#52Stories, Week 37, What are some of the stories you loved hearing about from your father’s youth ? Or from your grandfathers’s younger days ?

Dad had lots of stories which he shared about his childhood. They made the best bedtime stories.

I’ve already mentioned the rabbit they found on the embankment by the railway line one day. So tiny it fit into a teacup !

Another was about a solar eclipse. They knew it was going to happen and had prepared pieces of smoked glass so they would be able to look at the sun safely. On the day, he was so busy playing he didn’t notice the sky getting darker until it was too late.

Somewhere not too far away from home, there was a pond where they used to play. It was here that he was, the day the sky went dark and he had to run all the way home. I think there were tadpoles there and I know there was a mishap with his Mum’s favourite glass bowl. Maybe on the day the sky darkened !

Also nearby there were piles of sand where they used to go and make tunnels and play. Imagine parents today letting their kids go off for hours and hours and do this. They’d get reported to the authorities quick as blink.

At school he was in a production where the children were soldiers, nurses and the like – and he was the littlest soldier.

Sometimes in the school holidays he would go and stay with his Aunt and Uncle and cousins on their farm and help with jobs – like removing the thistles from a paddock !! Hard labour for many of today’s kids.

There were plenty of others too – but I think I need to make a more concerted effort to get them recorded. Maybe that will be a goal for my Oral History paper coming up.