The next best thing to a good family is a good family feud. You know the kind of thing : Uncle Frank hasn't spoken to his Cousin Sid since some imagined slight whilst the pair of them were on a day out to Doncaster Races in 1954. That great British comedian, Al Read, managed to sum this particular aspect of Northern working class life up in one memorable phrase : "There was enough said at our Edie's wedding". The real causes of such familial rifts are often lost in antiquity, the stuff of family speculation and legends. So, in the interests of future generations of the Burnett family, I would like to take this opportunity of putting on record the origins of an emerging feud in the family : the row between myself and my brother Roger.
It all started with my current Sepia Saturday post (Digging Around In The Anderson Shelter) and my carefully argued conclusions that it was a youthful Alan Burnett in the photograph. Everything was going fine and I was being congratulated on my evidential analysis and reasoning : until my brother added his "two-penneth worth", as we used to say in Yorkshire. I was wrong he declared : it wasn't Southmere Drive, it wasn't 1948, and most important of all it wasn't Alan Burnett! It was him : Roger Burnett.
Well, I ask you! Who taught him how to send e-mails, who passed on to him the secrets of blogging? Before I instructed him in the digital arts he was nothing more than a water-colour painter and sculptor. And how does he repay me? By shooting me down : demolishing my credibility on my own blog. All you have to do is to look at the profile pictures above. The elderly gent on the left is my brother, the youthful and vibrant chap on the right is none other than myself. Now I ask you, who looks more like the baby in question. No don't tell me ... there was enough said at our Edie's wedding.
Cute baby, whoever he is. 'Nuff said.
ReplyDeleteDare I say it? No. I just hope you two have bridged the brotherly gap.
ReplyDeleteNice chuckle this morning.
ReplyDeleteThe smile gives it away. It's you, Alan. Sorry, Roger. Back to your painting and sculpting. :) Not that I want to enter a family feud or anything.
haha...maybe a little dashing good looks of the both eh? and try not to go hatfield and mccormick on us...smiles.
ReplyDeleteBut the older guy in the picture does look like Quentin Tarrintino.
ReplyDeleteCorrect?
John F : Now you mention it ....
ReplyDeleteJudging by the hat, it looks like Roger... but the cute face? Must be you.
ReplyDeletehaha can't beat a good feud, as long as it doesn't turn into a hateful one.
ReplyDeleteI'm staying out of it.
ReplyDeleteThe baby already had a penchant for hats, and your brother is wearing a hat in his photo. That proves... uhhh... nothing.
ReplyDeleteThe baby is not holding a beer. That too makes me think the photo is of someone other than you, Alan.
I do so wish your dad was around to settle the quarrel. "It isn't either of you! It's the neighbor's child. Neither of you were ever that cute!"
Ziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip!!
ReplyDeleteMy word, this fence is uncomfortable!
All right, I wont say no more...but it's fork!
ReplyDelete(I'll leave Ali to explain that one. It will be a good test to see if he really knows his family history.)
Ha! That's when the real photos come in handy. Usually there's something written on the back. I wish my family had such friendly feuds!
ReplyDeleteAh the little/major things in life that can bring brothers together right! I say at any rate the little lad is just adorable...no matter which one he was.....your Momma had adorable babies!
ReplyDeleteAlan, I also was born in 48 and I'm pretty sure that was me in the photo with your dad. It's a long story and I'm sure you're not at all interested in the details. I will only say that your older brother, Roger, snapped the photo while my parents diverted your attention with a recitation from Hamlet. Odd story, really.
ReplyDelete