Baby's Days

I keep finding little gems in the various storage containers in our house. This, the latest, hides in a small drawer of the ship's chest my father bought off a dhow in Zanzibar harbour, and it's a record of the early weeks of my existence. It's probably significant that it was only completed for a few weeks before my mother, who made the entries, lost interest.

It contains a miscellany of information, such as the names of the doctor and nurse who delivered me and....

....the exact time of my arrival. This was very important to my mother because, despite being a strong Christian, she also had great faith in astrology, and had an old friend, Elsie Maynard, who was a practitioner of the art.

The book also contains details of my christening. I'm rather proud of the fact that I was christened by a Venerable Archdeacon who was an OBE, and I'm pleased that I have.... .

....a picture of the very elegant church in which the event took place.

However, bland as it may be, the little book does contain one surprise....

....a cutting from The Times which states that I am to be called Ernest.

I'm not sure I would have liked to have gone through life being called Ernie or Ern, and fear that I would have suffered some bullying at school on account of the name, but it's a name of which I'm rather proud as it was the sea captain, my grandfather Haylett's name.

My mother's 'Life' explains where the Jonathan came from:  "I had a week in hospital and my first visitors were Avril Baxter and her mother. Dad had set his heart on a girl so we had no names, and I suggested Jonathan and Avril said she liked it - so Jonathan got his name." But I also kept the Ernest.