I am the fifth of six children. My oldest brother and I thought the same, worked and travelled overseas, shared the same sense of humour. My three sisters, on the other hand were stay at homes, scared of travelling, even on a train in case they got lost, and to this day have not been persuaded that technology can be useful. They are proud of the fact that they don't have mobile phones, computers and that they pay all their bills with cheques or cash. One sister received a letter from a utility company informing her that they would no longer accept cheques and all bills must be paid by direct debit or via bank transfer online. She telephoned the company and said that either they accept her cheques, delivered by normal post, or she wouldn't pay. They backed down. They are a sister clique, of which I have never been part, because we are like chalk and cheese and because I have never really lived in the UK. In January a sister rang me to say that she would be having an 80th birthday but she had forgotten to invite me and when our mother died decades ago they forgot to tell me. Yet when they want help or advice they ask me. Families are strange things, my brother and I are clearly Darbys, in a straight line from our father while my sisters are like our mother. In this strange situation we all manage to get on, we never argue or fall out with each other. They think my brother and I are strange and we just accept them as they are. So why did someone buy me a book for Christmas called, 'How to kill your family'
My father could play the piano. Not an unusual skill but he was deaf. He lost his hearing fighting in the army in India in the 30s so he was an adult when he lost it and therefore remembered tunes, even though he couldn't hear him. However he didn't have the skill to learn anything new so either you liked the old music or you didn't. He used to say that he played by ear and then would roar with laughter. He would have struggled in many ways with modern living but most of all during the pandemic, he would have lost his ability to communicate as he always lip read. There must be thousands of people like him today who still rely on reading lips to understand, in fact all of us do it to some extent, so please be patient if someone is struggling to communicate while you are wearing a mask. I went to the supermarket today and at the check out, the cashier asked me to move the trolley into a particular position. As I manoeuvred it ...
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