I learnt more about geography from those magazines than ever
I did from Ronnie Moore our geography teacher with his dry picture-free text
books and ancient map of the world which showed the British
Empire , even though the Empire was long gone. Yes, my lunchtimes
were never boring and you would usually find me up the Amazon or wandering
across the Gobi .
Much later, long after I’d left school, a miracle happened.
For no reason at all the National Geographic started tuning up at my home in
darkest Birmingham .
At first I though it might be a promotion, but when they kept on coming I began
to wonder if maybe it was an error, a mistake by the Post Office or The Society
themselves – well, with a circulation of around four million readers it was
perfectly possible. It didn’t stop me ripping off the polythene wrapper and
devouring the magazine though. I really looked forward to seeing each
yellow-edged, glossy, full colour, cover when it popped through my letterbox
every month, even though I didn’t know where they came from.
Eventually though, some light was shed on my phantom subscription.
An old mate of my dad’s had given him the National Geographic as a Christmas gift
and my dad, who only read the sports pages of his paper, had transferred the
subscription over to me and then forgot to tell me. Well, I didn’t mind at all
and for a few years I was surrounded by giant pandas, visited Vesuvius, New
England in winter, dived down to see the Mary Rose; I even used some of the
articles as inspiration for a series of paintings of grinning American farmers.
Then one day the Geographic stopped arriving. I waited a
while to see if it would start coming through again, but it didn’t. My
adventures in the world of National Geographic were over. I though about
mentioning it to my dad, but felt a bit awkward to ask - perhaps my dad’s
friend had hit hard times and cancelled the subscription, maybe they’d fallen
out, perhaps he’d even died. So I left it and carried on with my life
exploration free and adventureless.
A long time after I mentioned it to my mum on the phone one
day, I don’t why, maybe the mystery had become too much for me, I was never very
good with mysteries. I was surprised by her answer and more than a little taken
aback when she told me that my dad had transferred the subscription to my
teenage nephew. I didn’t say much as she went on to tell me that they didn’t
think I’d mind and supposed that I didn’t really bother to read them anyway. Supposed?
No, only cover to cover, each and every word. No I didn’t read it, I lived it
actually.
Apparently Alex, my nephew, was really interested in animals
and countries and all sorts of stuff, and he did so like the pictures. Yeah, so did I.
I placed the receiver back its cradle wondering if Alex was,
at that very moment, building an igloo, perhaps white-water rafting the
Colorado River on my National Geographic. What could I say? It was my dad’s subscription
to do with as he pleased. I wasn’t so much miffed as… well, it would have
been nice to be asked; I wasn’t quite ready to hang up my crampons or take off
my flippers.
I still read the National Geographic, I don’t subscribe but
occasionally buy a copy when an article catches my eye and when I’ve got a spare
fiver, and there’s always the doctor’s waiting room. Talking of doctors, Alex was officially made a doctor today, not a medical one, a doctor of countries and animals and stuff I think. I also like to think it was the sacrifice of my National
Geographic that did it. After all, I didn’t bother to read it did I… Oh, well at least Alex got a doctorate out of it.
Well done Alex you robber.
ReplyDeleteAndy Danger Bickerdike on FB
ReplyDeleteShould see my national geo's, used to browse through them back in Peru, when we had no tele.. Really should get back to reading them.
Sounds like a plan Andy.
DeleteStephen Burgess (friends with Alexander Strawbridge) commented on Facebook:
ReplyDeleteit's a shame that your surname isn't Height - Dr Height would be a great name!"
Della Jayne Roberts on FB J
ReplyDeleteust opened the Traveller section of the newspaper and saw this! (Gobi desert article)