Family portrait VI
(Cousin Nicola, Gran and me in Gran’s living room: Glasgow, UK)
Now that I’m in Glasgow a lot more than in the past year or so, I am able to visit my Gran regularly again. For a lady that turned ninety earlier in the year, she isn’t doing too badly; she lives alone in the same flat that my dad shared with her, his father and brother in the East end of Glasgow – she’s also the only woman I know who responds well to the compliment, “you don’t look a day over seventy”. She looks thrilled in this photograph because Nicola and I paid a visit simultaneously – a feat that generally takes too much organisation as Nicola resides near London. As well as for the purposes of this description*, I wanted to document the meeting – we all looked presentable for a start, and my Gran’s recently permed hair was a bonus that made her less camera shy than usual.
I genuinely don’t believe there are many aspects of my life that have remained the same throughout – family dynamics have changed, friends are different, I don’t feel anything like the gap toothed girl on my Gran’s mantelpiece. However the flat itself with all its quirks, shelves of photos and ornaments, fixtures and fittings has remained enduring in my memory. The mirror on the wall has always been circular bearing a deer motif and her sons’ Chief Scout awards are still on the wall behind us. The ornaments have hardly changed in the past twenty years – I swear she has only moved them to dust them, then they return to their exact spot in the room. You might be able to spot a few of them on the right hand side, nestling atop the gas fire.
Though she has just three grandchildren, my grandmother has a child army of photos scattered all over the room; accompanying them are pictures from her son’s weddings, holiday snaps in various exotic locations and the postcards other people send her. Each time I go there, I feel my past and my family close in a way that I don’t feel anywhere else. Within the walls of her flat, it could be any year since I was born and I could be any age – I’ve never articulated that before, but perhaps you can identify the feeling too.
* I am aware of late that these narratives have altered from exploration and discovery in a different continent to become a fairly complete picture of who I am and what I see and do. I’m not sure how it will evolve in the future, but if there is anything you’d like to see or know, be sure to drop me a line! I won’t quite do ‘anything, anytime, anywhere’, but I’m the kind of girl to relish a challenge!
– Today Rosie is drawing drawing drawing, printing and tidying in Glasgow, UK –
