The Prof usually leaves the cottage well before 7 am and as he leaves I get up to walk the dogs.
Uncharacteristically this morning he left at 8 am and so the village was busy with school run traffic and people commuting to work as we stopped for wees and poos!
The older of the village children lined up with their smart phones at 1-3 London Road waiting for the school buses to arrive and I was suddenly reminded of dark depressing winter mornings when I walked to school with my heavy briefcase and chilblains.
Breakfast time at home before school were not Betty Crocker times when I was a boy. My father generally would get up after we had left for school and my mother often had a hangover or was still asleep So there was no cooked breakfasts made, no cheery words of goodbye and no smell of coffee brewing.
I do remember making jam on toast whilst listening to the ever cheerful Terry Wogan on radio 2
He was a friendly soul .
Mornings felt a lot colder then than they do today.
Uncharacteristically this morning he left at 8 am and so the village was busy with school run traffic and people commuting to work as we stopped for wees and poos!
The older of the village children lined up with their smart phones at 1-3 London Road waiting for the school buses to arrive and I was suddenly reminded of dark depressing winter mornings when I walked to school with my heavy briefcase and chilblains.
Breakfast time at home before school were not Betty Crocker times when I was a boy. My father generally would get up after we had left for school and my mother often had a hangover or was still asleep So there was no cooked breakfasts made, no cheery words of goodbye and no smell of coffee brewing.
I do remember making jam on toast whilst listening to the ever cheerful Terry Wogan on radio 2
He was a friendly soul .
Mornings felt a lot colder then than they do today.
It is noticeably quiet here on the roads early morning.....half term!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't cope with a cheesy Betty Crocker morning though !! Mine were very much like yours, sans the hungover Mum 😩
ReplyDeleteSounds like I had a pretty good childhood, spoilt even.
ReplyDeleteI was spoilt in other ways and by other people
DeleteBrief case? Fucking hell.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of Simon off the Inbetweeners 😁
DeleteI was a terrible geek.....the briefcase was brown leather, a Christmas gift when I was 11
DeleteWhen I was a schoolboy, every morning was a big rush. It was always like Groundhog Day. Bolting down a slice of toast and a mug of tea before running to the bus stop. I used to envy those whose mornings are always leisurely like that stupid Tory MP Tim Loughton who recommends an hour in the bath each morning!
ReplyDeleteI was always early and mostly walked to school
DeleteI remember my Mum keeping the porridge warm on top of the valour, it used to stink the house out with the paraffin smell, lol
ReplyDeleteBriony
x
What's a valour?
DeleteI think my mother and you would have suited each other. To this day I don't "do" breakfast, my appetite clearly a late riser (say midday). In as much a rush I was I did notice her distress as I barely gulped down a sip of her herbal tea (red), never mind food, before tearing out of the house at the last minute running down a very very very long street to catch the bus (often missed - but then my gym teacher lived one village further away and, on passing would stop and give me a lift five minutes later). Sorry to hear about your mother's little helper, John. Ain't easy on the kids, neither is the guilt a parent I imagine invariably feels.
ReplyDeleteU
It's how I remember it...rightly or wrongly
DeleteOh dear, rotten memories here too. Freezing house, stroppy mother, marge on toast. Sets you up nicely for the dreaded school bus,Hoping it's not your day to get picked on, spat at etc. x
ReplyDeletePerhaps I was always bad in the mornings
DeleteYou sent me to google, "chilblains." My mother was not a breakfast maker, and I had yet to discover that milk didn't agree with my digestion making cereal something I avoided. My favorite part of mornings was sitting in the front of the bus, right behind the driver, a crusty farmer with the most amazing tales to tell.
ReplyDeleteI never hear of kids having chillblains anymore ...they are terribly psinful
DeleteI had a very young mother and she would make anything I wanted for breakfast but I never wanted breakfast ... too early to eat .
ReplyDeleteSo she had her coffee and probably waited until I had gone to school to go back to bed :)
A bowl of ready brek made with hot milk and hot chocolate set us up for the freezing mornings. We did live in Northern Scotland so was needed!. Not had either for years!. May need a box of ready brek.😀
ReplyDeleteHot chocolate ! For breakfast! How continental
DeleteI don’t have memories of breakfast as a child, but I’m sure back in the 50’s, my very traditional mom would have made us breakfast. I know that I did it for my children in the 80’s, even if it was just a bowl of cold cereal and juice. I was lucky to have a job that allowed me to get to work after my kids went to school. I was very fortunate and was grateful for a wonderful and understanding boss.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad your mornings and your life are warmer now.
ReplyDeleteChilblains, briefcase (my brother's cast off), dark mornings and Terry Wogan. Not particularly happy memories either.
ReplyDeleteAnother sufferer!
DeleteThis just made me feel sad.
ReplyDeleteMe too. So sad.
DeleteNo hard boiled eggs in mittens to keep hands warm ?
cheers, parsnip
Oh I had lots of gloves and a duffle coat ! I always lost my gloves
DeleteI miss Wogan in the morning. Can't stand Chris Evans so I've had to migrate to Radio 4.
ReplyDeleteHe was a scream wasn't he?
DeleteEven after all this time I can still hardly believe that Terry W has gone for good. It just seems so WRONG!
DeleteI don't remember breakfast before school as we had our vile warm bottle of milk provided at the school. I do remember that my Mum had Terry Wogan on in the kitchen. It was definitely colder back in the 1970's. :)
ReplyDeleteWarm milk at primary school in bottles with those horrid little straws.. the smell of which still makes me heave
DeleteWell, lives start out sad and improve, it seems.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't all bad at all
DeleteI often hear about Terry Wogan on overseas posts. Glad he cheered you when you were a littly. xx
ReplyDeleteI really don't remember breakfasts in the mornings, after the age of 11, I was making it myself if I was going to eat anything. I was happy just to rush out of the house.
ReplyDeleteI was lucky, mom always made breakfast for us and freshly ironed clothes ready. Dad was always up by five and out by that time. What I find sad is all the small towns around here have no children, seeing a school bus is like seeing a unicorn!
ReplyDeleteWhat ARE chilblains, anyway?
ReplyDeletehttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilblains
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI dreaded going to school. I know some people have a problem with kids owning smart phones, but if they had been around back the, it would have made my commute easier.
ReplyDeleteWhy Kirk?
DeleteWithout going into detail, I didn't have all that happy of a childhood, either at home or at school, and sought and found refuge in TV, comics, and the occasional movie (as you know, I devote much of my blog to those things.) Had the Internet and smart phones existed back then, it all would have been at my fingertips.
DeleteMind you, that's not necessarily the HEALTHIEST way to deal with childhood problems, but it seemed to work for me at the time.
My son makes his own breakfast these days. I encourage him to make whatever he wants, just to get him motivated. Today he had two pan fried hot dogs on buns and a raw carrot. It smelled soo good too!
ReplyDeleteI love my breakfast time now. Two slices of toast two light fried eggs and a bucket of coffee
Deletemornings are definitely a lot warmer..no frost yet, this was the date of last year's first frost.
ReplyDeleteI remember the commute to school, walking or cycling..I was so glad to finish!
I think it was the fact we didn't have central heating..the house was cold from the get go
DeleteI think mornings and breakfast should be a warm, loving experience for every child. Life is tough enough without starting the day with some little bit of love in your pocket.
ReplyDeleteBeautifully said.
DeleteOh I had plenty of love but that came from my sisters and grandparents.....yes I too liked the " love in the pocket" phrase
DeleteCornflakes in the summer, ReadyBrek in the winter. Mum used to sit us on the kitchen counter to wash us. It was the only warm room in the house before we had central heating.
ReplyDeleteNot sure ready brek still on sale, went to co op no!. Not the same as porridge was creamier!. Huh I wan,t some!.
DeleteI am sure it is
DeleteI'm sorry for saying this as I am no perfect parent myself but your parents needed booted up both their arses!
ReplyDeleteThey tried their best in their own ways...
DeleteMy own parents were not drinkers, but dad being the non participant in child rearing, and mum was not maternal at all. I suspect that she was not happy all her married life, definitely was a "hands off" type of mum, almost I suspect did not want children. As the eldest of 3 girls, I was the one who made breakfast and made sure everyone was appropriately dressed, homework assist, etc.
ReplyDeleteI was never going to have kids, I didn't trust myself that I would not turn out like my mother, but married at 30... very happy and oops I got pregnant at 39!
M y thoughts were that I was NOT my mother, I can break the mould!
Emotionally, I am not like my mother, am definitely more maternal and nurturing, so here we are with him fast approaching 18. Hugs and "love U's" every day. We are both not morning people, and I never pushed breakfasts, but stuck an extra healthy sandwich into his lunch bag! He tells me that I have always been there for him, and has always felt loved and supported. Hope he goes on to love his future partner and babies!
P.S..... I never did become my mother, and she tells me that she envies my relationship with my kid.
As Philip Larkin said " they fuck you up your mum and dad"
DeleteOoh I suffered from chilblains too. My mother gave us all a cooked breakfast , some form of eggs though I don't remember, made our sarnies and being a teacher caught the same bus as us. I'd be outside feeding the cats and Guinea pigs, someone fed the dogs. Dad had left early for the London train.
ReplyDeleteSounds idyllic but they separated at Mum's instigation when I the youngest was fifteen.
Didn't they itch like mad!?
DeleteI remember whinging about school sitting next to the old table on the landing of our 1960;s semi, the same table is now in my sitting room. I hated the thick tights with the "bum" space in the back. very uncomfortable if you put them on the wrong way round.
ReplyDeleteBreakfast everyday at primary school a coddled egg, that is an egg broken into a teacup and popped into the farmhouse aga oven, then a skinned chopped tomato stirred in and eaten with a teaspoon, then off to school with only 24 of us there and ugh 1/3 of a pint of milk stood on the radiators so it didnt give us a chill on the stomach, put many a child off milk for life. Mind you I dont remember any "fussy" eaters at primary or high shool in the 60s and 70s. And no toast just bread and jam or marmalade despite the fact we had a toaster!
ReplyDeleteWe had coddled egg when not well served in cup too
DeleteDon't they just!
ReplyDeleteThey were who they were in circumstances I'll never know.
I count myself very lucky to have had the brains to figure out that I didn't want to be them!
I love mornings on my own. No talking needed, except to dogs, pottering at my own speed and copious cups of coffee. It's a good start to a day :-)
ReplyDelete