Egypt4u

Now did Grandad say it was his birthday today? If so:

MANY HAPPY RETURNS GRANDAD

Thanks mate Yes I did say but I don't shout about it, just a number And todays lucky number is 83.

Happy Birthday Grandad

Happy Birthday Grandad and many more!

Thanks for your greetings folks.
I enjoyed my day, we don't make a big thing of birthdays but we enjoyed lunch with my sister and her partner. I well remember when she was born. That was February 1941 and as I already had a 3 years old brother, I was shipped off to stay with Grandma across the city for a couple of weeks. Grandad had already died and I remember my Grandma as appearing very old although at the time she was probably not yet 60.

Yes it's strange how we must appear to children age wise, I always remember my eldest grandson when he was about 4 saying in all seriousness to Mrs H as they were playing with his T-Rex toy "were you around when the Dinosaurs were here Nana?" her splutterings were well worth seeing.

I always thought my own father old as he and his siblings all had jet black hair + blue eyes that went prematurely white when they were all mid-20ies. I only ever knew him, except from a few photos, as having grey hair and by 40 snow white hair.

Same with my Mom's mom. I only ever identified her as being really old based that she always had grey hair.

Grandad wrote:I remember my Grandma as appearing very old although at the time she was probably not yet 60.

I needed to check my guess at Grandmas age in 1941. I was wrong, she was actually 69 at that time. I only have one picture of her and that was on my parents wedding day, 20 January 1934. She was then 62.



Grandfather (also 62) is far left and Grandma is wearing her best bonnet.

I had a shock the other day, when I realised that my Father, who I remember so well and can even remember the very clean Imperial Leather smell of him, would have been 114 years old recently if he hadn't died aged 54 yrs in 1958.

Memory is so strange and rather wonderful in the way it keeps crisp notable events - isn't this an amazing world we live in?

Mad Dilys wrote:I had a shock the other day, when I realised that my Father, who I remember so well and can even remember the very clean Imperial Leather smell of him, would have been 114 years old recently if he hadn't died aged 54 yrs in 1958.

Memory is so strange and rather wonderful in the way it keeps crisp notable events - isn't this an amazing world we live in?

I think you are a bit of an old (or not so old) romantic MD Even I used Imperial Leather and then moved on to Old Spice

My Grandma, like us at the time, lived in a two up two down terrace with the 'lavvie' out the back. There was no washbasin in the lavvie and I certainly don't remember a strict hand washing regime. We certainly were not dirty and had a bath every Monday but I am sure that our immune system and resistence to infection became stronger as a result.

How strange is that, I can still recall the smell of soap that an old lady who used to live next door to me as a child used. I can still see her face very clearly and regarding her age? Well she would sing me songs that she had learned as a child during the Boer War which took place between 1899 & 1902.

Not a bit of a Romantic Grandad but a total Romantic.

However one of my dear friends paid me the complement once of "Outside your fuzzy exterior beats a heart of pure steel"

Smells are so evocative aren't they? My mother loved the smell of Freesias and used horrid "Freesia" toiletries.

It's very hard to get but my favourite perfume is Medina Musk - very expensive and you really have to go to Medina to get the real thing. So for everyday Clinique Aromatics Elixir is good. How about you?

I dont use perfume myself but Mrs H always liked the 'Opium' range so if I get a wiff it always reminds me of her
Now don't you lot start laughing, but when I come across it on what was her dresser, I have been known to give Annie a quick blast as she goes past and she wafts it all around the house.

Lovely, Horus and completely understandable.

My DH uses my perfume sometimes when I'm not there, just a sniff of my precious tiny bottle of Medina Musk will bring him close to me where ever I am.

As you say MD, our sense of smell can often trigger more vivid memories than images alone ever can. How often do we get a hint of some smell and we are literally wafted back to another place in time, our memory then easily fills in the missing image of a loved one or of another place with all the sights and smells associated with it.

I've worn the same two perfumes daily for over 30 years but I had a laugh when a young lass walked past my eldest son at work, and he commented on the name of her perfume. She looked at him quite dumbfounded and asked how he knew, whereupon he stated that his Mother always wore it! I would love to have seen her face! My son was almost old enough to be her father!

I bet she rushed home and washed it off, totally Un-Cool