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07 February 2010

Foundations 1: Ugg Manor

An interesting day.

My father died in 2006, leaving behind my Mum who soldiered on at the family home until fairly recently when it was agreed by all that Mum would be better cared for and have a better quality of life in a care home.

Well, the time has come to sell her home in order to help with the payment of her care. A brother and two of my sisters have done a wonderful job in getting the old house sold in double quick time.

Today I met with my brothers and sisters to go through my parent's sixty years of accumulated household belongings. We had to decide what to do with the stuff that Mum doesn't have with her in her care home. Mum & Dad weren't 'well-off' by any means and without the people to whom it mattered, their possessions looked a forlorn sight. But today we found jewels in the form of memories from the mundane:

My two brothers delighted in Dad's lovingly cared-for woodworking tools, My three sisters found their memories too.

But I came away with a treasured memory: Ugg Manor.

My first experience of the great outdoors was in the back garden of my childhood home - my elder sisters and I built a tent out of an old woollen blanket and some sticks. We christened it 'Ugg Manor'. It was immediately an adventures and our own secret space. It was a home from home. I was three years old and it was a swelteringly hot summers day but we loved it.

The blanket's holes and tears echo the memories and adventures lived beneath its canopy.  Now that old woollen blanket is washed and drying over the banisters.

Ugg Manor is home again.

3 comments:

  1. That's good. Perhaps such an item is tangible proof that our childhood wasn't a dream.

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  2. I remember building those sorts of tents to play in...hadn't thought about that in 50 years! I'm now trying to recollect exactly what was used, which is hard for this time of a Sunday morning!

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  3. Oh bless you. I think you got the right pick. Woodworking tools aren't really your thing. Also, happy memories are worth more than anything x x x
    Rach

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