Town and Country

I reckon this photo was shot in 1962, but it might have been taken on Walton's Mountain a few decades earlier. The Bailie family must have travelled to some rural location to make busy with the flask of tea. That's me on the right hand side, engaged in some private distraction. Everyone else looks rather solemn, but that's how I remember such days. They were still getting over the austerity years, and the prospect of a moist tomato sandwich and a freshly boiled egg were something to consider.

My children were perturbed when they saw the shot. It looks properly ancient and the motor (maybe an Austin A40) would not have won any beauty contests, even then. The grandparents had unfiltered Ballynahinch accents and were fixed in their ways. I was a first generation townie, happy to visit the country, but never too keen to hang around in it.