I spent a few days with my mum and dad earlier this week, just me and them, and it was nice to just spend some quality family time. I've not really done that for years; the only time I get with them these days is the odd snatched weekend when they come over here or we go over there.
But it's not often I spend time with them like in the "old days", when I lived at home with them as a teenager. I left home to go to university when I was 18, and never went back, for reasons too detailed and emotive to go into here. So it was nice to be that teenager again, being well-fed by my doting mum and teased by my proud dad.
I took a moment to capture just a few of the items around the house that are just so "them", little things which sum them up to me. They are very personal associations and would not be obvious to anybody but myself, but to me, these are some of the things that speak "mum and dad" to me when I am at their house...
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| This chiming clock was given to my grandfather (my dad's dad) as a long service gift. Do they do that now? It's got a pretty noisy chime, which it imparts every 15 minutes, and drowns out the TV, but my parents don't seem to mind or notice. It's special to me because it is of great sentimental value to my dad, whose parents both died in the 1970s when he was only in his twenties. |
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| Pigs. My parents, particularly my dad, has a thing for pigs, and they can be found all over the house, including this cheeky fella on the hearth. I see a world-weary wisdom in this pig's wrinkled expression, which oddly reminds me of my dad! |
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| This rather camp-looking copper, seen shouting something or other with his hands firmly on his hips, has been a feature of the house for years, and I've never liked it. My family has absolutely no connections to the police force so it's presence is meaningless. I guess they just like it as an ornament, but I think it's weird. |
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| An ever-present Screwfix catalogue which my dad seems to have by his side constantly. He's a DIYer and is always tinkering or building something, and always looking in this catalogue to see what he can buy next. It's always screws, nails or brackets, though, not sturdy boots or gloves. It amazes me that a catalogue is needed for screws. |
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| Spectacles. Every room in the house has a pair of spectacles in it, just placed randomly and used by both mum and dad. The thing is, despite them being everywhere you look, there's never a pair around when they actually need them, so then there's a hunt through the rooms to find a pair. It amazes me that there can be so many pairs of spectacles, yet never enough! |
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| This is a fluffy holder for a pair of said spectacles, except - guess what? - there's never any spectacles in them because they have usually been taken off elsewhere and placed down randomly in another room (as above). This holder is ALWAYS empty whenever I go there, so its point is utterly lost. |
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| My mum is always knitting, and all through the house strands of wool and thread can be found on the floor, in corners. This is my mum's attempt to knit socks, apparently. Many of her knitting projects go unfinished - she is in a constant state of development, but rarely achievement! |
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| Finally, an example of how, sometimes, my parents buy something which really doesn't fit. They have a kitchen with black marble worktops and pale walls and cupboard doors, but then they go and buy something which really sticks out like a sore thumb (literally!). This red pedal bin is my mum's pride and joy, but looking as it does like a pillar box, I have to wonder why they chose red. Notice also evidence of the aforementioned pig theme on the window sill, as well as a different pair of spectacles, idly discarded alongside. |
