The three of us were sat in the living room, mugs of tea and coffee at hand, just chatting between odd jobs.
Geoff is in his late forties, early fifties now - the same as mum. It's not surprising that they both still see me as a child - I'm only 22... yet at my age both were married with children. Perhaps that's what makes me seem so young to them. When they think back to their fun years, they were still teenagers.
Of course, that's reminiscence began. It quickly moved onto the idea of Urban Surfing (the act of standing on the roof of a van and 'surfing' it while it's driven) and progressed onto other insane things they did as 'kids'.
The only thing I've done that's even remotely crazy is skinny dip - surprisingly neither of them have tried it.
Mum used to Dome Ride - something they invented themselves that involved sitting in a padded out metal dome and being dragged at speed across fields by a range rover. She even walked a mile long train tunnel - yes, a train came; no, she wasn't injured; no, she didn't have to duck under it and hide in the tracks - she stepped into an alcove. She would jump locks at the river - 25 foot from one embankment to the other... which reminds me of the infamous five words that every man will speak at one time of his life - "I can jump that far".
But Geoff didn't grow up in a rural area like mum. He was a London lad, and enjoyed playing in the river Thames, or riding on top of elevators. Hanging off the tops of buildings with his friends till their arms all but gave in (a couple of his friends died once doing it though - no, he wasn't there at the time).
The one that stands out though is something every dare-devil teenager has either tried or fantasised about doing - and that's riding the underground train... on the roof.
I guess the reason this one stands out is because of the story avoided but hinted at.
He told us that you had to get the knack of holding on tight, but laying off centre enough that the lights didn't hit you.
He grew up riding the tube that way with his mates. Only thing is, the more you grow - the less room you have to fit in the tunnel. He lost a friend on those roofs too.
They were riding next to each other.
One minute his friend was next to him.
The next he was covered in their blood.
His friend was just gone.
He couldn't ride a train for a long time after that.
It's a shocking thing to imagine happening - let alone to someone you're so close to. Geoff is like an adopted uncle - the crazy one who likes to make gory props for the renewal (a role-playing convention) and loves making special effects.
I always knew he had what could be classed as "a rough childhood"... but it's hard to believe that at a young age he witnessed something that traumatic.
But I have a tendency to close my minds eye to this kind of thing.
I mean... My sister, bless her, had to cut her own husband down and attempted CPR on him though he was already stiff with rigour after he hung himself.
My best friend Li has to deal with mortalities constantly while working in the hospital.
My flat mate Kaydee deals with terminal patients regularly working as a carer.
So many people face these really difficult things on a regular basis, or one time horrors that are almost too much to even imagine having to do. Yet they don't let it break them.
They truly inspire me.
So why do you then get other people who make a huge big deal about nothing at all?
I mean - I say 'nothing at all'... it's more things that are insignificant in the grand scale of things.
Do you think it's because they don't have the same scale to judge things by?
Possibly.
I mean, we all over-exaggerate our problems from time to time - when they're stressing us out - because they become so big in our minds that they're all we think about.
I know that I'm guilty of such thinking - I let things consume me... not just problems - but concepts, ideas, projects, people... sounds like I'm driven - but I'm not. Just obsessive. If I were driven I'd actually finish the projects, follow through on ideas... but the obsession just gets overtaken by the next one.
Bad huh?
I suppose that's what makes me destined to be a writer.
If I could focus for longer periods of time on one thing I might be useful for something.
As it is, writing will have to be it. I can always just change what I'm writing about and go back to old ones again later... or so the theory goes!!
With Graduation looming closer and closer, I'm thinking more and more about what I want to do with my life. All I can think of is writing. Writing reviews of novels, critical analysis' of literary texts, novels, short stories, poetry, plays... maybe even film scripts...
the idea just seems so dream like. I barely dare hope it'll happen.
I'm actually trying to work out when you have to give up and say "Time to stop trying with the writing"....
Maybe I should stop worrying about that, and start looking into publishing?
First - lets finish this Degree.
No point trying to be published if you can't finish a dissertation.
Aaaanyway.
I'm going to leave you alone for now.
Hope your Easter Holiday is going well
Blessed Be xx
Geoff is in his late forties, early fifties now - the same as mum. It's not surprising that they both still see me as a child - I'm only 22... yet at my age both were married with children. Perhaps that's what makes me seem so young to them. When they think back to their fun years, they were still teenagers.
Of course, that's reminiscence began. It quickly moved onto the idea of Urban Surfing (the act of standing on the roof of a van and 'surfing' it while it's driven) and progressed onto other insane things they did as 'kids'.
The only thing I've done that's even remotely crazy is skinny dip - surprisingly neither of them have tried it.
Mum used to Dome Ride - something they invented themselves that involved sitting in a padded out metal dome and being dragged at speed across fields by a range rover. She even walked a mile long train tunnel - yes, a train came; no, she wasn't injured; no, she didn't have to duck under it and hide in the tracks - she stepped into an alcove. She would jump locks at the river - 25 foot from one embankment to the other... which reminds me of the infamous five words that every man will speak at one time of his life - "I can jump that far".
But Geoff didn't grow up in a rural area like mum. He was a London lad, and enjoyed playing in the river Thames, or riding on top of elevators. Hanging off the tops of buildings with his friends till their arms all but gave in (a couple of his friends died once doing it though - no, he wasn't there at the time).
The one that stands out though is something every dare-devil teenager has either tried or fantasised about doing - and that's riding the underground train... on the roof.
I guess the reason this one stands out is because of the story avoided but hinted at.
He told us that you had to get the knack of holding on tight, but laying off centre enough that the lights didn't hit you.
He grew up riding the tube that way with his mates. Only thing is, the more you grow - the less room you have to fit in the tunnel. He lost a friend on those roofs too.
They were riding next to each other.
One minute his friend was next to him.
The next he was covered in their blood.
His friend was just gone.
He couldn't ride a train for a long time after that.
It's a shocking thing to imagine happening - let alone to someone you're so close to. Geoff is like an adopted uncle - the crazy one who likes to make gory props for the renewal (a role-playing convention) and loves making special effects.
I always knew he had what could be classed as "a rough childhood"... but it's hard to believe that at a young age he witnessed something that traumatic.
But I have a tendency to close my minds eye to this kind of thing.
I mean... My sister, bless her, had to cut her own husband down and attempted CPR on him though he was already stiff with rigour after he hung himself.
My best friend Li has to deal with mortalities constantly while working in the hospital.
My flat mate Kaydee deals with terminal patients regularly working as a carer.
So many people face these really difficult things on a regular basis, or one time horrors that are almost too much to even imagine having to do. Yet they don't let it break them.
They truly inspire me.
So why do you then get other people who make a huge big deal about nothing at all?
I mean - I say 'nothing at all'... it's more things that are insignificant in the grand scale of things.
Do you think it's because they don't have the same scale to judge things by?
Possibly.
I mean, we all over-exaggerate our problems from time to time - when they're stressing us out - because they become so big in our minds that they're all we think about.
I know that I'm guilty of such thinking - I let things consume me... not just problems - but concepts, ideas, projects, people... sounds like I'm driven - but I'm not. Just obsessive. If I were driven I'd actually finish the projects, follow through on ideas... but the obsession just gets overtaken by the next one.
Bad huh?
I suppose that's what makes me destined to be a writer.
If I could focus for longer periods of time on one thing I might be useful for something.
As it is, writing will have to be it. I can always just change what I'm writing about and go back to old ones again later... or so the theory goes!!
With Graduation looming closer and closer, I'm thinking more and more about what I want to do with my life. All I can think of is writing. Writing reviews of novels, critical analysis' of literary texts, novels, short stories, poetry, plays... maybe even film scripts...
the idea just seems so dream like. I barely dare hope it'll happen.
I'm actually trying to work out when you have to give up and say "Time to stop trying with the writing"....
Maybe I should stop worrying about that, and start looking into publishing?
First - lets finish this Degree.
No point trying to be published if you can't finish a dissertation.
Aaaanyway.
I'm going to leave you alone for now.
Hope your Easter Holiday is going well
Blessed Be xx
