Ride on time

Funny how music can trigger memories and emotions. Today we went over to mum and dad's as the fella was over doing work on his other house (which is almost complete and ready to sell thank god). Was great to see them and they absolutely dote on their granddaughter which is so lovely to see. Whilst we were there Pick of the Pops was on the radio playing the chart of this week in 1989. It was full of Stock, Aiken & Waterman songs which I have to confess I loved back in the day and amazingly I remembered words to songs I haven't heard in years. So far so good. But then the no 1 came on - Ride on Time by Black Box - and I was a scared 12 year old again. It turns out it's 25 years since my older sister was admitted to the adolescent unit of a mental hospital with severe depression. And the first time I went to visit (about 3 days after she was admitted) she refused to see me and one of the other residents locked themselves in the lounge and turned up the volume on the TV - which happened to be Top of the Pops when the no1 was playing. So hearing it today took me right back. I hate that it still gets to me today - she's mostly normal now and it's a bloody long time ago but I guess I was such a young age to cope with such a big thing that it's not surprising it still does. And one huge positive of that time is the amazing relationship I have with mum n dad - with my sister in hospital and my brother away travelling then at uni, it was often just the 3 of us having to have fun despite the situation. Which was often hard as my sister came home at weekends - which I hated as she was a total nightmare. I know it was an illness and not her but it was still bloody hard to handle - especially when she didn't speak to me for over a year.
To this day I'm in awe of how my mum and dad got through the time (I think my sis was in hospital for about 2 years but I'm not totally sure) together and continued to work. I guess survival mechanisms kick in.

Anyway enough of melancholy - it was a long time ago and we're all fine now. But sometimes I just remember.