Marmite and the Beatles

Today, i am grateful to God for the Parents He gave me, as with most people, we had our difficult moments,but i could never say that they did not care for us, as they both tried to do their best in their own ways, both very different people, who had different types of parenting, but i am grateful for them both.
If i just concentrate on the early years, and not the later unpleasant times, they come across in my memory as the perfectly ordinary 1960's parents,i remember living in Belfast,my Dad making a dressing table for my Mum,it was a bit of an eyesore,but she seemed to love it! He surprised her with a washing machine,as she had been washing everything in the Bath,not easy with three children, one a baby, they seemed very happy to me then,it was an idyllic time.
In my diary from then i seem to be happy,some friends came to visit with a camper van, i remember eating marmite flavoured sticks, and the girl my age putting the radio on and we listened to the Beatles, first time i had ever heard Pop music.
My  Dad would read every night from the 'wind in the Willows' i still have the book, don't think we ever finished it, i read the 'Hobbit' to my two youngest, i didn't finish it either...Mike bit right through his tongue,the Baby would be put outside in the pram, with a cat net over it.
In 1963, i can vividly remember our arrival in London from Kenya, so cold, it must have been oct 4th, it was Mike birthday on the plane,we had to spend the night  before at Entebbe airport in Uganda, because the wheels fell off the plane, we had an emergency landing,i was awake, my Mum said don't wake up Mike,when i asked why all the lights were flashing,!!she was very Brave,on her own with two children, as my Dad had gone to London first
.He had skipped out so he didn't have to pay his tax bill!!
I can remember my Dad having a new Blue Ford Escort car,when he brought it home he took all the local kids for a ride in it.We had that car for so long, My Mum learnt to drive in in, and when we moved to Dublin,we were playing on a long beach, while my Mum had driving lessons from Dad, we were really pleased when she drove down the beach on her own to pick us up!!!..I really can't remember much of what my Mum did, out of the ordinary, but she was always there,as all good mums are, i was so consumed in my world, as most children ,she did have a cat which she loved,the bathroom window was left open, and the cat would bring her presents such as headless rabbits, we could not understand how the cat got it through the window, the rabbit was as big as the cat.!!
My Dad always said she loved to 'torment the cat', poking it when it slept! i always think of that when i see my dogs sleeping, and yes i do poke them too! When we lived in Nairobi we had lots of cats, my Mum always used to say that they would sit in a circle around my Highchair waiting for food to drop! Other people we knew had Elephants invade their gardens, so we weren't to badly off with just cats.