The past, the future, and Fry's Five Boys...

I’ve always had a soft spot for history.

I’ve always found it more fascinating to look back rather than look forward.?

I think it has something to do with time.?

Time and numbers.

Numbers and dates.?

Dates and events.?

Things that have already taken place in the past, as opposed to things that might, or might not, take place at some time in the future.

I was born in 1951.?

Three years after the birth of the independent state of Israel.?

Three years after some bright spark postulated the theory of the “Big Bang”.

Three years after iconic boxer Joe Louis retired and baseball legend Babe Ruth died.?

Three years after publication of “The Naked and the Dead”, written by Norman Mailer when he was 25.

And, folk might say a damned sight more importantly, three years after the birth of the National Health Service and the World Health Organisation.

You could say, in some respects, I was a late arrival to some pretty big events.?

Looking back, 1948 would have been a good year for me to have put in an appearance.?

Apart from the whole US testing missiles in the New Mexico Desert thing.?

What was that I said about a Big Bang?

Anyway…back to the past.?

I don’t remember too much about August 1,1951.

Those who were around at the time and who knew a thing or two about a thing or two, said I was a heavyweight baby and for the first couple of years I cried a lot.?

In my defence, I suspect I had over-active tear ducts.?

No change there then.

I still leak around the eyes whenever I watch a weepy movie.?

Emotionally impaired, I suppose.?

Many centuries ago, or so it seemed, I also developed a soft spot for advertising.?

I liked the packaging on a chocolate bar called Fry’s Five Boys.?

I think it had something to do with the fact that I was 5 at the time.

Again, I was late to the party.?

The Fry family had been making it since 1902.?

Anyway…fast forward into the future.

That particular soft spot stayed with me for decades.?

Chocolate has always been a friend.

In fact, some would say it has been too friendly.

As the years rolled by, I developed a soft spot for books. Reading them and writing them.?

I don’t think that soft spot will ever leave me.

I think I will be a literary chocoholic for life.?

Maybe one day I’ll figure out a way to learn from the future.

Until then, I’ll be happy snacking from the past…

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You've just read an extract from my unfinished book of urban essays Ad Astra.

All my published books are available separately from those nice people at Amazon…right here.

(Urban Essays):

Ad Interruptus:?https://amzn.to/3AmkfjQ

Ad Infinitum:?https://amzn.to/3pof7Uq

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(Urban Romance)

Love & Coffee:?https://amzn.to/28IWaHq

(Humorous Science Fantasy)

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