A tale of parasites and bananas.

Back in 1970 Mrs T and I set off to the Fijis, never having flown before! Over the next few years she dutifully wrote to her parents back in Scotland , often every day, describing our new and very exotic life. Her father carefully numbered every letter and we still have the bundle of aerogrammes. We have spent the last few days reminding ourselves of events half forgotten.
Letter number 1 was written in mid-Atlantic en-route to Jamaica in a VC10. The stewardesses handed out BOAC's own aerogrammes on a silver plate; that is what passed for in-flight entertainment in 1970! 
The banana is associated with news of an event a year later. By then our first Talpid had been born. One day soon after she started taking solid food we found her nappy full of bright red threads which we took to be some appalling tropical parasitic worm. We rushed to the hospital, clutching baby and soiled nappy. The doctor collapsed in mirth and asked if we had fed a banana to the child. Of course we had, and the red threads were the fibres from the fruit! I might add that the banana was not her first solid food; a few days earlier she had managed to catch and give a good gumming to a cockroach!