My Mother's Wedding Photos

Shortly after my mother's sad passing away earlier this month, I was given some of her possessions, including her wedding photos (either 1949 or 1950). I probably had seen them before, but my mother, being the modest woman she was, had hidden them away for decades. It made me realise just what a beautiful woman she was in her day. Actually, she looks almost like a Hollywood star!

By the way, that guy with her in the two pictures is my father! Lol

The damage done

Hi Bloggers!

Well, as most of you know, I'm a keen guitarist, and now have a fair collection of guitars. They're mostly Yamaha because Yamaha's the only really decent shop here in Bahrain. But I'm very satisfied with them. They represent quality at a reasonable price. They're where top end begins.

Anyway, travesty of travesties, as I was putting down one of my other guitars, it slipped from my hand, and the machine heads crunched into the body of my most expensive guitar, my Yamaha FG730S solid top! Luckily the wood itself wasn't damaged, but the lacquer or varnish has a bad dent. And because it's red sunburst, it really shows (see pic on left).

Anyone got any ideas how to fix it?

Cheers,

Rob

Audrey Phyllis Lowman (1925 - 2012)

Sadly my mother passed away yesterday afternoon after failing to recover fully from a bout of pneumonia. It was also just a mere three months after my father's death in October last year. But at least she wasn't in pain and it was relatively quick.

The quality of her life had deteriorated considerably over the last couple of years anyway, largely as a result of losing her short term memory. In fact, she never really took it in that my father had died and she still often thought he was still around. Unfortunately, I was unable to be by her side at her actual passing away, but I did manage to visit her at Christmas, just over a month before. I will always cherish my last conversations with her, mostly about the past, as her long term memory was still good.

I think her main quality was the completely unconditional love she had for her children. In fact, in almost every way, she was the perfect mother, always willing to sacrifice her own happiness for the benefit of us, always putting us first. She was always there in times of need. And even to her dying day, she still cared and worried about us. Her compassion also extended to needy people and animals as well. She literally wouldn't kill a fly, but would brush it out of the window, such was her love for all living things. She was a true humanist in every sense of the word and showed us an example of humanity at its best.

Coupled to this was her incredible modesty. She was always self-effacing and never pretended to be anything, despite actually being overflowing with good qualities. She was always apologising for being a nuisance even in the most mundane of situations. It was a pity that was surrounded by dominating characters and that my father and her own mother (my grandmother) didn't encourage or support her more, so that she might have developed the kind of self confidence and strength she deserved to have.

But being of the war-time generation she had that typically strong sense of commitment to duty and unswerving loyalty to family. No matter how difficult their relationship became she always stood by my father, such that they were married for over 60 years, and she also tended to her own

mother in her old age with unstinting devotion.

So to sum up, she excelled in every role in life, as a daughter, a wife and a mother. And if there is a heaven, I'm sure that's where she is now, for surely there has rarely existed someone more deserving than her. Her reward will truly be in heaven.

RIP

The top picture was taken in Dorking in 2006, while the bottom one was taken just last Christmas in 2011

Motorbike

Hi Bloggers,

Nothing much going on here at the moment. Just the usual daily plod of going to work and earning a living. Unfortunately, Bahrain isn't the most exciting place to be. Of course, there are the continuing demonstrations from the Shia community, but the police seem to have a cap on the situation and it's difficult to seeing anything major developing, even though the anniversary of last years rising is coming up pretty soon.

I often think about my role as an EFL teacher and I think we must be the most underpaid professionals anywhere in the world. We're still basically treated as a bunch of ex-hippies or backpackers. Ok, that may be where many of us came from, but it's certainly not true now. We all have degrees and professional qualifications. If you meet an ex-pat in banking or oil or law in the pub, you just hope they don't ask you what you do. They must absolutely scoff at our wages, and think we're a bunch of complete dickheads. Most of them earn about 3 or 4 times as much. We just seem to be chucked a few peanuts, not even a full bag!

Anyway, enough whingeing! Last month I finally got around to buying a motorbike, like I always promised I would. It's nothing special, just a Honda 125, but has certainly opened up new possibilities. Mind you, the roads here in Bahrain are dangerous, and crossing lanes is always a scary business. Either way, I'm certainly not going to stop cycling. Cycling must still be one of the best ways of maintaining general aerobic fitness over a long period of time.

Stay cool.

Cheers,

Rob

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