WE learn through life that some opinions are right and true, and some are disproved by the relentless march of time.
As a child I had to prove for myself that candle flame was hot, ice was slippery, and it really hurts if you get over-ambitious and fall out of a tree.
Progressing on to secondary school my lack of mathematical ability saw me learning shorthand and typing under the reluctant gaze of Edwina, her of the Mary Quant hairstyle and miniest of skirts.
Shorthand and Typing was for the ‘thick,’ and just in case I was in any doubt about my general lack of mental acuity Edwina would pontificate, whilst attending to her immaculately manicured fingernails, that it was a waste of time teaching me, as I was left-handed.
Maybe she was right – I do make an awful lot of typos!
I left school with very little to show for the State’s attempt to educate me, and with the Headmaster’s constant mantra – ‘You’ll come to no good’ ringing in my ears.
Maybe he was right, who’s to judge. But I married a man for love, and we spent 46 years side by side, weathering together the storms and buffets that life threw at us.
But the outpouring of support and sympathy I have had since his death have reinforced my opinion that he was wrong when he worried that I would be left on my own and lonely.
Thank you, all of you, for your sympathy and support – it means everything to me.
