This is what greets the first family member down the stairs. Little notes, filled with love want and need...
They all have a hole in them because they are hooked onto the door handle of the main lounge. You have to walk down the stairs and through the lounge to get to the kitchen - we call this the Teenage Food Trail. This is the easiest way to get someone to take notice of you and get something done.
But it's backfired a little bit. The 13-year old has cottoned onto the concept.
The first note (from Jake) this week said:
Will [something illegible scribbled out] you leave me some money tomorrow please.
The second note (from me) this week said:
FOR MICHAEL: PLEASE CAN YOU HOOVER WHILST DAD IS OUT. FOR JAKE: BOOK YOUR HAIR APPOINTMENT TOO. Don't forget!
The third note (from Jake) this week said:
Will you leave me £6.50 for my haircut in the morning.
I wouldn't mind so much but... have you noticed... I'M the one getting the notes most of the time. Which means that my youngest is actually staying up later than me in the evenings. Also, the notes aren't filled with as much love as they used to be but I intend to change that.
Recently I posted a picture to Instagram. I had been sorting through an old suitcase of photographs that keeps getting passed between myself and my sister. One day, one of us will actually do something useful with it and maybe even scan some of the childhood memories. I found my Mum and Dad's wedding invitation from 1970 and a few interesting pictures of family members from way-back-when that I never met (actually, I might submit one or two of them to The Skull Illusion's "Dead Or Not" series). Then this dropped out from between two photographs
Before I even read it I knew it was from my Nanna. Her handwriting, whilst very much in the style of people of a certain era, was immediately recognisable. But what really blew me away was the fact that I had never seen this note before and it appeared at a time that I probably really needed it. Written 34 years ago and stashed in a suitcase of memories, it provided a much needed boost.
I am now composing little notes and thinking about where I can hide them in the hope that they will be found, message in a bottle -style, many years down the line, by the people who need them the most.
I am now composing little notes and thinking about where I can hide them in the hope that they will be found, message in a bottle -style, many years down the line, by the people who need them the most.