Underpants

Whenever one of us caught Dad in just his voluminous underwear (quite a common occurrence given the Kirkwood lack of modesty), we would feign shock only for Dad to claim "They're clean and they're Woolsey!" Not sure why being Woolsey was meant to make his appearance seem more respectable, but logic wasn't meant to enter in to these quotes.

There were several more that came up over the weekend, but sadly I didn't note them at the time and now can't recall them - perhaps you can Beck?

I will though leave you with the sight that greeted me early Sunday morning when I came down early for breakfast. Mother had kindly laid out the breakfast things (plate, bowl, egg cup, cutlery etc). As I sat there eating my Weetabix, I could almost see the old boy shuffling about in his slippers, white hair tousled and wearing a karkhi v-neck jumper, as he got my porridge ready and repeatedly asking whether I wanted a boiled egg or not. I badly missed his company.

How to describe expense - and another vintage sound clip

Things aren't expensive. They cost "many, many pennies" [said in a weary Scottish accent perhaps shaking head from side to side].

Clip of the Day: Here's something that was almost left on the cutting room floor after my Christmas Day 1977 edit. The best bit's at the start when John's asking the maths question. Doesn't he sound like a prep school pipsqueak? I sound like a jerk - and Adam sounds exactly the same as now. Still all lovely accents - and that's the reason that Mum said she and Dad shelled out for our education ...

more randoms

Forgot to put in my last comment that you unwittingly did a Dadism in your post re the video, Paul, by saying so specifically the date of its appearance. Dad was always one for remembering the exact year something rather obscure happened. eg - talk of say him winning the featherweight boxing bout at Reading School...Year? 1941 (or whatever..) I never can remember years, so I have not inherited this trait.

Re:random Frenchisms - had a great chuckle over i-en, i-en, i-en - had completely forgotten this one - THANKYOU FOR REMEMBERING!! . His other French favourites were to declare with gusto; "mais oui!" Not forgetting of course my formal title of "Mademoiselle L'eglise de Bois".

Random selection

Paul suggested I stick the one I made on a recent email on here for posterity: Mars bars being given their full name. Also, related to this, the odd habit - that Paul and I carried on for many years - of slicing the Mars bar up and serving it on a plate. Somehow made it taste so much better.

I also mentioned on the email about the "competition". I recall the eagerness we all had for the "first one to see the sea" game when we were nearing the destination on holiday, with the promise of a Mars bar to to the winner which, I think, was never very forthcoming...

And finally, Dad's strange habit of speaking French phrases in a strange nasal accent e.g. "Tre bein" followed by "i-en, i-en, i-en". Not sure where it cam from or if there were any others?

Two more - and a video of me on the TV

We should log a Dadism identified by John in his recent e-postcard: Dad would always start any post-holiday inquisition with the question: "So you left home at what time?"

And one more I thought of the other day when I heard the phrase on the radio: "manners maketh man". (Note a Dad original, of course. Google tells me it's first attributable to the 14th century Bishop of Winchester).

Video of the day: Don't know if this clip really belongs on the blog - but it is archive and family-related. It's of me in the audience of Top of the Pops as an 17-year-old in 1981. I was desperate to be on the telly hence the regular head-turning to see if I'm on the monitor. How vain - and embarrassing. I first appear (white t-shirt with red neck coming in from bottom right of screen) after 11 secs then again at 1:11 and 1:21.

I also appeared on another show - albeit more fleetingly - with The Ramones. If you really can't get enough of shots of the back of my head then click here for the video of that one. I'm wearing my green Portsmouth Poly sweatshirt this time - which you can spot initially in the bottom left corner at 1:47 and 2:29 (head turning again). OK: that's enough time-wasting self-indulgence for one post ...