Things I love about my house....Part 4

Presenting....

THE DINOSAUR

Next to the bed is a cupboard. And on top of this cupboard sits the dinosaur.

He’s pretty old, my Grandpa made it for my brother when he was a youngster and it’s a papier mache jobber.

It used to sit on top of my brother’s wardrobe and used to scare me a bit. My brother would often take it down and chase me with it, my squeals echoing down the hall and landing as I made my way to my bedroom and safety.

Even after my brother had left home and his room was transformed from a teenage boy’s pit to a charming guest bedroom complete with white muslin curtains and rag-rolled walls (rag-rolling was the craze at that time, if you didn’t keep moving in my house you’d either be rag-rolled or stencilled by my mother), the dinosaur remained on top of the wardrobe, casting his beady eyes over all who stayed with us.

About 2 and a half years ago Mum was finally selling my childhood home and downsizing. I desperately wanted her to stay, I wanted her to stay until the day she died so I could get my grubby mitts on it and keep it in the family forever and ever but she had spent the past 5 years or so living alone in a 4 bedroom Victorian terrace so I had to admit that there was a case for moving somewhere smaller.

This meant that there was a massive clear out of the house and whole rooms were sent to charity shops, furniture and pictures alike, auction rooms were filled with trinkets and enormous chests of drawers, until we were left with the bare minimum. Mum was brutal in this culling, she had no problem sending things to the throwing out pile, while I trailed behind her bemoaning the fact that she was getting rid of my childhood memories.

However I had to put my foot down when it came to the dinosaur.

“You have nowhere to put it” Mum said to me. She had a point. I was moving with her and would be living in the 2nd bedroom of the new house which was about a quarter of the size of my old bedroom.

But I was adamant. I would eventually find a home for him.

And a year and half later I did find a place for him. In our flat.

So he sits on high, back at his vantage point, keeping a close eye on the door in case anyone comes in that shouldn’t be there.

And I look at him occasionally, smile and think of the day that I will use him to scare my own children.

Happy days :)