size isn’t everything

I was having a quick flick with the duster (pause for laugh from Anniemay) when I noticed the way in which these books had been arranged - not randomly, but in order of size.  Tallest (or longest) at the bottom.  No reason other than I thought it looked nicer that way.

They belonged to my dad and I kept them for sentimental reasons.  It’s only just dawned on me that these particular titles say a lot about his life.  I’m reminded of a line in a PD James novel which says something like “we only really understand our parents after they’ve gone.”

The one at the bottom was signed and dated by him in 1937.  He’d have been 21. At that time he was a draftsman in a factory that manufactured fire engines.  But the subject matter suggests that he had other ambitions.  I guess he was studying electronics and advanced mathematics at evening classes.  Practical Paperhanging seems an odd companion.

When war broke out he joined the RAF and ended up building Radar stations - first on the Suffolk coast and then in India and Burma.  Those books will have come in handy.

He came home to a factory that had been destroyed by bombing.  And no work. He eventually found a job as a painter and decorator.  Hence the slim volume tucked in between the heavy-weights.  

I guess he had what some people might call ‘a good war’ in the sense that he was able to make use of his skills and intelligence - and all that the book-learning.  But that’s as far as it went.  He was never able to find employment that made use of all the knowledge contained in those thicker volumes.  And then, when I was 12, he became ill with an incurable wasting disease.

He did pass something of what he had learned onto me though.  At the age of 14, I was earning pocket money in the school holidays from decorating jobs in the homes of some of my teachers.  

Many years later, when Anniemay and I were decorating our own home, we would inevitably grind to a halt when faced with hanging wall-paper.  She would say something like “my Dad did it this way” and I would counter with “Well my Dad did it the other way”.  It reminded me of being a kid and the old “my dad’s bigger than your dad” arguments I had with my friends.

Practical Paperhanging might seem a lightweight compared with its neighbours but it’s more powerful than it looks.  As well as providing instruction, it has the power to settle arguments.  So look after your books - you never know when you might need them.