Memories

As I’ve started to catalog all of my writings from over the last 40 years, it has become clear to me that ‘Memories’ need to be in a category of their own. I’m fortunate to have a really good memory, and by sitting down to write about specific things from the past, I find that I unlock a lot more detail that I didn’t even know was there.

Red lorry, yellow lorry - Were you one of those kids that relished the geekier side of school? I know that I was. Whenever volunteers were sought for organizing or analyzing things, my hand was always the first in the air.

A Quarter Away - Music has always been a big part of my life. My brother John has always been, and continues to be, a big part of my life, too. He used to look after me on Saturdays, and the money he got for that was always spent on buying records. At the time, I used to moan about being dragged from record store to record store, but they're now some of my happiest childhood memories.

A Guy Called Joe - I’m staying in San Francisco all week, and US Airways managed to give my suitcase the ‘special treatment’ on the way over, such that I was a little concerned about whether it would make it home in one piece. I’m not quite sure what they did to it, but the vision of seeing dirty clothes strewn all over the baggage carousel made me decide to get a new one.

Life is just too short… - Tonight, I went out to see James Hunter and his band play at World Cafe Live in Philly (one of my my favorite venues, at least until the new World Cafe Live in Wilmington opens up on April 2nd, 2011... just a few minute's walk from our home).

The Early Years - I’ve been trying to find this picture again for ages, and I just rediscovered it as I was looking through some old pics on Flickr. I believe that I was 3 or 4 in this photo, and that it was taken in Bridlington. I actually have 2 or 3 pics taken with monkeys over the years (why do I get Peter Sellers saying “monkey” in my ear, as I type this?), and this is the one that I look the least scared in. Just for your information, I’m the one on the right!

The ones that didn’t get away - From the age of 5, we spent 2 weeks every summer with my Auntie Madge and my cousins in Rhyl. For the first couple of years, my brother John would go, too. One year, my Dad decided that the two of them would go deep-sea fishing, and this is a story about the one's that didn't get away.