Open Writing

The family gives the most pleasure. Surprise parties at our 25th, 40th and 50th wedding anniversaries and our joint 70th birthdays were all lovely events. The next major family event was our joint 80th birthdays in July and August 2002.

The eight children and grandchildren and the two of us spent a week together at our favourite Swiss mountain hotel in Saanenmoeser near Gstaad. There we walked, ate well, swam and climbed. It is owned and operated by a delightful family. All our four grandchildren have joined us, one at a time, when they were old enough and have thoroughly enjoyed it. Our children have wanted to know when they would be invited. Now their turn arrived.

We all fitted together comfortably and happily, although we don’t all enjoy doing the same things. The only sad part of our week together was that it rained the whole time. This had never happened during any of our previous summer holidays there. It did not worry Daniel and Laura, who are great walkers and set off in their walking boots and rainwear. However Susan and Howard did not even bring raincoats and so could not manage much walking and left a day early. As they drove off, the sun came out and we enjoyed summer for the rest of our stay.

Some 50 or so family and friends had joined us here at Ruskin Close in the garden for a sunny celebratory party on 27 July. We enjoyed it, and hopefully the rest of them did too. Some youngsters gave a short recital on their instrument of choice. A fun afternoon, the day made even better through our family members from Wales and Bournemouth making the long journeys to be with us.

Victor and sons gave me a generous birthday present - a flight in a Tiger Moth. Without a parachute to sit on I could not see ahead out of the cockpit. My skills had gone.

All sorts of family celebrations give us much pleasure. Weddings, anniversaries, Bar/Bat mitzvahs, birthdays all provide the opportunity for a family get-together. Here’s hoping for many more. The grandchildren have not started getting married yet. Probably a few years to go.

Writing articles (that sometimes get published but rarely paid for) plus involvement with three dental charities, the occasional lecture at either children’s or adult groups on wartime flying, dental health or other subjects cause Hilde to comment that the only difference between working and retirement is that I don’t get paid for what I do.

Not quite true, since the increasing number of talks I give on wartime flying tales occasionally earn a small fee that goes to charity. The talk given in Wales earned over £900 for the Samaritans. That was not the result of my talk but rather because of the enormous amount of skilled preparatory work by our Lloyney friend Margaret Lloyd and her friends, including Hilde.

My school talks become a sort of history lesson with personal anecdotes fitted in. The kids thoroughly enjoy it, particularly the flying gear. As the master in charge has said, “History to the kids covers so much - from Julius Caesar to Napoleon and the 1939/45 war. Since the children, their parents and teachers were not alive during the last war, it is all past history until you come along and make it real.”

Wartime talks have now turned into three different tales: ‘A Spitfire Pilot Remembers’, ‘The First D-Day was 10th July, 1943’ (this covers the Sicily/Italy landings) and ‘The Tripoli Jews’ (the story of a 2000 year old Community that ceased to exist after 1948.)

We have also greatly enjoyed the Bar/Bat Mitzvah of our grandson David and granddaughter Rachel, with the wonderful organisation by Susan and Howard. These events have enabled so many of the family to come together, including our lovely cousins Jill Braver and daughter Rachel from the USA.

Since these events don’t occur until they are 13, we may not be around for Joanna and Oliver. I still get reminded that at David’s Bar mitzvah party I told the gathering that Susan had said, “For you to toast David will be as easy as standing on your head.” So I stood on my head.

Apart from enjoying our family, we are lucky with our friends, whom we greatly appreciate. A couple of times a year we sing in the Albert Hall with 2,000 others in the Singing from Scratch concerts. Such items as Handel’s Messiah and the Mozart Requiem are conducted by Sir David Willcocks and are tremendous fun. We also enjoy the occasional theatre outing, either matinee or evening.

Increasingly I realise that I am not a modern man. I still wear a hat in the winter, even though it is gradually more difficult to find a hatter. I also wear a waistcoat in the winter. It is so convenient for pen, diary etc. At nearly all events I am the only male wearing these two items of clothing.

Another change is that it always used to be possible to cadge a lift in a car or to offer one to folk waiting at the kerbside. Today this has gone into history.

Two things make me aware of this. One was when I stopped to offer an elderly lady a lift. She drew herself up to her full height and turned me down. On another occasion I offered a man a lift. He accepted and then invited me into the back of the car to enjoy sex with him.

Realising that this life story was started more than six years ago, it has turned into the longest writing project I have ever undertaken. It is only now when I am about to enter hospital for a heart bypass operation owing to three blocked or partially blocked arteries that Hilde has prodded me to finish this protracted venture. It has also enabled me to appreciate the loving care of family and friends more fully.

Long may life continue, in health and with Hilde alongside.