Thoughts of me

Last week I was laughing as my daughter Ashley paused a TV show we were watching to check IMDB (internet movie data base) to find out what previous movie the actor had been in. Ashley does this a lot, personally I don’t care, she cares and must check and chat about these entire movie related facts and trivia. It’s her thing.

My mammy used to do that back in the 70s - back then we couldn’t stop a programme or pause anything, and we had to have huge interruptions whilst my mum nattered on about “what was she in before she was in Crossroads? What was that guy called who was in Poldark who was married to that woman from Onedin Line?”

If my mammy had lived long enough to see 150 channels on her TV and had seen how you could pause a TV show and check the internet IMDB at the same time, it would have blown her mind. Of all the things I am sad my mammy missed, this is one of the biggest! Besides meeting Ashley that is, my mum would have LOVED her. Both of them love US TV shows, Liza Minnelli, Hawaii 5-O and both of them had huge crushes on James Garner and William Shatner (how odd?).

My mum also loved Star Trek and loved Captain Kirk (Ashley’s favourite character), mammy hated Spock and was convinced he was a Catholic, though explaining to her he was a Vulcan meant nothing- anyone she didn’t like was relegated to Catholic (she wasn’t really into sectarianism she just used catholic as blanket of hatred and she was a bit mental). This was a woman who thought King Billy was cute and had many images of him- he was like a latter day Beiber- everyone in my direct family had photos and plastic images of him. Mum was not even a protestant she just wasn’t a catholic and that means something to some people of Shettleston. She never attended church and often sneered at nuns, it was just how she was brought up.

Funnily enough when she ran out of valium her first port of call was a wee Catholic woman called Kitty who lived up the back road. Her hatred of Catholics didn’t extend to drug dealings...obviously. Ashley isn’t into King Billy or Catholics so they do have their differences I suppose.

Yet mammy loved the TV and Ashley loves the TV they both love musicals and both adore old movies, and am sure if my mammy had met Ashley they would get on so much. Both of them are funny, smart, mentally nuts and sharp witted all rolled into one and Ashley does have a similar sense of humour as my mother. When I told Ashley this she wept big tears and told me how she wished my mother has seen me onstage doing comedy “She would have loved you doing comedy” so then I wept big tears thinking about everything mammy missed not being here.

We miss people who pass away, today I just found a text from my late brother and it said “saw you on BBC news sis, you were funny, miss you x” Miss my mammy and my bro.