Thoughts on “Fas”

Bit of a change of a post for today! This one will be filed under “Thoughts on..” !

I doubt there is anyone reading my little blog who doesn’t know of and hasn’t looked in on, Jim Grey’s “Down the Road” blog. If you haven’t – you should! Every Saturday he posts a recommended reading list, (thanks Jim!). I always have a click about, there are always a couple of good photography posts worth looking at but also some things that are not photography related, things that I would have never have come across, and one of those The Ditch Lily really got me thinking this week.

I was born in 1969 and grew up in the 1970’s on the edges of a medium size town on the south coast of the UK. A small terraced house, in the suburbs where not much happened. We were near to, by which I mean easy walking distance, to all three schools I attended. In an era before large supermarkets were common, we were also close to a butcher, green grocers, post office, baker, petrol station, even a fish shop – we were close to the sea! Most important there was also a sweet shop, and the local town, 2.5 miles away had three photographic shops – yes three!!

I wouldn’t say that we were poor, although we certainly weren’t rich. Both my mother and father worked hard, both full time, pretty much all of their working lives. Just about all Dad’s money paid the mortgage and bills, Mum’s income took care of everything else. We never had central heating, or in the early days even running hot water, one either boiled the kettle or for a bath, switched on the “immersion heater”. I remember scratching my name onto the frost on the glass of my bedroom window on the inside once! Although I don’t ever remember being cold!

We ate well but wasted almost no food. Dad had an allotment and grew potatoes, onions and the like. I grew up knowing how these things grew and what they looked like. You may think that’s a strange thing to mention, but apparently some kids today don’t know that bacon comes from a pig or what a potato plant looks like! Perhaps that’s where my love of plants comes from?

In a similar vein, waste was low, stuff was used for entertainment. At Christmas toilet roll tubes were made into crackers, milk bottle tops were made into chains, washing up liquid bottles into space rockets. We got a bit of holly and some mistletoe from the woods – the point is we were always doing fun stuff but it didn’t necessarily cost much!

This is a photography blog so I’ll mention that if I wanted some film or paper, it was either a birthday or Christmas present, or later paid for from money I earned from doing a paper round. Some how it was appreciated more that way. Again nothing was wasted, I made every frame count! When I was young we had one regular old fashion style dustbin emptied once a week, it was often only half full. Today just the plastic recycling bin (always full) is twice the size!

The point mentioned in the “Ditch Lily” post that really made me think was “But, you know, it’s always there”. It is. Don’t get me wrong I had a wonderful childhood and family. Most of it I wouldn’t want to change. In the overall scheme of things I needed for nothing. I’ll keep this photographic based as this is the subject of the blog but it applies to many things – the fact is there were times when I had no film, or paper or chemicals, so I couldn’t do.. X,Y or Z. I survived but I learned what that was like. It’s difficult to un-learn. “it’s always there”!

So what the hell is FAS? Like it’s brother GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) it’s the one I succumb to more… Film Acquisition Syndrome! I’m not going to tell you how big my film stash is, and it will all get used, but now that I can afford whatever film I please, there’s a little childhood part of me that needs to buy more so I have some and don’t run out! I’ve never really thought about it until reading this article, but it makes perfect sense! I’m sure Ilford will be making film long after I’m dead and gone – they aren’t going to run out. I will be able to afford the odd roll or two in my retirement. I don’t need so much in the fridge! I just find comfort that there is!!

OK finally a photo: