First Timers

" How fantastic is that?" I shared with a wonderfully smiley nurse called Rachel yesterday when I performed a routine pregnancy test at work.
" I've never done one before" I told her, a fact that couldn't have come as much of a surprise to anyone who may of known me.
I love the fact that " first times" no matter how inconsequential that they may seem at that moment, can be viewed as a cracking new experience.
" Cracking " can mean good or bad

What other " firsts" can I remember?

  •   My first foreign holiday  ( at the age of around 8- with my mother to Lorett de Mar) a 1970 package holiday has never been so exciting ( the tiny & cigarette filled holiday jet filled) and so banal .( cheap Spanish tat)
  • Being left at home alone at the age of 12 for the first time without a babysitter!
  • Having my own cheque book ( a nat west one with pictures of animals on it) back in 1980
  • Losing my virginity ( to a girl) in 1979 ( wot just happened?)
  • Seeing the New York skyline for the first time at night on a snowy evening 
  • Passing my driving test at 18
  • Seeing the body of my grandmother after she had died in our family home
  • Buying my first 45 record from The Prestatyn Record Shop ...Beg Steal and Borrow by the New Seekers
  • My first West End musical - I went down to London alone around 1980 to see Evita
  • Kissing a man for the first time ( Roxy night club in York ) he had a beard!
  • Watching a baby being born ( Jessop's Hospial Sheffield 1989) a baby girl called Harley Davidson
  • Walking into my first mortgaged home 52 Providence Road Sheffield in September 1989
  •  Signing the marriage register, thinking "how amazing is this" 
  • Flying over the Sydney Opera House in a miniature helicopter
  • Watching the amazing emergency treatment of a drive by shooting victim in a Pittsburgh E R 
  • Being given my first dog ( Finlay) for my 40 th birthday
  • The Walking Dead episode 1 - Rick getting swamped by the herd whilst on his horse
  • Climbing out under the wing of a small plane during my one and only parachute jump
  • Seeing ECT administered for the first time
  • Realising that people die ( crying in bed when I was around 7)
  • My first Christmas with the Prof ( when he bought me a sugar bowl

82 comments:

  1. The New Seekers?! That explains a lot.

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  2. Anonymous10:52 am

    Some goodies there. I had forgotten about the cheque books with pictures on the cheques. They were really quite nice.

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    1. Best thing the nat west did before they went all coporate

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    2. I still get them. They're a bit wishy-washy now though....

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  3. what, no "the first time I ate a scotch egg"?

    so was the pregnancy test positive or negative?

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    Replies
    1. My scotch egg moments?
      Every time is a delight!

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  4. I spent my whole life in Pittsburgh till we retired! Glad you got to see my hometown. Did the patient survive?

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    1. Yes..he did..he was paralysed by the shot ( well multiple shots) but it was my first time as an observer in such an event ( i was on a spinal injury course specialist placement)
      Amazing technology and professionalism

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  5. Firsts are one of the joys and wonders of this great adventure. I'll start working on a list, this is a fun topic.

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  6. First record Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes. Seven and six if I remember rightly.
    1979 eh? Same here. :)

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  7. What a wonderful list ! It brought tears to my eyes .. the sweetness and wonder of things that are so ordinary to adults who are world weary but so magical when seen the first time with young eyes ( and brains)..
    Lovely just lovely :)

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  8. I was lucky enough to have a very young family, my mother had me when she was 16 and her 2 younger sisters and 1 brother were my aunts,uncle,playmates. They thought nothing of taking me to drive in movies, record shops and probably on dates ! My grandfather was a Marine, he didn't sleep much .. when I had colic as a wee baby, he would put me in the car and drive around with me all night, listening to the car radio. He drove, I slept, win win.
    First Times are so precious .. as are the memories.

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    Replies
    1. I've always said its funny what you remember

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  9. Anonymous12:47 pm

    So many firsts. Now I am going to sit here a bit and think about my firsts.

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  10. Anonymous1:04 pm

    First 45 - Africa by Toto.
    First knee-down - Yamaha TZR250, 1993.
    First car - Morris Ital (oh, the shame).

    Poor kid growing up with a name like Harley Davidson. Some people can be so cruel. Wonder if she has changed it yet.....?

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    Replies
    1. At least davidson was the girls middle name

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  11. Many wonderful and not so wonderful firsts.

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  12. That was an interesting post. Oh dear I do feel for the girl named Harley Davidson, though I do have a cousin called Harley. Not Davidson thankfully.

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  13. Lovely post, John. We all have our firsts and the ones we remember say so very much about us.
    What immediately sprang to my mind was the first time I ever held hands with a boy. Sweetness.

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  14. lol, My FIrst boyfriend = My First Husband :D
    It lasted months.

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  15. New York skyline brought back memories John - driving in over Brooklyn Bridge with Frank Sinatra singing New York, New York on the radio and the tears running down my cheeks.

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  16. What a brilliant list of firsts :-)

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  17. Life is made up of experiences and we should all collect as many as possible... I say you have a good start there. :) Hugs!deb

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  18. First Holy Communion......underwhelmed and confused.
    Losing my virginity....underwhelmed and confused.
    Giving birth.....overwhelmed and terrified.

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    Replies
    1. Great list! lol!

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    2. Libby..yours made me larf

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    3. and the overwhelmed and terrified continues for about 19 years before it eases up :)

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  19. Tears of joy seeing both my children born. Jumping for joy when United won the Treble in 1999.

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  21. Somehow I thought you'd had dogs your whole adult life - you seem so suited to it.

    Intriguing list - I'm going to have to put some thought into what mine are.

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    1. We had family dogs when i was a child....but no finlay was my first dog

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  22. These are great and make me want to make a list like this!

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    Replies
    1. Off you go..........post it here when you do

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  23. The Walking Dead Spoiler Warning.......

    My favourite character better not really be dead, or I may have a hissy fit and not watch it again ( ok I will record them and watch when not so miffed!) Hour and half episode apparently tonight.

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  24. Now I'm stuck singing Africa by Toto...

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  25. Great list... mine? Hmmm... some spring to mind..

    That time when I was 15 - she was 16.
    First time i played an electric guitar through an amp... holy SHIT!
    First ever solo acoustic gig - just me, my songs and my voice and guitar - The Libertine Pub Nov 2009
    First time I drove in USA - pitch black from Boston airport to CT - what the ****!
    First time my daughter opened her eyes to look at me
    The first time I turned and saw a beautiful woman in white next to me and realised we were just about to get married!

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    1. Ah graham.........i am realising men are more sentimental than women!

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    2. Beautifully sweetly sentimental <3

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    3. Shit - did I just let the side down? Stands more macholy and moves conversation towards rugby...

      Oh yes - First 7" single - Haha Said the Clown Manfred Mann. First Album I really discovered totally for myself and loved - Crime of the Century by Supertramp.
      First CD - holst planet suite!

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  26. Co-incidentally, Shirley and I also went to see "Evita" in London in 1980 and it was also my first viewing of a proper musical. We were both blown away by it - lost in the show. Maybe we were sitting in the same row...

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    1. I was behind you......i remember you were sucking a worthers original

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    2. Yorkshire Pudding - When my son was small, he said something to me and I answered 'surely not' ! and he said Don't call me Shirley :)

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    3. Well NFA, I have never heard that one before! And Johnno it was Shirley who was sucking on the Werther's original!

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  27. ....when I saw Father Christmas.

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  28. This is a weird one...the first time I dropped acid. It changed my life - for the better. That was 1970. Only did it a few times - nothing more was needed. They don't make it like that anymore. I think it's rather dangerous now. Ah, the good old days....haha!

    Rather scandalous aren't I ?!

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    1. Tom stevenson may chat to u about this one!

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    2. (alert - corny romantic)
      The first time I met my husband. I couldn't get his voice out of my head afterwards, very soft spoken and his eyes .. very large and dark brown.
      Good thing he married me, I would have wandered around mooning over that man with those eyes ! :)

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  29. I've never watched a baby being born. It must be a pretty amazing experience. But I certainly wouldn't want to see ECT administered. Just seeing it on TV or a documentary is horrific enough.

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    1. It sticks in the mind, that s why I put it on the list......even with muscle relaxants it looked dreadful........strange as it seems though nick , it seemed to have saved the patient's life

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  30. It could have been worse, a set of saucepans.

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  31. First time I was 20 he was 21, Erm was that it? No hurt n he stopped.
    Had been together 4 years.
    Guess we were both naive and not a clue.
    Just thought penetration was only thing,, no foreplay zip.
    Long time ago!.

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    Replies
    1. Funny what you remember eh?

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    2. In this case, the remembering is what DIdn't happen more than what happened :)

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  32. The first time i saw a baby born created an incredible high.
    First solo overseas trip (aged 40) to meet my blogging community.
    First time eating at a restaurant.
    First meeting with my in-laws. I had food poisoning, I showed up at their house and said hello and went straight to bed.

    I still haven't owned my first car, hubby and I together must have owned about 25 cars but none were mine. Someday I'll have one of my own

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  33. First time I ever saw a fully naked man was on the stage of the Glasgow Empire in 1971 in 'Hair'. You preggers then?lol

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  34. Firsts... I'd rather have had yours.

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  35. First time I saw my daughter...

    First time the Great Scot and I spoke on the phone...

    First time my oldest stepson sat on my lap and asked for a hug (he was 12!)

    First time I drove around the US on my own...

    First time I saw BB King perform live...

    First (and only) time I got married and the pastor asked my sweetheart if he promised to love, honour, and obey me!!

    First time Buddha (the Boston terrier) hopped into bed with me and didn't cower. He'd been a very abused little boy before coming to us.

    First record I bought... Blue Oyster Cult, Don't Fear the Reaper

    First car I bought and paid for myself, a little brown Vega, when I was 15.

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  36. First time my son looked up at us, seconds after I'd given birth.
    First time he smiled at me, at a really horrible Mums coffee morning, I had post natal depression, surrounded by competitive Mums, it was as if he knew how I felt, smiled at me and I thought fuck this and left, ooo makes me cry every time I think of it x

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  37. Without going into my firsts, which are far less interesting than yours, let me just say...Harley Davidson?!

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  38. John, I've shamelessly plagiarised your theme for my own blog post.

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  39. The first time I met my husband (I was twelve years old and at a party my boyfriend was giving). Went home and told Mom I was going to marry that boy.... and I did! Thirty-five years and counting

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  41. First time I kissed a girl, partly memorable because she tasted of mint toffee (Well she was only 10 and it was playtime). I have never kissed a man so I don't know what they taste of.

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