{"id":1651,"date":"2023-06-20T11:31:52","date_gmt":"2023-06-20T11:31:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1651"},"modified":"2023-06-20T11:31:58","modified_gmt":"2023-06-20T11:31:58","slug":"back-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/back-home\/1651\/","title":{"rendered":"Back Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Young<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We were cock-a-hoop when our Billy said he was coming home. \u00a0His Mam\u2019s been up all hours polishing the copper and she\u2019s scrubbed the front step until it\u2019s gleaming.\u00a0 She\u2019s busy baking enough to feed Billy, his lass, the bairn, and the entire street I reckon. It\u2019s not as if Billy will even notice, he just wants to see us.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems like yesterday he was a babe in arms.  He was hardly as big as a bag of sugar when he was born.  Wouldn\u2019t have given tuppence for his chances.  His mam gave him sips of milk on her finger until he was strong enough to take a bottle.  He soon got a taste for it, mind. Used to yell blue murder till he was fed.  When she shoved the bottle in Billy\u2019s gob and the yelling stopped, I used to think I\u2019d gone deaf. You wouldn\u2019t think he\u2019d started off like that to look at him now.  He\u2019s grown into a fine lad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Our Billy\u2019s a dad himself now.  We\u2019ve never met his missus or the bairn.  He married Ruthie when he was away in the war.  Went away to fight and come back with a wife. Never expected that.  A proper turn up for the books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a canny crowd here to meet all the lads and lasses off the bus.  People are talking and laughing like I haven\u2019t seen in many a year.  Me, I\u2019m dead quiet, so excited I can\u2019t get my wits together to make a half decent sentence.  According to my Da\u2019s old pocket watch, it\u2019s nearly time for the bus.  That watch is on the button. It hasn\u2019t lost a second in over 40 years.  They should be here any minute now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Champion, here\u2019s the bus creaking up the hill.   It’s going so slow I think it would be quicker to walk.  It’s packed to the gills.  Double decker and they\u2019re squashed in like ninepins. Look at them hanging out of the windows hollering and waving for all they\u2019re worth. There\u2019s a dozen or more half-way out of the door.  That\u2019s our Billy whooping at the front.   \u2018Simmer down lad, you\u2019d think the devil was after yer\u2019.  Is that Ruthie, carrying the bairn?  Aye I reckon it is. She’s a right bonny lass.  Our lad\u2019s done alright for himself by the look of it. The bairn\u2019s screaming his head off.   I can hear him from here.  Canny pair of lungs on him, just like his da.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019re all spilling out of the bus and running up to meet us. I can\u2019t get near our Billy.  He\u2019s still stuck on the bus.  Clever move to be at the front. Not so clever now he\u2019s trying to get off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Over here, lad.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s pushed his way through and he\u2019s rushing over as fast as his heels will carry him. Our Ruthie can hardly keep up.  I\u2019ve got him in a bear hug before he can speak.   \u2018Welcome home, bonny lad\u2019.    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It seems like yesterday he was a babe in arms. \u00a0He was hardly as big as a bag of sugar when he was born.\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t have given tuppence for his chances.\u00a0 His mam gave him sips of milk on her finger until he was strong enough to take a bottle.\u00a0 He soon got a taste for it, mind. Used to yell blue murder till he was fed.\u00a0 When she shoved the bottle in Billy\u2019s gob and the yelling stopped, I used to think I\u2019d gone deaf. You wouldn\u2019t think he\u2019d started off like that to look at him now.\u00a0 He\u2019s grown into a fine lad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[695,782],"tags":[818],"class_list":["post-1651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-695","category-june-2023-home-sweet-home","tag-back-home"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-qD","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1651"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1653,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1651\/revisions\/1653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}