Times Of My Life

Let's get the time line right. To do so, we start from the beginning.. A long long time ago, my parents got married and they rented a room at 4th Auntie's house. Then along came my older sister Jean; then came my older brother Jeff; then came me.. When I was about eighteen monthes old, my mother landed in hospital..(???) she said I sucked the life out of her.. I was breast-fed!..They say mother's milk is the best and it's free!.. Actually my mother had a weak heart and problems with her blood pressure..
So I was left in Auntie's care.. She tried to feed me bottled milk.. I don't want.. It's not the same!!!.. Then she tried giving me Milo (in the bottle)... I still don't want. After a few attempts, Auntie got fed-up and plonked a cup of Milo in front of me. DRINK!
Surprise, surprise, I took the cup and started drinking from the cup! Must be very hungry by then. Well, how much got spilled, I don't know. From then on I started feeding myself. So imagine how my mother felt when, coming home from the hospital, the first thing she saw was me sitting on the wooden platform, eating porridge by myself... all alone... with no one else around.. . Tears came to her eyes..SO POOR THING...SO SAD...
[this episode of my life was told in one of my mother's story-telling sessions. I was only eighteen months old!!]

Now this wooden platform was a common feature in houses back then. It was located just outside of the front door on the left side..About two feet high.. easy to get on.. In those days, there was no electricity and so to keep cool, people sit ouside of their houses, some even take afternoon naps on the platform. It's raised so that you don't get creepy crawlies joining you in whatever you do on the platform - sewing, preparing food, playing card games, etc, etc. For me, this was sanctuary from two huge dogs that belong to Auntie's husband. Uncle usually chain the dogs to a tree but he let them loose now and then to patrol his estate.. The dogs were not actually fierce but they were huge and no one would want to mess with them.. I thought that they were quite harmless when I got older because they never hurt me. Maybe because Uncle keep scolding them when they even got near me!!

As I mentioned before, we moved out of Auntie's house when I was 3+ and moved into the house in Margaret Drive. But Auntie missed us and would ask Jeff and me to spent a few days with her, especially during school holidays.. Those were fun days!!
I remembered that Jeff and I would go and pick grass-seeds to feed the chickens and sometimes Jeff would find a worm... Then we both would run, I with a handful of grass-seeds and Jeff with a wiggly worm in his hand. We would rush back to the house and throw the worm into the chicken coop (actually a fenced-up area).. One chick would get the worm in its beak and the other chicks would chase the first chick round and round.. Then another chick would manage to bite off the worm and all the others would chase him.. Round and round they go until no more worm.. Then the chicks would look around all confused. I would then throw in the handful of grass-seeds and the chicks are happy.
Jeff and I are also happy and this is when we would go to the guava tree and bounce.. and fight.. and drama drama...SO HAPPY...

[ I have no re-collection of the tricycle accident so it is possible that it happen before the fight over who gets to bounce on the guava branch...A bit off a mess here (time line wise)... My mother didn't tell me how old I was when I got the scar on my foot but I should be about 4 or 5 years old when I went back to holiday with Auntie.. Jeff and I continued to spent time with Auntie until we were about 10 or 11 .. After that Auntie seperated from her husband and she moved from house to house staying with her siblings and sometimes with us... Even my two daughters got to know her and I would like to think that they also loved her and have fond memories of her..]