousers.  Such a long, long time ago now and very much happy days.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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