Firstly there were the braces that held my trousers up and secondly the braces that were meant to straighten my teeth. But nobody really told me why I was wearing the second of these. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with the straightness of my teeth and I viewed the wearing of said braces as an imposition and unnecessary torture. I had a small gap between my two front teeth but nothing that was unusual.
I was supposed to keep the braces in all the time but I didn't. I didn't sleep with them in and I didn't eat with them in and as a result the time I had to wear them dragged on and on. Often I would bite through them and they would have to be replaced by my ancient dentist who scared me.
I have written about Mr Anson and his torture chamber (sorry dental practice) before. It scared the s--t out of me. Just going to the dentist was a scary experience. Then there were all the drills and things that made noises that weren't pleasant. But I will gloss over that lot as it brings back too many bad memories.
I'm sure said dentist scared many many children over the years. But if I was good and put up with the torture my grandfather would give me sixpence which was quite a lot of money in those days. You could get the bus into Norwich for less than that so I guess it would be the equivalent today of about £4 ridiculous as that might seem.
So for years after, I didn't go to the dentist with obvious consequences. Eventually got my teeth sorted out and realised that dentists weren't actually ogres but ordinary people. Now I quite enjoy going in a perverse sort of way.
As for the other kind of braces. Well I always wore them rather than a belt (never did know why). Yes they kept my trousers up but yes they also led to some ribbing and taking the p--s by the belt wearing brigade. I seem to remember the ones I wore were bright red in colour and I did take some stick. Later on of course braces became a fashion accessory but I never had to guts to wear them again in later life.
I am reminded of all this by our trip to the races at Fakenham on Monday. I had on a pair of trousers that I hadn't worn for some time and I forgot that I have lost some weight. They used to be tight and so I didn't take a belt and spent most of the afternoon hoisting them up as they became detached from my shirt and began sinking southwards.
I could have done with some braces to hold them up and I wouldn't have been self conscious about wearing them.
* * *
Sometimes you meet somebody who perks up your day. Well yesterday I had two such encounters. We were looking after the grandkiddles for the day (the last day of their Easter holidays). That meant a day of draughts, backgammon, football, cricket, playgrounds, eating and drinking. We were on our way to the park in the morning when one of my regular readers Jill thanked me for giving her a lift through reading my blog every morning. "It gets me out of bed," she said. Wow what a compliment that is and so so appreciated. Appreciated more than anyone will ever know.
A little later, after helping to set everything up for the Hethersett Forget-Me-Not cafe session, I wandered down to the local cafe with my grandson. Cafe Kin has recently changed hands and is just getting things together again. It's a very pleasant place to have a drink and snack. Grandson Elliot had a very fruity smoothie and I had a very strong cup of coffee (ideal).
In front of us in the queue was a lady who was secretary of Hethersett Voluntary Controlled Middle School (now Junior School) when I was chair of governors there. The school is next to the cafe. Jo told me that she has been at the school for 22 years and still loves her job. How many people can say that after 22 years? I certainly never could. It was good to hear and then she added that she remembered the day when I as chair of governors had appointed her and how grateful she was.
That wasn't a problem as she was always an excellent member of staff and still is. She also pointed out that the swimming pool is 50 years old next year. Now that's a real cause for celebration as myself and the vice chair of governors fought tooth and nail to keep the pool after it was an inch from being condemned about a quarter of a century ago.
We managed to help get it patched up and then modernised and achieving that is one of my fondest memories from my life in the village. I will write more about the swimming pool in a future blog.
I still vividly remember the day that Jo was appointed as school secretary (today she has another management role). I remember it because among the six people we interviewed were two outstanding candidates who we just couldn't separate. We discussed the relative merits of each but still couldn't part them - if only we had two jobs on offer. We even took a break when we wandered round the school playing field in an attempt to get things straight in our mind. Eventually we offered the job to Jo and the rest, as they say, is history.
After our visit to the cafe we called in at Hethersett Library where grandson seemed amazed that I could get in when it was shut. This is through the excellent open libraries system, although I told him I had a special magic ticket which he didn't believe for a moment.
"Did Charles Dickens really write Oliver Twist?" he inquired.
"Yes," I replied.
"Did he actually," this is his usual phrase if he doesn't believe something.
"Yes he did actually," I replied.
"Didn't he write that othe famous thing - Christmas something or other."
"You mean a Christmas Carol?"
"Yes that's it."
At this point I picked up a copy fo David Copperfield:
"This is one of my favourite books" I said.
He had a look through it.
"But it's got 800 pages," he said.
"Yes I've read it three times," I said.
The result of all this is I left with a Terry Pratchett novel as this is currently his favourite author and I have never read a Pratchett book and thought it about time that I did.