That nice kid across the street.....?

As the train speeds back down south to London and my anxiety of being at home, not wanting to be there, and not wanting to leave fades I am laughing at the photograph my mam shared with me today, taken in September 1981 as I headed to the senior/comprehensive school for the first time. I was probably no bigger than 4ft tall, 7 stone and still had some of my baby teeth, freckles and a love of Lego, my nana (grandma to all you non northerners) and little else. My mam has kept this image in her purse for 36 years hence the creases and folds. We are not sure who or how my hair was cut but my fringe is epic and the smile is definitely one of my more cautious smiles. Now I grin and smile full beam, this is a photo of a little boy half excited and scared at the same time.  Going to the comprehensive was a big deal, we had uniforms, we would be doing classes in subjects I'd not yet studied (but would soon love) and I didn't realize I would be in a school in which most of the teachers didn't like kids much and most of the kids didn't like other kids much and I was tiny, everyone seemed taller than me and my school blazer was too big for me.  Now this morning I watched my two nephews head to school in their ill fitting uniforms and giant backpacks. They get a lift to school and we walked in a pack from Glebe (a village/estate in Washington), a lot has changed in 36 years, some for the good, some for the worse. I am trying to encourage my nephews to have an interest in Geography and often tell them how useful it is, how broad it is and my nephew did mention he had learnt about 'tectonics and gdp' which encouraged me a little.

Me smiling in 1981

The trips home always make me nostalgic and a little discombobulated. I want to go home and sit in my old bedroom, read my old books, raid the fridge, have chats with my parents and live in a warm cocoon for a few days, this is impossible now they have 4 grand kids.  I slept badly last night as I shared a room with my 14 year old nephew who reluctantly turned off his phone at midnight and even then he cursed and fidgeted for ages after that and this morning in his half awake state he went to school in my underwear, not his. My nephew is now wearing a pair of £20 Calvin Klein's, I hope he gets some cool points at school for that.  I now have an idea for Christmas presents as he is bordering on that adult/kid stage, he acts like a kid but wants to be treated like an adult and doesn't realize that if he only has 7 hours sleep school will be hell. The smiling kid in the photo above was a sleep-a-holic, easily having 10 hours on a school night and on a weekend.  Very few things could wake me at that age,  the smell of bacon sandwiches worked best.  I had no mobile phone, no electronic gadgets at all (does my mini school calculator count?). 

Me a few years later and the fringe is missing

Every time I feel I am turning into a grumpy middle aged man I should look at my 1981 photo and remember that kid, that giggly, sweet, tiny kid, who dreamt of spaceships and aliens and far away places and was happy with a massive tub of Lego and a bag of sarsaparilla tablets and I can have more adventures and not worry about being single or unhappy at work when there are aliens and spaceships and places to explore.

November 20, 2017