Young And Grey.

I aged when I had kids! Until then I never ever looked my age. All my school friends are grandmothers now, my kids are still at school! My clothes size was 8 -10 and I did not eat healthy! I ate what I wanted, my Brothers do sports and keep fit, they go to the gym every week!! Their figures are all perfect even now. Until I had my first child I was 8st 2lb.

I remember when I was 25 some of the girls I worked with decided to join a gym, you could go first free for three lessons before you joined they asked me to go too. I told them I don't do exercise, but I went anyway. There was a bench that you lay down on it and push up the weights, it was my turn, nothing happened, so they took some of the weights off, still nothing happened, so they too more weights off, still I couldn't budge it, then they removed all the weights leaving just the empty bar, that was more like it! I was able to move it up and down with ease, we never laughed so much! I had them all in stitches.

Then we tried out the exercise on the floor, in another room, we had to be on all fours and lifting first right leg out to the side of you and then knee back onto floor then the same leg straight out behind you, and then the same leg with your knee up to your chest! All the while that knee must not touch the floor. At the same time your hands were on the floor and the other knee. It was very hard work! Then we did the same with the other leg. The following morning I couldn't get out of bed! It took me a good ten minutes! I felt like there was a brick in each buttock! We all cried with laughter at work, when we described to each other the awful pains we had. Life is too short to do that to yourself! No way did I join.

One of my best friends was a lot younger than me but people when we were young thought she was the older one and me the younger. She had a old head on young shoulders.

In my teens after I left school I looked SO young I always paid school prices if out like at the fair or bus fare.

One day when I was nineteen, I paid child's fare on the bus and went and sat at the back of the bus, back then there were seats at the back of the bus and the next seats were opposites each other, so about four seats either side of the bus with the windows behind you, so you faced each other. I have always, always been shy when I was younger, I hated been shy and so wished I wasn't. I was in a hurry today and late, the bus driver from where he was sitting at the wheel said, but facing us all, “Did you pay child's fare or adult” the bus was packed, everyone muttered to themselves or to person next to them, he repeated the question, but he got no reply, I was getting annoyed as time was rushing by! The driver then got out of his seat and walked up to me and with his nose 4” from mine said, “Did you pay child's fare or adult!” If the ground would have opened up …. I nearly died!!!! I replied in a tiny voice, “Child” every single eyes was on me, as he walked back to his seat slamming the driver's seat door and drove off! I decided there and then to never pay child's fare again. I told this story to a friend of mine the next day, and she said she too was on a bus and had paid child's fare and the driver in -between stops threw her off the bus! I said I wished he had done that to me!!!

A week later I got on another bus, going somewhere I hadn't been before and I asked the driver how much it would be, he asked me, “Child or adult?” the memory was still fresh in my mind and I said, “Adult.”

In contrast my baby Brother when age fourteen had to have his birth certificate with him to prove he was young enough, to pay child's fare!

When I was approaching my 30th I mentioned to a youth that it was my birthday soon for he had said it to me first, and I said, “I'm going to be thirty” he said, “You’re not” I said I am, he didn't believe me so he went around and asked a few people, but those he asked didn't know either then he asked my best friend and came back to me and said, “I thought you were the same age as us” I asked him how old he was he replied, “Twenty.”

I worked at this factory for over ten years, and there was a girl there who became pregnant, her family disowned her! I went to visit her in hospital, the baby was very small and was in intensive care, as she sat next to her baby, a Nurse was with us for about twenty minutes and after about fifteen minutes the Nurse asked me, “Which school do you go to?” I replied, “I'm twenty eight!” she couldn't apologizes enough!

I remember when it was my 27th Birthday, I money and was to town to spend it! Mum begged me not to buy any more socks! I told her I will try, saw some lovely ones and had to buy it! I still wear socks to this day!

When I was nineteen I wore one colour! The amazing colour grey. What a fantastic colour that is. When I was in the junior school that was the colour of our uniform, it was horrible but as an adult, I was addicted to the colour. That's the only way I suppose I can describe it! So I had a lovely two piece gray suit, a beret, a bowler hat with a small feather at the side, ankle lace up shoes, ankle boots, grey tights, sweat top, all my jewellery was silver which I considered as grey (compared to the colour gold) of course I had grey socks! It was just an amazing colour. I felt special when I wore it. No other colour compared to it. After a year of this, my Mum asked me wear another colour!!!! That was very hard to imagine doing and I asked some friends what I should to, and they said, “Wear another colour with the gray, like a burgundy blouse” so that's what I did, looked at other colours like bottle green which I also like and wore that with the grey too, and I still felt well dressed and comfortable, and happy. Mum was happy too and by the time I was twenty was wearing many other colours. I had a skirt that I bought when I was nineteen it was from the catalogue, Grattan I don't know if that is still going or not I assume not and it had three pleats at the waist at the side and the rest was plain I LOVED this skirt! I still had that skirt when I was thirty and occasionally I would wear it, but I don't sew, so when the stitching started to come undone at the pleats I decided it was time to let it go and binned it!

I didn't grow out of my clothes, and still has one or two from my teens, but when I had my first child, I put on weight and with tears had to give my clothes to the charity shop, nothing fitted me! I am not obese, or anything, but I tell people I am! They look at me puzzled and say, “No you are not!” but I reply, ”In my eyes I am” I am a huge size fourteen now!!!!! When I first had my child I tried to do exercise and diet but I don't do either and gave up! I always admire all those who have lost twenty stone for I would think to myself, where do I start? Just give up now! So I think they are all marvellous. I don't think I have even the will power to lose 2lb ! Once I did lose four pound, but not cause I was dieting, it was because I went to Tunisia and I said to the tour guide as we arrived as a group, “I can't see MacDonald’s anywhere,” he replied to my horror, “They don't do outside trade here” I asked him what he meant, he said, “Only food made here is eaten and sold here, they don't have anything from outside the country” we were there only for six days and when we returned home, I showed my friend my sunken tummy, she couldn't believe her eyes. But after a few Big Macs I was back to a washboard tummy.

Today its not a washboard tummy …. in generally I've been well and that's the main thing to me. I still sometimes wear grey, why not its a lovely colour.