Flashback Friday - 6th May

followed up on a posting the other day on friends that had gone, people you had been good friends with and they had left for one reason or another. It got me thinking back to my childhood and how often we moved schools with my dads job (R.A.F) and how we never stayed anywhere overly long enough to learn peoples names let alone make friends with them.

So my flashback this week has to be on a my school days and how sad, miserable and lonely they were (alright put the violins away...lol), but how it did have some bright spots and highlights, and one of these such highlights was the summer of '75. We as a country had had 3 day working weeks imposed, power shortages and outages and a fairly miserable winter. I was lucky due to my dads job we didn't get affected by the 3 day week and petrol shortages as his was a protected job and he got fuel provided by the supplies the RAF had.

It strikes me as a highlight because at the time I had been in the same house for a whole year, and one of the other forces families down the road moved in at the same time as us, and as the oldest boy was ages with me we walked to school together, spent summer holidays together as he had brothers ages with my younger brother and we generally had a friend in each other. There was no romantic involvement between us but I can remember his name - Vernon Smith - and probably the only boys name I can remember from secondary school. I do remember a few first names Richard - big headed fellow who thought every girl in the school should fancy him, and James with red hair cos I did fancy him and I think he liked me but us RAF children were always shunted and never befriended except by our own.

So this picture was taken at Edinburgh Zoo in the summer of 75, with my friend Vernon and I at the back, note the flares which I made in school sewing class and my younger brother Kevin.