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Showing posts from April, 2013

HOBNAILED BOOTS AND COBBLESTONES

 JUST A BOY FROM BRISTOL Chapter One   Through the eyes of a child   On the 3d September 1939 a war started that would change the course of history. It also denied millions of children, across the world, of the opportunity for a normal, happy childhood. I know, because I was one of them. My father had re-enlisted in the Royal Navy as soon as the storm clouds of war had started to gather over Europe. He left my mother to bring up two young children alone, in poverty, and in what was a scary, changing world.  My mother was an incredibly beautiful young woman, but she was emotionally fragile. She was a wild, scatty, free spirited, capricious butterfly, who was constantly fluttering around, unable to settle. In many ways she was totally unsuited to the task in hand, but she was a mother, and she did what mothers do best. She cared for me, did it well, and I will be eternally grateful to her. Mum, I thank you for teaching me how to love, I thank you for the journey, and