I have a terrible memory, especially when it comes to my childhood. There is very little I remember from before I was 10. Here is what I do remember:
Although I was born in Essex, we moved to Newmarket in Cambridgeshire soon after I was born. My Dad was a race jockey so Newmarket was a logical place for us to settle. We lived in a terraced house on a small street called Field Terrace Road.
I remember Dad putting me on a horse at a very young age. I remember our next door neighbours had red setter dogs and I wanted one. I remember fracturing my ankle trying to jump over a kitchen chair (well actually I may not remember it, I just know it happened). I remember our staircase had a door on it.
I have vague memories of my Dad leaving when I was four, but those could be false memories of how I think it would’ve happened. I remember my step-dad appearing; I wasn’t sure who he was. I remember my step-sister getting hit by a car on the corner of Field Terrace Road; I may have been holding her hand at the time.
I remember visits with Dad. He drove a brown Rover. I threw up all down the side of it because I was reading comics in the back seat. I remember hanging out in the tool hire shop he worked at. I remember he had a pair of loaded dice and an old bus ticket machine that I loved to play with.
I remember an old Ford Anglia dumped at the end of our street that I used to play in. It might have belonged to Dad. I remember going to Laureate school and becoming best friends with Michael Collins. We roamed Newmarket together even though we were only seven. I remember catching slow-worms with him. I remember moving back to Essex and realising I wouldn’t see Michael again.
So what are your earliest memories?
