Memories of People and Places

I travelled back to some childhood haunts today.  After a drive round the M25 and along the Arterial Road to Southend-on-Sea in Essex I met up with my sister Susan and one of our cousins, Freda.  I haven't walked along Southend High Street for at least 25 years, possibly longer.  So much has happened in my life since the last time I was there - almost an entire career and much more besides.  One of the big bonuses of retirement is being able to see my family more often.  Freda's Mum was Dad's sister Joyce, who died in early November last year just after Dad had been admitted to hospital with asbestos-related lung cancer.  So this past winter has been a terrible one for our cousins too.  We are all still grieving our losses of course, but it was so good to spend time with Susan and Freda on a beautiful sunny day in a happier frame of mind than we were a few months ago.  We really enjoyed chatting over lunch and reminiscing about our parents when we were children.  After spending a few hours in Southend, Susan and I went on to the solicitor's firm in Rayleigh which holds our Dad's Will.  After showing them all the ID's they required, they've now promised to send the Will to my brother-in-law so that we can hopefully make some progress with applying for Probate.  I grew up in Rayleigh from the age of 4 until I was about 15 and this church, Holy Trinity, was a prominent feature of that time.  My sister was married there, and I was one of her bridesmaids.  I have a vivid memory of lying on the grass in our garden aged about 7 picking daisies, the shadows lengthening, the birds singing in the mellowing sunlight, and the bells ringing out from Holy Trinity at the top of our road as the bell ringers did their practice.  An idyllic, but very real, image of a wonderful childhood.