box of delights

We set ourselves a task for Easter - start clearing out the loft.  Easier said than done.  We’ve both got boxes of old photographs and begin with those.  I’m not prepared for what I find in my lot.

I make a pile on the floor as I decide what photos to keep and what photos to chuck.  

There’s clearly a fancy dress party (me top far right) with a nice one of my pal Al (also right top).  I’ll send him a copy to remind him he once had hair.   There’s also one of me from 1988 when I worked in India.  I still have some hair.

But it’s my Mum’s photo album that surprises me.  There are some photos I’ve never seen before.  Like the lovely portrait of my Auntie May (bottom) and my Uncle Alec (also bottom).  They were my Mum’s brother and sister.  Then there's the photo of two of my aunties on a motorbike.??

There are no photos of my Dad’s family.  He didn’t get on with them.  I met them once when I was a child.  They were awful.

Bottom left is a photo of my Mum and Dad with some friends.  It looks a typical happy group - people just hanging out with friends, having a good time.  And that’s my Mum and Dad - top left - next to the wee lad in the pony and trap.  Or chariot as I prefer to think of it.

Many of the people in these photos are no longer here - the most poignant is the wedding party.  The bride and the young woman to her right are sisters - daughters of one of my cousins.  They both died from cancer a few years after this photograph was taken.

I can hear laugher coming from Anniemay’s room; “come and see this”.  This turns out to be Daniel in a tutu and Chris in Knickerbockers.   Oh boy - are we going to have fun with these.  Anniemay suggests we just leave them in a box for them to find someday.  

There’s still a place for a box of old photos.  It’s like a time machine, in the way a hard drive never can be.