Questions to Answer, Answers to Amuse You

1. Tell about where you lived when you first left your parent's home.
2. What was your job at the time, or what were you doing then?
3. What were you doing when JFK was assassinated? (I realize some of you are too young for this question, so just let us know what you remember learning about the assassination).
4. Share a favorite funny story about someone in the family or about yourself.
5. What is your favorite movie of all times?

Dawn's answers

Hello folks, How's it going? All good this end. Here are answers to Ques. You may regret the story one, tis a long one! Take it easy, Luv Dx
1. Tell about where you lived when you first left your parent's home. ANSWER-I officially moved out when i was 20yrs old & moved to Henlow in Bedfordshire to work at a Health Farm (Henlow Grange, funnily enough)! I was there for a year & managed to live in
2 "Staff" houses whilst there, sharing with 3-5 other people. Was fun & stressful. 2. What was your job at the time, or what were you doing then? ANSWER-I was a basic beauty therapist at the health farm, doing massages all day long. It was totally shattering, but now looks great on my CV. Made a life long friend there too.
3. What were you doing when JFK was assassinated? (I realize some of you are too young for this question, so just let us know what you remember learning about the assassination). ANSWER-Er....who. NO, i'm just kidding!! ooh, all i remember of it, were stories, conspiracy theories & wasn't he copping off with Marilyn M??
4. Share a favorite funny story about someone in the family or about yourself. ANSWER-Hmmm, could tell stuff about Tara, but she has way too much on me, so no..I'll tell u a story.. Living in Coate, on a farm surrounded by fields was fab (i was 19ish)& our cat Cleo loved it.. all the mice, shrews etc.. One nite, after a hefty nite of drinking in the pub with my farmer pal lads, i was dropped home, somehow got to bed, and went to sleep.. I became aware of a strange feeling on my leg.. A scratchy feeling.. I brushed whatever it was off my leg. My brain then slowly kicked in & i awoke with a start. The "thing" i brushed off, had fur..and a tail.. IN MY BED.Back then (before laser eye surgery) i wore specs. Could i find them in my semi drunken state. NO. I had the light on, fumbling around for my specs, blind as a bat (or blind mice), i gave up & slept with the light on in case i caught sight of a blur moving.. Next morning, being 19, i decided to get up & give Mum & David verbal abuse for this situation (well it wasn't my fault). David, went to my room to investigate & returned in Hysterics.. I had apparently, when brushing said fur thing with tail, knocked the little blighter unconcious & little mousy slept next to me in bed all nite.. I think he died from shock! Cleo, got chucked out that morning with me screaming at her. Tres funny now, but at the time, i felt violated!!!! I will never have a cat again, Guinea Pigs rule!
5. What is your favorite movie of all times?ANSWER-Er, i have about 100 of those back home in DVD cupboard.. Hmmm, ok, i do go back to "Notting Hill" a lot, a good all rounder, and yes, a chick flick. "Just Friends" is also in top 5. Thats all folks!!!!!Cheers Dx

Sharon's answers

1, 2, & 3. When I first left home, I went to Omaha NE to attend a business school. I walked into the school the first day, and turned around and left to get a job at an insurance company. I didn't want to pay the money for school when I could be making a wage instead. I worked there for four months. During that time I was interviewed for a position in Washington, D.C. for the Department of Agriculture. I took the Washington, D.C. job in January 1962. My next job was with the Dahlgren Naval Weapons Lab in Virginia during the Viet Nam war. The Lab was on the Potomac River where they were constantly shooting/testing warheads down the river. I was working at the supply department at Dahlgren when President Kennedy was shot....we immediately heard the news and were all excused to go home. This was Friday noon, and we did not go back to work until Tuesday. I spent the whole time glued to the television set. It was a traumatic time at the age of 20.

4. Funny Story - The funniest story about me that my family likes to relate consistently is when I was about 10 years old. My cousin and I (about the same age) were playing beauticians. We were both sitting on the bathroom sink looking into the mirror above. The sink broke away from the wall and water spurted out. I quickly called my Dad at work to come home to help. We kept getting clean towels to clean up the water and kept throwing them in the bathtub, never thinking about ringing them out....we just got more clean towels until my dad got home to turn off the water.

5. Favorite Movie - The best movie I ever saw was "Madam X" - as I remember, a black and white movie. The worst movie I ever saw was "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". I had nightmares about this movie for years afterwards. Of the newer movies, I think the Bourne movies are great - "Bourne Identity", etc.

Tony's answers

1. Tell about where you lived when you first left your parent's home. At the age of 21, Susan and I married and moved to 13 Debdale Road, Barrowby (a village just outside of Grantham). The house cost 2,400 gbp. We were stretched to pay the 14 pounds per month mortgage which was approximately our joint income for a week.

2. What was your job at the time, or what were you doing then? At 21 years old, I was five years into a nine year apprenticeship aimed at being a design draughtsman at Kontak Manufacturing Company in Grantham.

3. What were you doing when JFK was assassinated? I have no idea. It had little or no impact on me personally.

4. Share a favorite funny story about someone in the family or about yourself. Sharon has to help out here. When Tony moved to America, we were driving down the road. Some car ahead did something "stupid" in Tony's mind. He said "Isn't that just like a woman driver". Unfortunately, he had a memory lapse and was looking at the right side of the front seat, saw a woman sitting there. He had to be reminded that the driver was a man on the left side!! Another funny story ~ when we were traveling in South Dakota when the Sturgis motorcycle rally was going on ~ Sharon took a nap. When Sharon woke up, some motorcyclists had just gone by and Tony waved at them. Tony told Sharon that every motorcyclist that went by waved at him ~ "They were the friendliest people". Sharon had to fill Tony in on the fact that when motorcyclists passed him on the highway, they always raised their left hand ~ the signal that they were moving to the right of the highway ~ not waving at him!!

5. What is your favorite movie of all times? "Predator" with Arnold Schwarzenager was a brilliant movie! Especially the effects which were dramatic at the time the film was released in 1987.

Terry's answers

1. When I first left home, I went to live near a town called Bridgnorth in Shropshire.This was to be my inauguration into the Royal Air Force. Twenty guys to each billet with two coal burning stoves to keep us all warm. It was February
2. I spent just over four months there square bashing. Marching and polishing boots. I even got threatened with a court marshal for not having a shave. How the hell he could see that I don't know as I was only seventeen and a half.
3. I was stationed at RAF Locking radio school on an intensive eighteen month electronics course. (Not learning how to fly Jonathan) Can't remember what I was doing when I found out.
4. The date was 21 July 1969. I was stationed in Singapore with Jan. We had a small black and white Sanyo TV and although we had a choice of about 6 channels, only one or possibly two were in English. Everybody who had a TV was glued to it to watch the landing on the moon. Ground breaking stuff and a momentous occasion for the whole of mankind. I was staring at the TV when Jan uttered those words I will never forget.... "Is there anything on the other channel?"
5. Favourite movie is without a doubt "The Godfather" I have seen it many times and have read the book. This question jogged my memory to see if I had a recording of it and I do, so I started watching it again. Marlon Brando is superb and I think this was the start of Al Pacino'S fame.The way the film swings from the happy wedding party to the sinister walk down the corridor of Lucca Brazzi. You have got to see it.

Jacqueline's Answers

1. Tell about where you lived when you first left your parent's home. - Moved out into a "Bedsit" in Chippenham until I got married.

2. What was your job at the time, or what were you doing then? - I was working in Westinghouse Brake and Signal in the Sales Office Foundry Department as a Secretary having qualified through their "in-house" trainee department.

3. What were you doing when JFK was assassinated? (I realize some of you are too young for this question, so just let us know what you remember learning about the assassination). - Really don't remember much about this event only the fact that it was obviously constantly in the news and on the TV.

4. Share a favorite funny story about someone in the family or about yourself. - Looking back on the event now it was funny - at the time I didn't think it was - June and I went out to a dance in a Village Hall near Malmesbury where we were living at the time - I met this rather nice guy and during the course of the evening he asked me out on a date great I thought. At the end of the evening I collected June and my coat from the cloakroom. I couldn't see the guy I had met and thought it rather strange he had not waited to firm up on a time and place to meet for our first date. I told June about this and apparently this guy had gone up to June thinking it was me and made all the arrangements to see her - hey ho.

5. What is your favourite movie of all times? - Wonderful Life
Frank Capra's classic sentimental drama is practically guaranteed to bring a tear to the eye of even the most cynical viewer. It tells the tale of a hard-working family man (James Stewart) who comes to think his life has been a complete waste of time and tries to commit suicide. He's visited at the last minute by a guardian angel who makes him realise his true worth by offering him the chance to see how those around him would have been affected had he never been born. Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Henry Travers, Beulah Bondi, Thomas Mitchell and Frank Faylen are among the excellent supporting cast

Questions to Answer

Happy Father's Day to all the father's in the Singleton family and extended family.

Thanks to all of you that answered the recently posed questions. Not a 100 percent response, but I hope you will have fun reading the answers that were received.

These are the questions:

Relate your happiest memory as a kid

Where did you go swimming?

Tell a favorite memory of your father (In honor of Father's Day in June) :-)

Tell about a bike you had

Tell about your first very own car.

These are the answers in the order that they were received~~

Jonathan's answers:

Happiest memories: playing in the sun in the front rockery at debdale road with my plastic soldiers, drawing dragsters, thanks to a load of old custom car mags found at the skip, drawing lancaster bombers (from the front) going as fast as lightning down debdale road on the old blue bike with white tyres.

Swimming in grantham leisure centre, and nash out door pool where I famously had a fit and conked out. Also sutton on sea

Dad, making the bionic man video and hanging out of the sun roof of the brown cortina at the aerodrome. Dads big forearms! And his party time organ playing with everyone gathered round

Bike , already mentioned the blue one, then there was the tomahawk 9 small version of the chopper), then, mum thought dropped handlebars where dangerous so had to take her to talk to donray so he’d tell her otherwise for my first racer after passing 11 plus.

Fang the van, bought in telford or somewhere £350, rotten front wings, mum and dad thought I was crazy, but fixed it up and saw me through university for about 5 years, 1972 moggy minor van red. Sold without mot for £350 after 5 years use and god knows how many litres of engine oil.

Tony's answers:

My happiest memory as a kid - Very early memory and not a happy one was when Dad was having a shave in the kitchen during the war. He was looking into the mirror and a bomb dropped down the road and shattered the mirror and a couple of windows. Bath night was a bit of a hoot. We had a galvanized steel bath with handles that was brought in from outside, placed in front of the fire, and slowly filled with hot water (kettle by kettle) before the two of us were forced to get in and wash.

I did everything possible to get out of going swimming because I didn't like the water. We hid in places in school when it was time to walk a quarter mile to the pool (Tony still doesn't like the water at 68...note from Sharon)

Tell a favorite memory of your father (In honor of Father's Day in June) :-) - One of my favorite memories was the 52 mile all day trip with all four of us in the van to go to the seaside. That's where the phrase "last one to see the sea is a sissy" which was always a challenge from Dad when we were two or three miles away. Another occasion was when I was given a can of water and a paint brush to paint a wooden fence around the chalet at Butlin's Holiday Camp. (Could never understand why the fence needed so many coats ~ it kept me busy all day long.) Another time was when we would walk to Auntie Ada's down to the harbour in Ramsgate and accidently, on purpose, find coins in the grass verge on the way down. It transpired that these coins were thrown ahead of us by Dad, unknown to us.

Tell about a bike you had - don't remember where I got my first bike ~ it must have been for one of my birthdays ~ as I remember, I was about 8 - 10 years old. I needed the bike then for paper rounds and things to get some money.

My very first car was a 1951 Austin A40 Devon like the one in the photo. I sold the Motorbike and bought it in 1961 for 125 pounds from Mick and Heather Barratt. At last after all those years of paper rounds starting at 3:00 am every Sunday morning and all those bike rides to work and all the gear we had to wear on the Ariel Leader we could now go on a trip in the rain and stay dry. This car came with a heater which had been fitted by some previous owner, a radio the size of present-day PC and fitted in the boot with cable controls and electric windscreen wipers. It had a 1200cc engine which would let me go up Gonerby Hill in 3rd gear without even slowing down and had lots of sentimentality for me because it was the saloon version of dad's latest van which I used to drive for him. We took the car all over the place including Scotland and Wales with a hired 10ft caravan on the back, we had to change the head gasket many times due to an inherent design fault (one in Elgin on the beach in Scotland) and we had to have a gearbox replaced for towing the caravan too hard. Lots of stories about this car, some good, some bad, but I would love to have another drive in it today.

Dawn's answers:

1) Going to the beach on a winters day & just running around. I loved Steam Ralleys too.

2)Oasis leisure centre had flumes & slides & a wave machine, cool!

3) When Ma was in hospital, Pa took us to a minature village, dunno where. That was cool.

4) A British Racing Green bike, that would be cool now but i looked like a right square wally on it, thanks parents!

5) A Classic car. We can't remember exactly wot it was.. A Vauxhall Victor i think. Black exterior, white roof. Red leather bench seats. Hand break was a pull one under the wheel. Was wicked, but kept breaking down on me & costly on the fuel.

Terry's answers:

1) Going to Butlins Holiday Camp at Skegness and fancying a girl with a pony tail on the roller skating rink.

2) Used to go swimming at the open air pool at Witham park. I was hard in those days!

3) Dad used to take me to play billiards(only occasionally would he play snooker) every thursday night for two or three years. Just the two of us.

4) The only bike I can remember having was one where I fitted drop handle bars to make it into a racer and then coming off it on my way home from Dave Maltbys at night in the snow.

5) My first car was an Austin A70 (circa 1947) bought by two of us in Cyprus. After a while I bought the guys share and it was all mine. Seem to remember paying £25.00 each for it. I did some work on it and took the air filter off(quite big) and put it in the boot. It caused quite a stir when I was stopped and searched at a Greek road block. They found this in the boot and I think they thought it was part of a machine gun. Funny now, but not very at the time.

Jacqueline's answers:

My happiest memories as a kid was when we all lived at the Grange near Malmesbury. Building dens out of the straw bails, playing hide and seek in and around the farm buildings, fishing in the local stream with jam jars tied up with string, riding my Dad's BSA 250 and managing to bump it into the rabbit hutches. Also "tied up puddings" in other words steamed puddings - "tied up puddings" came from my Brother Alan as he would bring home bits of string from the cow cob nuts bags and ask Mum to make a "tied up pudding" of course in those days you used to have to tie a piece of muslin over the top of the basin whilst it steamed away - yum.

Swimming - hated it and still today I don't really enjoy it especially if I get splashed - yuk.

Tell a favorite memory of your father - Difficult call this one. One memory I have which I thoroughly treasure is one Sunday the family had a day out at the seaside in Weymouth. Well Mum and my sister June really liked to sit and enjoy the sunshine whereas me and my Dad and two brothers chased around the beach, played football, hired a pedalo, built sandcastles and just generally enjoyed each others company. That was a brilliant day. Another superb memory I have of my Dad was when we took Mum and Dad to Majorca for a holiday and we hired bikes. No not my Dad - he wanted to "ride tandem" so Dad and Mum hired a tandem it was so brilliant to see my Dad enjoy himself so much as he was in the driving seat and in control just larking around. I enjoyed all his "Irish Jokes" and Shaggy Dog Stories particularly the time when we went to Wales with Tez, Mike, Tony and Mum and Dad. We sat in a pub and all evening Dad and Tony were telling jokes. It had Mike, Mum and myself in stitches so much so that my sides ached from laughing - brilliant. I MISS MY DAD.

I had several bikes but my favourite by far was my brother's Moulton bike - very classy. It was the first I think I'm right in saying that had small wheels. After Steve had finished cycling back and forth to school on it I had the pleasure of taking it off his hands. I recall stripping it down into what seemed a million bits and laying them all out in the garage. The reason for the strip down was because I wanted to paint it and make it a little more "girlie". I did manage to get it back together and was very proud of myself.

My first very own car was a Triumph Spitfire in emerald green back in the mid 1970's. Still remember the Reg Plate now XPC 465 N. Fantastic loved it to bits. Owned it for many many years and was heart broken when I had to trade it in - mixed emotions really very very sad at having to get a "sensible car" but oh so excited and delighted as I was expecting Michael which more than compensated for my loss of my beautiful "Spitty".

Relate your happiest memory as a kid Where did you go swimming? Tell a favorite memory of your father (In honor of Father's Day in June) :-) Tell about a bike you had Tell about your first very own car.

Sharon's answers

My happiest memory as a kid - My family went to the Black Hills and stayed in a knotty pine cabin. My cousin, Donna, and her parents were with us. Whenever I go to the Black Hills and Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, I always look for that cabin. Another family vacation was with family friends to Elitch Gardens near Denver, Colorado....a huge amusement park that is still in business today.

Where did you go swimming? My home town had a very nice swimming pool (a diving tower, and two smaller boards for diving). My parents always bought us a season pass to go swimming if we took swimming lessons at the beginning of the summer. Consequently, I took courses for years and have taught most all my neices, nephews, and grandkids to swim.

A favorite memory of your father - Years ago my brother and I used to be very good at opening Christmas gifts early and wrapping them back up again so no one knew we had snooped. At least we thought no one knew. One year we were doing our "snooping" at Christmas gifts and when each of us got the wrapping off of our packages from Dad, the box was nailed shut. It was also impossible to get the paper back on the wooden box. We have laughed about this for years.

A bike I had - the first bike I had cost $5.00 (used, of course). I didn't really know how to ride a bike very well when my Dad took me to pick it up. He let me ride it home and I remember running into a parked car on the way.

My first very own car ~ My first very own car cost me $100.00 in 1960. I believe it was a 1950 green Chevrolet. When the car needed more oil than gasoline at fill-up time, I stopped driving it. This was about the time I moved to Washington D.C., so I bought another older car when I got there by train.

Rachael's answers:

As a child I went swimming at Cannock baths with the school (and loathed it). As a family we went to Great Wyrley High School Pool on a Saturday (?) morning. A friend of my parents worked there, and it was open to staff members & their friends. It was there I learned to swim.

My first “big”bike, ie not a trike,was a purple budgie with white wall tyres. I remember being very proud of it. Neil managed to get hold of a photo of me riding it in a nurses uniform aged 5ish, and included it in his wedding “speech”.

The car I own now –a blue peugot.Jonathan bought it as a 39th birthday present for me.I love it.

Tara's answers:

Used to go swimming with friends on a sat morning at ferndown sports centre.

My first bike I remember was yellow with purple mud guards and White wheels! Classy.

I remember the summer I had chicken pox- it was a very hot summer and my dad built me a slide in the garden to play on and cheer me up. It was fab! We ran a hose pipe on it with a paddling pool at the bottom and slid down at top speed. Loads of fun.

Oh and I remember dad pushing me on my first bike after he had taken the stabilizers off until I rode it alone. You still holding on dad? "Yes Tara" and I'd left him far behind!

Neil's answers:

Happy father day dad!!!!.Christ it’s all been going on on the singo blog. Watercolours, dragons on rocking horses, death by schnow-plough parties, and general daft pics of big brother, Jonathan. Lets hope I’m better at deadlines in my chosen career than what I’ve managed to turn this around with.

Happiest memory as a kid:Finding the ‘cool Nasa’ cap we’d just been given from friends that I thought was lost for ever when blown off whilst I similarly tried to stand out the sunroof with dad driving full pelt along Gorse Lane (fast). We got home and it turns out it blew straight into the trailer we were towing full of rocks for the rockery/fireplace – Result!!

SWIMMING: Once I was allowed to progress onto the big boys pool rather than only being able to swim laps of the varoocka foot wash pool with armbands it was Nash trash and the leisure centre, Grantham. I think I only went because of the chocolate vending machines on the way out.

DAD MEMORY: It always used to puzzle me why dad breathed through his potato filled belly rather than his lungs???!!!. I would be sat all over him while he was trying to sleep off a heavy Sunday lunch in the reclining chair and his ‘then’ big gut would go up and down with each breath almost throwing me off the side of the chair. I still try and replicate it to this day but end up getting a bit dizzy and feeling sick. But I think the best was the period of time we as a family were trying to get dad to stop smoking. This was like a free ticket to buy anything that exploded/stunk/fizzled or snapped shut from the joke shop in order to stuff down the end of his Embassy cigarettes – GOOD TIMES!

BIKE: Raleigh Ultra burner (oval tubing) painted up like a Gt Pro performer. And then a Hutch Trickstar and then.....anything else Andy Ruffle or Gaz top rode.

FIRST CAR:Black moggy saloon for £150. Drove back from Lincoln and stood as an ornament on the drive until it got sold for a bit less. There seems to be a common link here with me and cars

Questions to Answer - Answers to Amuse You

This "Questions to Answer - Answers to Amuse You" blog is to stir up some more enthusiasm and interaction in the Singleton Blog. I see by the "traffic feed" that most all of you are reading the blog. That's great. Thanks. The "traffic feed" that I have noticed recently has shown that people from the following places are also making their way to the Singo blog.

• Oldham, Oldham UK
• Ogallala NE
• London UK
• Buckingham UK
• Pullman WA
• Jonesboro GA
• Coeur d'Alene ID
• Washington D.C.
• Madrid Spain

When we get on the blog, the traffic feed lists Coeur d'Alene ID. I'm not sure why since we live 80 miles south of Coeur d'Alene. So....this accounts for seeing Madrid Spaid instead of Jonathan and Rachael's small town in Spain. Also the UK cities - we can't exactly pin point to whom they belong. The other places - GA and NE can be attributed to the fact that some of Sharon's friends and relatives are looking at the Singleton family blog as well as our travel blog and the Phillip family blog. The Washington D.C. one is a mystery to us. OK....now it's official....Sharon has become an obsessive blogger....trading the smoking obsession for blogging.

Anyway, back to the point of this blog. In the later years of Sharon's Dad's life, during Phillip family dinners, we all took turns asking Dad questions about his life - questions that Sharon had gotten from a very cool book called "Dad, Share your life with me" written by Kathleen Lashier. Hopefully all of you will also answer the questions either by a comment at the end of this blog, an email to Sharon or Tony (singo2@verizon.net) , or preferably by writing another post to this blog. If blogging is not your thing, you can email the answers and we will post your answers on the blog. The questions are below as well as Tony's answers to them.

Tony's answers:

• What bones have you broken and how? Left wrist bone. Trying to vault off the deck of a flatbed truck and missed the end of the deck, landed on the concrete with a straight left arm – this was just after I started the ASC business – 1977.
• How much do you remember paying for an ice cream cone? I remember paying 3d in the 1940s (threepence) (old currency) (for U.S. people – this is ¾ of a cent). The 3d was for a wafer – ice cream slab between two wafer biscuits. Price for a tub was 4d if you wanted more ice cream and a wooden spoon. We used to live next door to an ice cream shoppe. This was an ice cream shoppe in the 40s and changed to a cigarette store in the 60s – Harold Welbourn’s Sweet Shoppe.
• Is there anything you have now that you have kept from your childhood? Tony’s first reaction/answer was "beauty", "cuteness". "It certainly isn’t hair! Just a lot of memories."
• Tell about board games and card games you played as a youth. Snakes and Ladders, Ludo, Wist, Rummy, and Snap. Snap was a game we were playing with our parents at a very young age. Simple game that brings out your alertness.
• Tell about a time when you got lost. Couldn’t find the car once which was a bit worrying, but don’t think I have ever gotten lost. (footnote from Sharon: Tony obviously has forgotten about our time in Boise ID when we were lost!!)

Now it's your turn....everyone....we hope to hear the answers from EVERYONE - spouses and partners included. If you want to see Sharon's answers, you'll have to go to the Phillip blog. Then all those relatives will wonder why people from Spain and UK are reading that one.

And...now for the good and/or bad news...the cute book with all the questions has a question for every day of the year. Isn't that something to look forward to and very exciting!!!