Page 12 - It's a Rum Life Book One "In the Beginning 1947 to 1960"
P. 12

deterred and all the time my father and the keeper seemed
            dumbfounded. If not a little amused.
               Amusement   was   not   one   of   the   things   my  Mother   was
            renowned for, particularly at her expense. This I well remember
            from experience of years to come.
               The elephant by now was being belaboured by a handbag of
            large proportions but an elephant’s trunk as most will know is a
            very large, flexible and muscular instrument.
               If I stop at this moment and reflect on why this happened.

               After half my lifetime now has been spent in close daily
            contact with large animals I am well aware of what excites most
            male mammals. It’s a female and they don’t have to be of the
            same species! Add to this the honeymoon catalyst and hey
            presto we have a situation that would excite any hot blooded
            male!
               The incident was not mentioned in Mother's hearing ever
            after. But for the rest of the family it was a subject of much
            mirth for years and years.
               To jump forward for just a moment or two, there was a
            further visit to London which I enjoyed rather more. To the
            “Festival of Britain” in 1951. This is one time when I wish I could
            travel back with the brilliant Olympus OM one and OM two
            cameras that became my passion in the mid 1980’s.


               WHICH FAMILY
               Readers may think it odd that I do not list all the family
            members in the order you would imagine they ‘appear’. I think it
            more interesting to actually mention them in the approximate
            order they became known to me. The exception is the following,
            taken completely out of context, as you need to know these
            facts to understand better the complexities I have had to live
            with.



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