In the last few weeks my folks, along with my grandmother, have sold my grandparents home. My grandfather passed away 3 years ago and over the last year my Nannie has been unsteady on her feet and not great by herself so she made the decision that it was best for her to go into a care home which is sad but at the same time she loves it there as she has so much company and the care staff in it are out of this world which is a blessing to us all that she is in good hands.
I was so fortunate growing up as my grandparents lived just 2 street away from my family home. In fact at the time all the houses were new builds so my grandparents house was ready before ours so we moved in with them whilst our house was being finished off. While I can’t imagine how we all crammed into a three bedroom semi-detached im sure it was eventful! I hadn’t started school at the time I must have only been about 4 years old so my memories of it all are very vague. When my parents went to work I use to stay with my grandparents and even when I started school I stayed with them until tea time and boy did we have some adventures!!
Its funny being with your grandparents everyday – they let you do whatever you want (within reason) and they always have a spare pair of clothes as a backup for those times you want nothing more than to play in the dirt and cover it up before your parents find out about it 🙂 This I have come to find is true from generation to generation with Olivia and her grandparents surprise surprise!!
When the decision was made to sell the house that had so many memories I will be honest I didn’t think that much about it. In my mind I think I was just happy that my Nannie was content where she was and she was safe and that brought piece of mind. It was only when I went to visit my parents and I drove past the street with their house on it and I turned my head to have a quick look, as I do and have done for many years and spotted the “Sold” sign. It felt weird and I felt sad about it.
Growing up in that house was in a word Brilliant. I remember when my dad brought me around in the morning before school and my Nannie had a VHS tape that she would record all the programmes I loved on it and I would sit and watch that while I ate my breakfast. My grandfather who I called Papa would then walk my friends and I to school telling us numerous made up stories the whole way there and again on the walk home. He was a big hit with my pals that’s for sure; infact my friends would knock on the front door asking if he could tell them some more stories!
It was in this very living room that I would lie down on the floor against the fire-place and my grandparents would measure my height based on the bricks on the hearth. We would do this several times a year and that’s how I knew what height I was and if I was growing,…I had no interest in feet or Inches I measured myself in bricks 🙂
My Papas chair was the one on the left hand side of this picture. Next to this chair was a pile of newspapers and other rubbish he would gather up ie bun papers, pens, pencils fliers, leaflets until my mum would have a moan at him to have a clear out – it was never my Nannie, in her eyes he was a lost cause; it was in one ear and out the other!
Although you cannot see it in this photo my parents and I got a family portrait of the 3 of us many years ago. I think I might have been about 12 years old or so. We never updated it so my mum had a beehive of a hairdo and my dad had jet black hair and a really cool tashe – the kind of tashe that is hipster nowadays and I looked sweet as pie in my best outfit with long hair and a jazzy hairband. It became a total throwback and it was the first thing you seen when you walked through the living room door – cringe!!
It was in this room that I first introduced Chris to my grandparents. I don’t think we had been together that long but I rang my Nannie to let her know I was going to bring Chris round then I prepped Chris on meeting them 🙂 My Nannie was and still is very modern but my Papa would always wear a suit he was just traditional. It was probably the last 8/10 years before he passed away that we got him into fleeces and a pair of jeans. I remember seeing him cut the grass in a shirt and tie! Anyhoo when we landed on the doorstep there was my Papa in a suit; Chris reached out his hand and shook it and hugged my Nannie. That was it. They loved him. He was then known going forward as the “Golden boy”.
Olivia also celebrated her first Christmas receiving her presents from her Great Nana in this living room – you can tell by her face it was very exciting!! I’m so lucky to have these pictures of Olivia in the house before it was sold.
While the kitchen has seen a modern update that’s where all the baking action use to take place. Every November I would help my Nannie make Christmas cake, I still to this day don’t know who ate it im guessing it was herself maybe as no one else in the family likes it! But every year we made one regardless. Nannie also helped me make shortbread on several occasions which I then cut out using christmas cutter as this was my gift to everyone. Bless 🙂
One pancake Tuesday I invited my best pal Kyle around to help me make pancakes after school. We were turning them out pretty quickly and eating them just as quick. My Papa was sitting in the living room waiting on one with his plate at the ready little did he know the production line ceased at the kitchen door as we were stuffing them into us. My Papa always told that story over and over again. He waited and waited but I’m pretty sure he did get one eventually – a really small cold one no doubt!
It was also in this very kitchen that my Papa exploded a Fray Bentos pie after putting it in the microwave. For those of you who don’t know what that is I have added the link above. Basically its a pie that is in a mental tin fit for an oven NOT a microwave! My Nannie was in hospital for a few days and he was home alone cooking for himself. As I said he is traditional so cooking wasnt his forte. My mum got a call that the door had blown off the microwave door and the pie was dripping from the curtains – this was after he had opened it with a hammer and chisel because he couldn’t find the tin openner….yikes!
The 3rd Bedroom upstairs was my bedroom in their house and while it wasnt used all that often as I got older there was a sign on the door saying “Jillians room”. My mum informed me at the weekend that they couldn’t get the sign off the door before it was sold so the new owner has that as a bonus with no extra cost 🙂
I will always have wonderful memories of that house and just how much my grandparents loved living there and being so close to us. I think even though it is sold that I will still tilt my head as I drive past the street to just to reminisce on those memories.
