Sepia Saturday 552 : Saturday 9th January 2021

 

Alan from Sepia Saturday says:

To take us into 2021 we have the letter T. You can interpret this as you like, for our theme image I have chosen a Birmingham tram from the 1920s. All you have to do is to feature an old photo in a blog post, post the post on or around Saturday 9th January 2021, and add a link to the list below.

I have chosen a few bits and bobs from a memento box which needs to be sorted and scanned; something on my list of never-ending things to do which never seem to get done.

Hazel Teddy & Jim at The Gap Watson's Bay

 

I don't think I've posted this photo before.  I like this photo because it shows Ted as a young boy.  Most of the photos I have of Ted are when he is an adult or a teen. As my father is the baby in this photo, I reckon Ted was probably about 10 years old and Hazel, 12-14 years old. Jim, my father, seems to have lost his shoe.  Why would they have been at Watson's Bay I wonder?  Had Jim just been baptised?  No. He was baptised at Earlwood.  

Watson's Bay was where my grandmother went to school.  She grew up at Parsley Bay.  Maybe they were just visiting their aunts and uncle, Connie and Claude and Lil who lived at Vaucluse, their father's sisters.  It looks to be winter in Sydney judging by Hazel's coat, Ted's jumper and Jim's Tam o'Shanter.  So I'm thinking this was taken circa 1936.  Because we have a new baby in the family, our first grandson, it's interesting to look at what my father looked like as a baby.  

If you want to see another picture of a Tram, go and read about The Gap here on Wikipedia. The Gap has spectacular views but is also associated with suicide and disaster.  The Dunbar was wrecked off The Gap in 1857. Incidentally, Dunbar, was the name of the house my father and his partner Jennifer built at Point Lookout on Stradbroke Island. The Phoebe Dunbar was wrecked off Stradbroke at Amity Point in 1856.

Other items that matched the T prompt I found in my box of goodies was the following:

I have no idea why TAA, the domestic carrier, was featured on an international vaccination certificate but there you go.  This was for our trip overseas in 1971.  I had a vaccination for Typhoid, as well as cholera and Small Pox.

 

And one more thing beginning with T.  A postcard from Tunbridge Wells.

My mother sent this to her father in 1980.  I'm surprised it was written in February.  If you had asked me I would have said that we flew back home in January but then I suppose Uni didn't start in Sydney til March.  

It reads:

Dearest Dad, A lovely day, foggy but not raining.  We had lunch at Tunbridge Wells just to the left of this picture.  The trees weren't green of course but it look much the same.  Drove on then to Hastings.  The sea was absolutely flat and very foggy all around.  We climbed up onto the cliffs at Beachy Head & walked for a little. Unvbelievable place.  Then on to Brighton for a quick fish & chips in the car before the drive back to London.  It has become very cold in the last week or so.  I think we have been spoilt lately.  Love Barb, Jim & Alex.

It's good to have confirmation of my grandfather (Tom)'s address on this postcard.  So by then, he was living at Benelong.  

Have you been watching Bridgerton?  I was interested in the use of the word "ton" with which I was unfamiliar.  Apparently, it means high society.  My mother loved Georgette Heyer novels and was obsessed with etiquette, which was determined by the "ton".  Tunbridge Well, actually called Royal Tunbridge Wells, is/was apparently very popular with royalty so would have been the centre of "hoi-polloi" or the "ton".

How's your life?  Are you in lockdown as we are in Brisbane?  What are you doing to while away the hours?  Perhaps you'd like to read more Sepia Saturday contributions or make one yourself.