Beginnings
Nottingham. My birthplace. It always makes my partner laugh that my birth certificate reads, Caravan 3……The rest of the address is irrelevant. In Germany they use a word ‘Niveau’. I’m reliably informed my starting niveau is a little low….
I can live with that. I can’t remember the first 5-6 years anyway. I looked it up. While many people claim to have childhood memories going back to 1-2 yrs of age, most research state 3-3.5 yrs is more normal. I can hardly remember anything before living in Calverton Road.
My mum and dad had a semi-detached house, that sat maybe 3-4 metres above the road and had a decent sized garden, with a pond. I guess I was maybe 2 years old when we moved in, because there is a photo of me and my mum in the back garden. I know that in this house we got our dog “Comfy” a West Highland White Terrier, real name Southern Comfort! I know and remember my father had at least two fish tanks…big ones. He had piranhas in one and in the other bigger tank, he had much bigger fish. I would need to ask him the species he had for the other. I just remember they were easier to put your hand in the tank!
I also remember there was a playing field opposite. As I look at Google maps now it is impossible to tell if you didn’t live there in the 70’s. All built up. Why this matters in terms of memories is that my new child will seemingly never have any problems plotting the journey she has taken. I think in her first 7 months there are more photos of her and where she lives, than were ever taken of me in the first 30yrs.
So, to the point of the title. I need to look to the people that were there to plot my beginnings. No videos, no journal, no facebook posts. Actual memories from people 70+ yrs old. I want to know this stuff now. I want to tell my children.
And, now what? 