fly away home

When I was 3 1/2 years old my parents packed up the family home in England and along with my older brother, younger sister and me (as well as seven suitcases) flew off to Australia. It's because of this new beginning that I'm able to distinguish between certain events that happened at an early age. I once started writing a list of things I remembered of my life in England and it didn't take long to fill a page. Try it. Once you start recalling things you dredge up other elusive memories...

One thing I clearly remember from those daze when I spoke with a Pommy accent is a time at my grandparents' house. I was enthralled as my Gramp magically manoeuvred a little wooden ladybird around on a piece of paper. I don't think I'm breaking a code of secrecy by revealing it was all done with magnets - a magnet concealed underneath the sheet of paper was connected to a magnet on the base of the ladybird, which darted around on the top side of the paper. At that young age it had me mesmerised. I guess I remember this trick because throughout my life whenever I've seen a ladybird I've pretty much always thought back to that time, even if subconsciously.

After my Gramp's death some years ago, if I ever saw a ladybird I'd think of him. In fact I saw it as a sign that he was letting me know he was still around, even though I couldn't see him. So on my way home today as I was sitting in the bus travelling from Pyrmont back to the city I was pleasantly surprised to see a little ladybird on the window beside me. I don't know how it got there, but it was a lovely reminder of a person and moment from my past. What's one of your earliest memories?