Day 4: Long and winding trip down memory lane

The day started with a leisurely breakfast - enjoying the colorful, brotherly banter between Dad and Uncle John. We needed a family tree, a road atlas and glossary to keep up with the shared stories peppered with local slang and colloquialisms! Everyone had 2 or 3 different nicknames back then or were just referred to as 'our kid'.

We finally set off at half eleven and made our first wrong turn of the day pulling out of the driveway. We ended up in Withernsea - a well-worn seaside town that Dad remembers visiting as a lad on special Sunday school outings.

Then it was on to Hull to visit Dad's old stomping grounds. As a lad, Dad lived on Sculcoats Lane. Then, in 1940, he moved to 8 7th Avenue after his Dad's job as a caretaker on Land of Green Ginger fell through. He lived here until he left for Canada in '62.

We saw some of the pubs he used to drink at like Ye Olde White Harte and the Blue Bell but specific stories about those places were suspiciously lacking in detail. We also wandered into Hepworth's Arcade on the off chance that Dinsdale's, the joke shop that Dad visited as a lad of 11 or 12, was still there. It was still there and hardly changed from 60 years ago. The current proprietor is the grandson of the shopkeeper that Dad remembers and regaled us for 30 minutes with fun stories of the good old days and the treasures that are buried in the store room. After that we stopped in for fish & chips (with mushy peas) at the Corn Exchange.

Then it was off to Dad's old house on 7th Avenue which was a council house that was awarded to the family because living so close to the generating station on Sculcoates Lane was aggravating his Dad's TB. The neighborhood and house were a little worse for wear but it's all still there; even the bomb shelter still stands in the back garden. He remembers waking up nights being carried down the stairs and into the bomb shelter.

The All Electric Fish Restaurant is still operating on the corner of 7th and Endike Lane but just last year, Dad's school, Hull Grammar School was torn down and replaced with a shiny, new school building.

After that, we headed back to John's for dinner with Peter and Yvonne Henchliffe (old friends of Dad and John's who still live next door on 7th), Ellie and Patrick. The old photos came out as did the stories. We were up until 2:00 looking through the old pictures and trying to figure out who all the old aunties were! Dad and John were evacuated to different aunties during the war and the stories of cold baths and banishments to the attic and looking for torn pound notes at the races came out with the photos. One thing is for sure, we hope our pampered and coddled children don't know anything even close to the war years that their Grandad lived through.