[Cyclefrance]

My dad, who passed on 5 years ago now, went through the motion of gradually clearing out 'the mess' as he called it, but which was really the memories of his life. He felt a need, as my surviving parent, to save me from having the job of doing it when he was gone. An unfortunate logic as just a handful of photographs remained that was of any consequence. Things I remembered from my youth and as a young man were jettisoned from his life, including his war medals and various personal items like his pocket watch and pieces of glass and china that were personal to him and my mother who had already died. It all came down to retaining just the bare essentials to keep his life, from his point of view, simple and under control.

So now I have no old photos of him - ones that I remembered seeing like those when he served in North Africa in the Second World War, and others of us as a family on holiday in the 50's.

Maybe it's not so uncommon. Sad for us but, in some cases, essential for our elders.