How this all started...

So here's the thing ... once you get past 50, you generally have a bunch of things in your 'experiences bank' that should provide a good foundation for thinking about life, making comment on things that 'wind you up', or make you happy ... and generally looking at life without the rose-tinted glasses.

In my case, a marriage, a divorce, great happiness (another marriage), great sadness (the loss of my father and both my wife's parents) and a fairly realistic view of my own mortality (cancer will do that for you!).

I have a great life, the house, the car, the toys - and a wonderful family (wife Julia, daughter Lauren & husband Ryan, son Joseph & partner Kate), a sister and a niece & two nephews in Australia, a number of nieces and their families in the UK, various cousins and an Aunt in South Africa ... and my Mum - Hazel - who now lives in Windsor.

Ever since I left home aged 17, my Mum has kept up a stream of hand-written letters.  Sometimes every week, sometimes much less frequently (depending on circumstances), but almost all containing her own drawings, cartoons and doodles, together with her simple views of life, love, family and people.

Growing up in England during World War II and moving to South Africa as a teenager, Mum's dyslexia was never diagnosed and she found creative ways to deal with it - hence the artwork.  And the spelling.  So for the spelling zealots, don't slam the door on your way out......

I hope you will join me as I wander through the years with the help of my mother's drawings and child-like, common sense approach to life ... along with my own (never let it be said ... modest) views on the world.

Welcome inside the envelopes of my Mum's Letters.