A Poem & a Story which may make you Smile
Good day folks.
i woke up this morning, feeling fine,
Despite last night drinking some wine.
i made myself a smoothie full of good stuff,
But my big fat ego thought that wasn't enough.
So i made some coffee and toast,
A breakfast this ego favours most.
But i know, as i grow
Of this too i'll let go.
i have an interesting story to tell you today.
i've told this #story quite a few times over the years (although not with so much detail) but never written it down before.
There's some sadness, but it has a happy ending, and everyone seems to enjoy it. Credit to my friend Ros who told me some details as (fortunately) i didn't witness the sad part.
The Tractor Fan
When i was a young lad, i had a friend named Andrew, who lived just over the fence of our back garden.
On Wednesday afternoons after school my brother and i were usually invited over to Andy's house where we would play in the #garden, games like golf putting, or cricket practice, or indoors, board #games, such as Formula One, Monopoly, Scrabble & Diplomacy.
Image Source
#PGM #Gamer
Andy's Mum, Rosie, would make us dinner, always the same, sausages, chips and beans. It was delicious, we never got this at home.
Side bar
Now, of course :-), i don't eat meat due to the horrific conditions the animals are kept in and the pain they suffer and the damage caused to the body by eating animal products. But i didn't know that way back then.
Here is my #vegan lunch and desert from today:
Salad with oat crackers, raw humus & #vegan cheese
Raw vegan "cheese" cake.
#plantpowervegan
End of Side bar
On Saturdays we would often go round Andy's too & always watch the #wrestling on their colour TV (we didn't have a television at all until i was 13). I remember Mick MacManus, Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks & Kendo Nagasaki as some of the star wresters.
Andy, my brother & i used to imitate the wrestlers and practice the moves. It was great #fun.
Anyway, i digress, Andy's Dad, Les, worked for Massey Ferguson as a tractor mechanic. Les had bought a rusty old tractor from his work which had been traded in by a customer who had bought a new modern one. The trade in tractor didn't have a cab to protect the driver like they do these days.
i remember it had a bum shaped, metal sprung seat & big metal mudguards over the rear wheels. The engine did not run, but over a couple of years Les restored the tractor to a fine condition and would drive it round the big field adjoining his property, just for fun.
Well Andy became fascinated by the tractor, having watched and sometimes helped his Dad lovingly restore it. Sometimes Les let him sit on one of the back mudguards, making sure he held on tightly as he drove round the field.
Andy became a big tractor fan, decorating his bedroom with posters of Massey Ferguson, John Deere & other tractors and had many toy tractors. At school he became known as and even called, Tractor Fan.
Andy often used to ask his Dad if he could drive the tractor himself, but Les would always tell him no, not until he was 14, but in the meantime he should watch carefully to see how to drive the tractor, watching how and when to dip the clutch, change gear, steer & brake, and his Dad patiently explained in detail how it all worked.
On his 14th birthday Andy could barely contain his excitement, and as Les had promised they went out onto the field and Andy got into the seat, with Les sitting on the back mudguard. Off they went and Andy was having the time if his life, driving round the border of the field, following the track made by his Dad over the years. He was tending to go a bit fast and Les kept telling him to slow down.
On the third circuit of the field Andy took a corner way too fast and the tractor's wheels on one side began to lift off the ground. Les leaned his weight to the opposite side in an attempt to stop the tractor tipping over & yelled at Andy to take his foot off the throttle, but it was too late.
The tractor's wheels lifted further off the ground and Les, unable to hold on, slipped off the mudguard into the ditch beside as the tractor tipped over on top of him.
Andy was flung off the seat but landed in the hedge and apart from a few cuts and scratches he was ok. Les however was badly injured, rushed to the hospital but sadly died in the ambulance on the way.
Well, Andy was devastated and traumatised. He became a recluse, he would barely speak to anyone. After the funeral i went round to see him, and noticed that he had ripped all the tractor posters off of his bedroom wall and i couldn't see the Dinky tractor toys he used to have around anymore. He swore he would never go near a tractor again, and that he hated them.
Over the months and years that followed, despite attempts by me and other friends and his Mum to draw Andy out of his depression and get outside and have some fun, he would just stay in his room, often skipping school, barely talking to anyone.
When it got to Andy's 18th birthday, his Mum gave him a good talking to, told home he had to let go of what happened & get on with his life. She told him to go round to mine and for the two of us to go to the local pub (the White Lodge it was called) and have a beer or two.
Well, i thought this was a good idea when Andy knocked on the door and told me, so off we went. As we opened the door and walked in we were hit by a cloud of smoke. Lots of people smoking while drinking in pubs in those days!
Anyway, we sat on stools at the bar and order a couple of pints and began to drink and talk a little. It was a change for me as i was usually on the other side of the bar as i worked there part time. The bar was made of hammered copper and i had to polish it a couple of times a week with Brasso and a lot of elbow grease.
After a while Andy started to come out of his shell and we were chatting and laughing like before all this happened.
We both had our eyes on a cute girl who was playing pool with her friend. After a while the girl came over and sat on the stool beside Andy and ordered a drink. She seemed to be coughing a lot, so Andy asked her if she was ok. She told him she had Asthma and the smoke in the room was irritating her lungs.
Andy said to her, don't worry, I can fix that for you. i wondered what the heck he was talking about, but kept quiet and watched as Andy took three long deep breaths.
He then took one more long deep breath in then completely exhaled all the air from his lungs.
Finally he slowly inhaled completely filling his lungs. It seemed to last about two minutes, and as he did so the smoke in the room was nearly all sucked into his lungs.
i, and the cute girl were amazed.
The girl thanked Andy, gave him a big hug and asked how on earth he was able to do that.
Andy simply replied,
"I'm an Ex tractor fan".
