There was a time when my dad painted watercolours - he also composed crosswords for the parish magazine -
Above the flat screen Sony Bravia, there's a watercolour of Corfe Castle, and in the hallway, two of the Royal Yacht -
My dad worked in the Drawing Office in Portsmouth Dockyard after he left the Navy - he'd take the ferry every day from Gosport to Portsmouth -
Once I'd passed my driving test, I would meet him at Holy Trinity Church in the Vauxhall Viva, taking him home after work - my chain smoking instructor taught me how to drive in a crumpled Hillman Hunter -
My dad's stopped painting now - he's put to one side his Oxford Compact Thesaurus -
He takes out four library books every week, usually hard boiled tec yarns, featuring lean PIs with troubled pasts -
Sometimes, though, he'll look up from his armchair - he'll recite perfectly Auden's As I walked out one evening, down Bristol Street -
His eyes will glisten with tears - my heart will ache -
21.50
October 19 2014
My mum and dad's house
Staunton Road
Havant
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