Monday 14 May 2012

Clickety Snap: Nana's House

This weekend I went to Sunderland to visit my Nana. She is 88 on Wednesday!

My Nana lives in a bungalow and this is where I was brought up from being 18 months until I was 7 (when I moved to Cheshire). There are lots of things in my Nana's place that have always been there for as long as I remember and are quintessentially "Nana's house" and it wouldn't be the same if they weren't there.

The past two times I've been to see Nana I've recorded her talking about her life and the family, what she feels about the way things have worked out, what she's proud of, if there's anything she'd have liked to have done. I didn't ever want this to be a  morbid task but I'm mindful of the fact she wont be around forever (no matter how much I want her to be) and that stories like these get lost along the way. Thankfully Nana was completely happy with me recording her and after the initial strangeness and settling in came out with some corkers and things she'd never told anyone before.

This is part of a bigger project I'm trying to work on, and I do want to record the rest of my family speaking about their lives too at some point, but it would always be Nana first. I don't know what I'll do with all of this at the end of it.


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My Nana has a chandelier in her 2 bedroom bungalow, I was completely memorised by it when I was younger and used to lie on the carpet underneath watching it glisten and gleam. 
It seems rather grand for it's surroundings. 

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Glass fish and scottie dog, gifts to Nana from her children, they've always been in the living room. 

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Amazing 50s calendar, when you turn it over it updates. I used to love this when I was a child and loved my turn in turning it over to the right date, this has been in the house or the caravan for as long as I remember. 

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Address book, one of two in a similar style, you push the button at the bottom and the top pops up. 

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Mirror over the hearth. The fireplace may have changed, the wallpaper too but this will always be the mirror I had to jump up in front of to see myself in when I was little. 

The tapestry in the reflection is one of three made by my aunty Kathleen. 

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My Nana has always had these porcelain roses in a glass vase in the house. I am sure they were in her bedroom at one point, and then by the window for years but now they're on a little table at the side of the room. 
Nana loves roses but can't do any gardening any more so they're long since gone from the outside of the bungalow. 

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Toby jug, one of a pair. Originally belonged to my Nana's sister Jean, who collected a lot of porcelain. 

I unfortunately never my Aunty Jean, she died of cancer before I was born, Nana was very close to her and still comes close to tears when she speaks about her. 

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Tapestry of The Laughing Cavalier by by Aunty Kathleen. 

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Living room carpet. may be an odd ting but the amount of times I've spent on my hands and knees looking for stuff because anything you drop on this carpet with automatically become camouflaged. 

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Fridge magnets. These only appeared when I was 8 or 9, and I always put them into this shape. They remind me of Sunday roasts when we'd all squish round the table in the kitchen and there'd be a bang on the wall to let us know dinner was ready and I'd be squished up against the fridge and in the middle (being the youngest) and we'd munch and chat and laugh. 

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Camp coffee, always at the caravan, my Nana has found a new stockist of it though and is back on it!

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Mexican coffee guy, China tea man (I have NOT pictured the sugar guy....) and the chicken. Always here although I'm sure Nana told me these belonged to my Aunty Susan originally in the 70s. 


So that's it. All little bits that are completely "nana's house". 

There was one thing I didn't get a photo of and that's a little green glass clock from the 30s which was my Nana Wilde's (Nana's Mum). My Aunty Kathleen has it as of a couple of weeks ago so I'll have to snap it when I see her when I next go up. 

On and I came back with a car full. My Nana's knitting machine which is the super one (knitmaster 700k I think) with the pattern cards and capable of fair isle and all of her pattern books from the 70s and 80s. Matching Christmas tank tops for me and Tim, I think so. 

So I'll be taking the old little one back for her to give to Maureen, her home help. 

Loved this matching skit and cape! Seriously if I master this, it's going to be pretty awesome! 


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