1974/1938

"This plaque was placed here by the parish council of Kirkby Lonsdale to commemorate the merging of the old county of Westmorland into the new county of Cumbria. April 1st 1974."

Forty-three years, that's how long it is since 1974. For my son, Dan, who's 14, that's twenty-eight years before he was born (his birthday's in September). It's like me seeing a sign that was dated 1938. 

1938: That's the year my dad was born, an era that I can only envisage in black and white, a time that makes me think of old London buses, cigarettes, the Great Depression, 'Brave New World', the Berlin Olympics, Hitler and Chamberlain. A jumble of history that is nothing to do with me yet which had a direct influence on the world we live in. 

Lord, it's weird, getting old.

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611 words