I loved my grandfather on my mother's side dearly and we were very close. Looking back I suppose he would behave slightly oddly,
although I never really noticed, after all, I was very young.
He was a man of habit. In the morning, if it were a winter's day, he would fetch coal and kindling wood for the fire and arrange them in the hearth in preparation for the evening. He would conduct his chores around the three meals in the day which my grandmother prepared for him, perhaps visit the shopping centre there in Huyton, Liverpool and then he and my grandmother would watch television after the fire had been lit. They would drink tea from a teapot, with three biscuits and then later coffee prepared with hot milk. Occasionally the two of them would drink shandy prepared with only a half a can of lager between them.
But there is nothing peculiar about this. Some of his ideas might have seemed strange to some people though. He would declare that all motorcars ought be banned, despite the fact that he himself drove (and not because he was concerned about pollution but because roads were too crowded in his opinion), he argued for the abolition of inflation (which could perhaps be supported by valid arguments but he was unaware of them), that all communists should be hanged (he would declare, out of the blue, that the Russians were very cunning but, nevertheless..) He would chuckle to himself 'it's a funny old world.' As he pottered around the house.
I think he felt, and quite rightly, that he had been dealt a poor hand in life. He could have been a skilled engineer, he was very practical and was fascinated by industry, the workings of engines and how things were manufactured. He succeeded at school and won a scholarship to university but my great grand mother insisted that he go and work and bring money home. So, as a teenager, he went to Liverpool Docks and found a job as a deck hand. He would later become a steward on the Red Star Line of cruise ships. He said he almost got a job as a cook but they were only taking on cooks with cookery books. It was common to hear a foreman shouting, so my grandfather told me, affecting a strong Lancastrian accent 'cooks with books' at docks because cooks were always in demand.
My grandmother and he were close and held each other in high regard but they were not loving. He never gave my grandmother a present, he never surprised her. I am guessing that he suffered from depression.
When I was thirteen or fourteen my parents decided for him that he should replace his old blue Ford Escort with the Vauxhall Astra that they had been driving for a few years. They had made the offer of buying my grandparents a new car a few times previously but he had always turned it down. He loved his car and it's engine and modern cars are so much more difficult for enthusiasts to tinker with. My parents surprised them with the gift of a new car, my grandmother was delighted. My grandfather, for fear that the neighbours might think that they had been abroad, covered up the GB sticker with black tape.
He was a man of habit. In the morning, if it were a winter's day, he would fetch coal and kindling wood for the fire and arrange them in the hearth in preparation for the evening. He would conduct his chores around the three meals in the day which my grandmother prepared for him, perhaps visit the shopping centre there in Huyton, Liverpool and then he and my grandmother would watch television after the fire had been lit. They would drink tea from a teapot, with three biscuits and then later coffee prepared with hot milk. Occasionally the two of them would drink shandy prepared with only a half a can of lager between them.
But there is nothing peculiar about this. Some of his ideas might have seemed strange to some people though. He would declare that all motorcars ought be banned, despite the fact that he himself drove (and not because he was concerned about pollution but because roads were too crowded in his opinion), he argued for the abolition of inflation (which could perhaps be supported by valid arguments but he was unaware of them), that all communists should be hanged (he would declare, out of the blue, that the Russians were very cunning but, nevertheless..) He would chuckle to himself 'it's a funny old world.' As he pottered around the house.
I think he felt, and quite rightly, that he had been dealt a poor hand in life. He could have been a skilled engineer, he was very practical and was fascinated by industry, the workings of engines and how things were manufactured. He succeeded at school and won a scholarship to university but my great grand mother insisted that he go and work and bring money home. So, as a teenager, he went to Liverpool Docks and found a job as a deck hand. He would later become a steward on the Red Star Line of cruise ships. He said he almost got a job as a cook but they were only taking on cooks with cookery books. It was common to hear a foreman shouting, so my grandfather told me, affecting a strong Lancastrian accent 'cooks with books' at docks because cooks were always in demand.
My grandmother and he were close and held each other in high regard but they were not loving. He never gave my grandmother a present, he never surprised her. I am guessing that he suffered from depression.
When I was thirteen or fourteen my parents decided for him that he should replace his old blue Ford Escort with the Vauxhall Astra that they had been driving for a few years. They had made the offer of buying my grandparents a new car a few times previously but he had always turned it down. He loved his car and it's engine and modern cars are so much more difficult for enthusiasts to tinker with. My parents surprised them with the gift of a new car, my grandmother was delighted. My grandfather, for fear that the neighbours might think that they had been abroad, covered up the GB sticker with black tape.
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