I never knew...

PZ. 114 "The Energetic' (The Richards Family - Porthleven pre-1948)

Em and I have been having a bit of a 'Downton Abbey Fest' recently, watching the first series on BT Vision. We missed it the first time round; I guess sumt else was on at the same time and to be honest the prospect did not appeal.

But for me the notions of atavism, ghosts, ubuntu, or summint are never far from the surface. And DA certainly pricks a few bubbles - as did the new 'Upstairs Downstairs' last year. Where are we from and who are we? I never knew...

Yes, I 'm aware that it WAS tough... and I have no doubt that "we don't know we're born", but... watching these early 1900s  period dramas brings on a feeling of loss, a certain sadness, as well as a glassy warmth of romance and starched better values(?)

I know I was a babe in the 1970s, but the very little that I recall from paternal nana Daisy's life from "Wilfred Villa" Breageside in Porthleven, is a world away from now and rings of days gone by that I never knew but possibly did get a hint of... 

I recall a pantry and 'the cabin'. I recall the smell of the cliff-side kitchen, brassware and wooden furniture. Picture rails, chair arm covers, dinner gongs. I was of course on a lower level and recall the mystery of big heavy doors with wooden(?) keyhole covers. Big warm rooms and cold hallways. Big wooden furniture, leather, silver, copper... introduced plastic that struggled to fit with the rest of the room...  Leather satchels, big warm coats - we don't wear big warm coats anymore! Cars without seatbelts, the back seat on the long trip home... the feel of plastic car-seat on my cheek... sleep.

It's only a start, I really can't recall what I might remember, who knows what we soak up when we're young... perhaps 'twas a previous life... but I DO KNOW, I never knew something...