LOOKING back

Looking Back ©

By

Michael Casey

Well I did not know what I was going to talk about 2 mins ago, but while my chicken is cooking I’ll start on Looking Back. I spotted somebody was reading an old piece with an old photo from 2013, where I said triple when six months later I discovered it was a quadruple bypass, just in case you think I am either a liar, or have a bad memory. Now where was I, I remember now. Are you in Japan reading my stuff in English or on the Space Station, or just Barron Trump on holiday with the family? I’ll accept any and all readers, though your mum’s Christmas trees are very scary,like from a science fiction film.

We all, look back, especially when it’s a flash in the pan, doctor’s tell you to, trust them they are doctors. But I won’t talk about that today, even though some of you might say that everything I say is a load of, looking back.

Well I’ve had my chicken and some brown bread, so I’ve returned to look back with you all. I was looking back today as we sorted through a pile of stuff, just visually not actually. You wouldn’t believe what you unearth when you move house.A pile of old school books from over 50 years ago, my Primary school stuff plus some of my brothers’. It will be abandoned or even binned, I’ve been the storage locker for 30 years, now finally they will be discarded. Maybe I should photo everything, I spent several years scanning in my Print Room days. But you have to let go of stuff, everything has it’s sell by date, even people, I’m in the use by date part of my life now. So I’ll be a Hedonist before the undertaker has me, but reality laughs at that self delusion.

Looking back does bring back memories, my Angel watercolour reminds me of the 21 years at the market research company into alcohol sales. Yes really, and yes they knew all there was to know about research into alcohol, and they did enjoy a few drinks too. It was my leaving present. But it doesn’t suit the new house, so it may be banished to a church or our attic. We also stumbled over a graphic tablet I bought for my daughter so she could draw directly to the computer, yes the dotting dad, if you have kids then love them that’s what I’ve always believed. My angels are teenagers now and can draw really well, because we never allowed games when they were smaller. They became film buffs from an early age instead.

Speaking of films there were dvds galore too, so our Polish neighbours got a stack of them for their kids to enjoy. You can get Polish on the dvds too if you just push the right selection on the menu. The number of times you watch those dvds over and over and over again as your kids grow up, you could almost lip sync with all the animals from Over the Hedge. And yes grown ups love cartoons more than kids do, I suppose that is why I write cartoons made from words. There must be a gap in the market for all my shorts, maybe in Japan and Korea, but that’s looking forward not backwards.

So objects have connections and associations, your girlfriend may keep your old ties, a woman wearing a tie has a certain style. Or she may just use them to tie you to the bed with, though I’ll just leave that idea stuck to the bedpost with your chewing gum gently losing its flavour overnight.

Whatever you find reminds and touches you, it is the Past itself reminding you of your own self. This was part of you, this was important to you, and now it acts as a reminder of your own past self. But objects are like Bus Passes, they allow travel through past lives, and are a day trip to a former self, but the ticket expires. So the tickets, the objects are discarded, sometimes like litter, sometimes stored to be forgotten.

Sometimes an object can become a Genie and grant you a wish to the past. You find a old girlfriend’s phone number inside the tie, and you spend the night tying each other up. Or playing Ludo or is it Tiddlywinks?

I found my old chess set, a small set in a wooden box, I have it for nearly 50 years now. I beat my friend once, literally once, you try beating a PhD at anything, he’s a bit of a Polyglot. He pretends that I’m 1/10 as smart as him, I am 10 times bigger than him, that is the only true ratio. As you look back at your life you remember lots of things and the pain does lessen though my PhD friend still says his heart stopped when I punched him once, as in literally once.

The weekend brings December so we’ll all be thinking of friends and family and memories galore. I spent 3 Christmases in County Kerry in 73, 77 and 78 I seem to remember those Christmases were Magical, teaching them the Dance of the Dying Fly with my 17stone aunt. You can  google to see what I’m talking about. That’s just one memory, as well as my Uncle Patrick in Cromane telling me I’d grown an inch or two when I bumped my head the cow shed door. All because I’d given up sugar in my coffee. It was a only a few years later that Uncle Danny from Boston told us that the cowshed was in fact the house the 7 of them were born in.

So many memories I share as I talk to you all, I hope I can carry on carrying on with the stories. I hope that when I look back in the Future I can say that my Looking Back was worth it, not just for me but for you. Even if we have to tie each other to the bed post, as you know I’ll try anything once, and frequently if I enjoy it, telling stories that is. What were you thinking of?

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my mum gave me this 10p print 50 years ago that's why i love paintings