Last month two milestones were reached. June 28th was the fifth anniversary of my brother Paul's death. He was only sixty two and died unexpectedly in his sleep. I blogged about it all. For example - here and here and here. Though Paul is no longer strutting about in the land of the living, he remains very much alive in my memories of him. Death? You could never get rid of Paul so easily. I hear his fiddle and his jokes and his frenetic "Bye-bye-bye-bye..." whenever he finished a telephone conversation. Mostly he lived life in overdrive - keen to feast on it all. Quiet relaxation was never his forte. I remember him most days and I smile for Paul really and truly lived and not all of us can claim that.
Very much in the shadow of Paul's death, on June 23rd I reached my tenth anniversary of blogging. Yes. It was on June 23rd 2005 that I wrote my first ever post for this humble Yorkshire blog. It was called "Beginnings" and this is what I wrote:-
So this is England in mid-summer. Lovely warm weather and you know what, they're all bloody well complaining! "Oooo it's too hot!" "Open a window!" "Oh I feel faint!" Whingeing whining wimps! I just love to barbecue, walk out in shorts, sweat, wear flip flops. If only all of our summers had long hot spells like this! Leather on willow. Swallows performing acrobatics in the evening sky. A glass of ice cold light white wine with condensation running down the side. "Oh! It's too hot! I couldn't live in a foreign country if it's like this!" As my old mate Trog used to say - Knickers! Knockers! Knackers!
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| The firsr ever photo posted on this blog |
When I composed that first post I had absolutely no idea that I would still be blogging away ten years later but the ideas keep coming and the course of my life keeps unfolding through these endless blogposts. There have been 1808 posts so far and at least 448,000 visits - over half a million according to Blogger. Perhaps I will still be blogging on my own deathbed, tapping away my very last blogpost on a laptop:-
"The light is fading. I can hear the ticking of the hospital clock. My heart is faltering but I can see St Peter ahead. He is opening the pearly gates. He is about to speak to me - "Welcome my son! What's the password? It must include at least one capital letter and a numerical figure" I can see Paul just inside the gates and Mum and Dad and all the others I knew but I cannot remember the freaking password and now St Peter is looking stern and he is pointing to the other place. Shit!"
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| Old milestone on Houndkirk Moor near Sheffield |
They don't let the likes of us into heaven YP. It's for those that believe in God not good.
ReplyDeleteRemember him whilst you can for when you shut down then so will your memories.
I'll have a pint with you in Hell Adrian - see you in "The Beelzebub Arms". Leave your trident at the door. There'll be The Kray Twins there, Atilla the Hun and Margaret Thatcher. She's all yours man.
DeleteThere will be a helluva lot more of us Good Folk down there than up there. Thank the lords that heaven is for the believers so all the IS maniacs, the Inquisition propagators, the Crusaders and the like. The only problem is that we'll be stuck with the politicians. My Mum (who really was one of the Good Folk) always said there was no way she was going for heaven - it was too darn cold.
ReplyDeleteAt "The Beelzebub Arms", please put "Fire" by Arthur Brown on the juke box, then you can join Adrian and I in the corner for a game of dominoes - that's if he ever stops snogging with Thatcher.
DeleteIs it I or is it me? Better ask a teacher of English.
DeletePS Like your toupée.
ReplyDeleteYes. It is a mighty fine one - fashioned from the fur of an adolescent marmoset.
DeleteI'm just jealous! If you find another marmoset.....
DeleteHow about the pelt of a large hedgehog that I found by the A61 the other day?
DeleteGood memories of your brother. There are certain people I have lost and I think about them every day. Congratulations on the blogging anniversary. I enjoy following your posts. You cover a wide territory and make things interesting and humorous. keep on blogging.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind encouragement Red. Much appreciated sir.
DeleteCongratulations! I'd clink glasses with you (not the ones on my nose, but the one in my hand, filled with nice, ice-cold bubbly stuff) on the 10th anniversary of your first blog post. I guess what you wrote back then is still very true ten years later. It's similar here - people complain about the "heat" when it's warm and about the cold when it's... well, cold.
ReplyDeleteLike you remember your brother every day, I think of my husband every day. Sometimes I have more intense memories, usually triggered off by certain pieces of music, or a visit to place where we often went together, or even by having something to eat he particularly liked. Sometimes it's more a general mood than a specific memory. 41 is way too early to go, really.
Glad to know your brother died in his sleep. It's the way I'd like to go - in the arms of my friend, Sleep, forever.
It was a Monday morning. At 7am the alarm on Paul's mobile phone went off. Time to get up for work. His wife - Josephine - wondered why he wasn't stirring. She elbowed him in the ribs but he was already gone. She phoned me five minutes later. Paul no more.
DeleteMy brother Graham passed away on 6th June, 1998...17 years ago....and I find it very difficult to believe those number of years have already flown by. Graham's physical presence may no longer be here, but my memories of him remain vivid and strong. So, I guess as long as I'm alive his spirit will be alive with me. He always loved to tease me...so there is no reason he'd allow death to stand in his way! :)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your 10 years of blogging, Yorky. My first blog post was 11th May, 2006.
Nine years of blogging? Well you are not so far behind me Lee!
DeleteAnd if you are there Graham - I just want to say hello and that your sister is sooooo cool!
Ten years of regular blog posting!! Well done.
ReplyDeleteMs Soup
Thank you Alphie. As Cilla Black sang - What's it all about...Alphie?
Delete"
ReplyDeleteWhen I composed that first post I had absolutely no idea that I would still be blogging away ten years later"
I started in 2006 so 9 years for me.... The other day i looked back over 1000s of posts....and cried a little.....
I have also read through some of my old posts recently. Some of them appear to have been written by a complete stranger even though I know it was me.
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ReplyDelete