098 Uncle and Aunt

 

" Uncle and Aunt "

When I found out not long ago that an aunt and uncle had died a long time ago it made me want to get back in contact with another couple all the more. And that at least was not hard as they were in contact with my brother. I had been in regular contact via email up until 2008 when my son was born. That also coincided with my laptop dying and me losing their email. Of course 12 years on that would not really be a problem but back then it was. We lost contact and life got in the way.

Anyway I got back in contact with them some time back but it was a little awkward. I don't like using the phone, my uncle doesn't like typing and my aunt had problems with her sight. A stalemate. I said I'd get back sometime in the future. Out the blue though last night an email arrived. It was from my aunt. She'd had her operation and said all the grey had cleared and her sight was back. Fantastic news. 

I do prefer email. Aside from getting agitated on the phone I cannot concentrate and forget things. A big bonus of the mails is being able to choose when to interact. Most of all though my aunt writes great interesting mails and used to fill them with accompanying photographs.

They live down near the Norfolk broads and it has me missing that area of the world again. The pace of life was so much slower when I used to go down that it felt like a proper break between the great rail journeys there and back. The summers were so warm. They had a boat we could glide along the water on. Everyone said hello and most would stop for a chat. I do miss that. I do hope I can do it again but time is running out on that score given my aunt is now 81 years old. Not that she looks it. The two of them still look like they have plenty of miles in them.

I really am looking forward to reading mails again and finding out about their current lives. The photo above is from very early 89s I suspect. Its my younger brother in the photo who was born in 1976 so I think 82 or 83 possibly. It was a tradition for my grandparents to go down them they took me and then my brother. I also went down a few years with another uncle and then on my own. There is a very long tradition there.