What were your parents doing at your age?
When my parents were my current age of 55, I thought they were old and past their prime. There was a seven-year gap between them; Mum reached 55 in 1994 and Dad in 2001. At the time I was 24 and then 31.
Mum worked nights as a nurse at Royal Holloway College. She’d do 24-hour shifts and I was still living at home. I think she might have been studying counselling at that time and she was also quite active in the church. She would have been in her John Lewis shopping prime going to the Kingston store which was relatively new then. She certainly loved to shop and likely had a Citroen 2CV car still at the time. She liked a bit of TV and no doubt would have been watching shows like HeartBeat on a Sunday.
In 2001 when Dad reached 55, he had just semi retired and had started part time work at the local Shell garage, cleaning up the forecourt. I think he quite enjoyed that job and he was able to chat to customers. He still cycled everywhere and at the time, Mum and Dad were still local in Surrey to other family members.
They were both in generally good health, though I think Dad may have had a hip op by then or around that time. Both enjoying UK holidays and often visiting Brownsea Castle. Incidentally when Dad was 55 in 2001, I moved away from home up to the midlands from Surrey.
The pictures of them are later but good ones.
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