Things I Have Never Done
Everybody has lists like these, which often include such things as making love in a hammock or aeroplane, which for most people are very unlikely. I won’t comment about the two I mention here, except to say that I did have my own plane for many years. But it didn’t feature a hammock!
Two things on my real list are learning to swim and having someone deliver a takeaway meal, which I then pay for at the door. As to the latter, I’ve never even had one delivered by the vendor. The learning to swim will stay forever, but as I have a branch of the Bombay Bicycle Club just round the corner, a takeaway will probably be delivered at some point in the near future.
Unusual things I have done include.
- Gone to Royal Ascot with someone else impersonating someone who had died many years before. The gateman said she looked well. She still did, when I saw her a couple of weeks ago.
- Crashed an aircraft and walked away from it. As did all my passengers! The plane was a right-off!
- Hunted three types of hare hounds; harriers, bassets and beagles in one day.
- Been extremely drunk on a Mersey Ferry.
- Seen the Beatles perform live.
- Piloted a light-aircraft all round Australia and even on to the Great Barrier Reef.
- Been present at the birth of all my three sons. For the first, my wife was three weeks late and she fooled the Middlesex Hospital into believing she was in labour. More…
- Won a National Championship at real tennis.
- Seen a Transit of Venus.
- Had dinner in Rick Stein’s restaurant with two widowed daughters of an heriditary peer. More…
- Came off best after a mugging in Naples. More…
- Hitched a Lift in the cab of a High Speed Train from Edinburgh to Inverness. More…
My late wife always said she married me because she knew life wouldn’t be boring. I intend to keep proving she was right. I must not let her down!
The Curious Things One Finds
My late wife’s great aunt Rita was an unusual character. She was an aunt by marriage and the engagement had lasted well upwards of twenty-five years. But things like that happened in the 1930s and 1940s.
I was reminded of her last night, when I watched a bit of the new Upstairs Downstairs. On the wall in one scene, was a piece of needlework showing flowers, that could have been done by Auntie Rita. It is very similar to three pieces that she gave my late wife and I will probably put on the wall at some time.
You might argue why would a sixty-three year-old man keep something like that in a modern house.
The reason is that Auntie Rita worked for something like the Royal School of Needlework and she taught Edward, Prince of Wales how to do it. She also is reputed to have told my mother-in-law, that he and Mrs. Simpson liked more than the odd drink.
So when I was going through my odd box, I came across this drown-sized coin of Edward VIII. Here is the obverse.
Obverse of Edward VIII Crown Coin
What is unusual is that Edward VIII is shown wearing a crown, which as he hadn’t had a coronation, wouldn’t have been shown on any official coins or medals. So I would assume it is some unauthorised souvenir.
The reverse is unusual too and unlike any other coin I’ve seen.
Reverse of Edward VIII Crown Coin
It is very art nouveau, which makes me feel it was just a crap souvenir produced by a speculator.
On the other hand, because of the needlework connection, it might be something different! If anybody has any ideas, please let me know, as I am a man with a terribly curious nature.
My late wife also had another connection to Mrs. Simpson. She regularly worked in the court, where Mrs. Simpson’s divorce was granted. In fact the adoption case mentioned in this post was handled in the same Court.
The Anonymous Widower 