One of the places I went away to was my sister’s, where our parents had a dinner to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. I took this the next day after mum and dad had gone back home.
In the front is Maisie, my niece; holding her is my sister Clare; the blur in the background is Sam, my nephew, who is about to do his Frankenstein’s monster walk into another unyielding surface.
It’s annoying having a sister who can spend an evening drinking and eating gout-inducing quantities of rich stuff and wake up the next day looking like Halle Berry’s stunt double. According to my brother-in-law though, it’s even more annoying having to share a room with her after she’s consumed alcohol because she even acts a bit like Halle Berry’s stunt double: she gets up in the middle of the night and tries to sleepwalk through walls.
Is Maisie a tall child? She looks like she is in that picture!
As for the walking into walls and wardrobes whilst under the influence – I’m very guilty of that. In university halls I once managed to open a fire escape door into my face and give myself a black eye.
“The liver is evil and must be punished”. Although, I am starting to notice some flaws in this argument…..
Leasey:
I don’t think she is as tall for her age group as she used to be, but I suspect she will grow up to be taller than me. Clare’s about 5′ 8″ and Steve’s 6′ 5″.
Yeah, but Clare does these things while she’s still unconscious—and without the alcohol. Once, as a child, she sleepwalked downstairs to the kitchen, filled a jug with milk and water, poured it all over her bed and then went back to sleep in it. The next day she was livid and accused us of having played a practical joke on her.
I think she’s still narked that we never let her have the top level of any bunk bed arrangement, but she has to admit there’s a good reason for that.
Perhaps sleepwalking is a Counsell trait. I used to to do it frequently and once spent 20 minutes explaining to my mum how to mix concrete, then happily trotted off back to sleep.
What is it with this black and white photo stuff geek? Is this the latest retro-chic thing with professional photographers? Being a rational sort immune to fashion (you should see my wardrobe) it only make me think you must be 102 and you took this 87 years ago.
PS You can borrow my £37 colour digital camera from ASDA if you like, bet your clients would appreciate it, they wouldn’t have to stand dead still for 4 minutes and put up with all that smoke from the flash.
[…] When disaster strikes from time to time in my life, my own mum never tires of reminding me how I had to fight my way into the World. On paper, my origins are comically unfortunate, like something from Monty Python’s Four Yorkshiremen sketch or a Graham Greene. The reality is I’ve been bloody lucky, but choice facts make for a good story. As my dad pointed out at my parents’ anniversary dinner, they had to move the date of their wedding because the man organising the the reception was arrested in a military coup. Over dinner he also explained to my brother-in-law that my sister and I are descended from slaves and prostitutes. […]