Talking of simple pleasures,my  pride and joy was my collection of birds eggs, and each spring i used to search every hedgerow every nook and cranny,hill and dale,looking for the eggs my collection did,nt have, this hobby would be frowned upon today, maybe our kids are better off playing with there x-boxes or game consoles,with there headphones on at max oblivious to the world that surrounds them ?. My dad introduced me to the art of fishing,,and our tackle,rods, reels, etc,were very basic, when we finished fishing for the day we would look round the farmyard where we picked up any loose feathers the ducks and geese.had lost in the act of preening themselves, these we stripped of there feather, that left a naked quill which we used to make floats,and with the help of some corks from old medicine bottles,job done. all all these practises are long-gone which is a pity,  Dad died in 1955,a great loss to all of us,but we have many good memories of him,  I remember a time when i fell from a tree swing,i had some internal injuries and i recall dad being by my side while being assessed, i asked him for a drink of water,but the hospital staff would,nt allow him instead he put his hand under the cold tap and put his hand to my mouth allowing the water to drip, i gripped his fingers with my lips,and i recall the acrid taste of tobacco from his nicotine stained fingers,after a few day,s i was allowed home to be pampered for a day or two.  Like i said, dad passed away, he had been ill for some time,and his quality of life had been very poor, today it would have been different with the technology they have but it were not to be,  i  myself was already in employment, dad had seen to that unknown to me he, had an apprentice-ship lined up for me at a local buiders and one week after leaving school i was working, i had no choice of trades,i was to be a "bricky" like it or not, the building trade served me well as i was in continuous work from aged 15 to 64,and never once been sacked,or out of work,a fact im proud of to this day.      to be cont.............