2 - So who am I?

I was born in time for tea.

My mother and father emigrated to Canada when Mom was 6 months pregnant with me, so the standing joke in the family has been I came out stamped "Made in the UK, for export only." Not the best of times to be born, with most economies in the toilet, but you take what you get. Dad did - working two jobs to get enough money to feed and clothe a family, and living on lettuce sandwiches to make sure that Mom and I had enough to eat.

We settled in the small town of Napanee, Ontario, primarily because two of Dad's sisters were already living there with their husbands and families. Dad found the back half of a house to rent, and we lived there for 5 years, until my sister was born.

Like most people, I don't remember a whole lot of things from my first four years. I remember the apple tree in the back yard, which was hollow at the base. I remember finding a bat on the ground under the pine tree. I remember learning to skate on the Napanee river, the winter I was three years old, and being given a fishing rod by my cousin the following summer. The fishing rod also gave me my first, impromptu swimming lesson - I hooked a massive catfish and didn't let go of the rod, much to my cousin's disgust and Mom's terror when she found out.