Rumour was that my ‘genes’ include a sizeable dollop of Southern European, so during lockdown I decided to investigate. It’s a straightforward exercise, you pay your money to ‘Ancestry’ or some similar organisation, they send you a bottle, you spit in it (could be worse!) and they tell you about your roots.
Disappointingly, it turns out that I’m as ‘Estuary’ as they come. Nevertheless, the exercise has unearthed a couple of 2nd cousins that I didn’t know about, including Leroy O’Dear. Leroy’s a South London bloke and it turns out that me newfound cous enjoys a bit of singing, so as part of our bonding process we’ve collaborated on doing a cover of this ‘Strolling Bones’ song for our time…
Graham generally sees the funny side of life, which is just as well as he spent 35 years working for the telephone company. He started scuba diving with the British Subaqua Club at the age of 16, rode horses through his 20's, became an obsessive windsurfer in his 30's and had a go at free-diving in his 40's. While all of this was going on he rode a bike to keep fit and get to the pub. In later life, in an effort to stave off dementia he has taken up singing and dancing. You may see short stories about these pursuits, but don't expect to read about any degree of prowess as the experiences he can still remember generally relate to (in order) getting bent, crashing a horse (yes, crashing, not just falling off), Windsurfing stupidly in a storm 10, wreck diving without an aqualung, time-trialling with a hangover, singing out of tune and falling on his arse (dancing).
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