Things David loved:
Confirming what was for lunch immediately after eating breakfast.
Finding where his crisps/digestives/kit-kat’s had been hidden and helping himself to copious amounts.
Drinking tea from a kit kat mug.
Kit Kat Easter Eggs that came in a kit kat mug. So he had another mug for this tea.
Salt and Vinegar crisps. These had to be Walkers crips, no other brand would do. Due to the strict diet his Dad kept him on. Dave had a ritual around a crisp packet. After eating the contents. He would open side of the packet and methodically use his finger to capture all the micro-crumbs that had been caught in the seams.
Swans, “Wee kittens” and puppies, in that order.
Trapeze artists, ballerinas and gymnasts & any other activity that involved both “Grace and stamina”
Real Fires & electric fires that were made to look like real fires.These he called “Flicker’s” He had a Flicker in his room for many years which resulted in heated arguments, spiraling heating bills and failed attempts to regulate him. In spite his parent’s bursting into his room mid-summer like police on a raid there was no way of curtailing the constant usage. When flicker stopped working it was not replaced. After which for many years in the 1990/2000’s Dave’s London trips in the would include a special trip to B&Q to admire “Flicker” displays.
Fireworks and bonfire night.
… fire, fire and more fire. This was Dave’s element and a lifelong passion. Please read Bruce Bond’s description of Dave at Primary school.
Looking at political cartoons in Newspapers.
Discussing current events and foreign policy.
Endless supplies of tea and kitchen roll.
Poisonous plants and insects.
Looking through Argos catalogues. no discussion and possibly an interest in the lingerie section although this is an assumption rather than a certainty.
Electric vehicles, electric trains in particular.
Buses that ran on hydrogen.
Docklands light railway for two reasons. First because it was a driverless and of equal importance, it was the brainchild of Mrs Thatcher.
Barometers above all weather instruments.
Maximum and Minimum thermometers.
Talcum powder. Ideally with a powder puff.
Spotting a Mini-cooper car on a road, beside a road, in a magazine, on the telly. (Because of The Italian job film)
Seeing a Car transporter lorry. Something about the design & function intrigued him.
The Conservative party, conservative party politics, conservative party conferences. Conservative leaders past and present.
Dark blue clothes, as this was the colour of the conservative party. He embraced the branding.
Nuclear power and nuclear weapons.
Blankets, lots and lots of blankets on his bed. Replacing the blankets with 2 duvets and then bringing this down to 1 duvet took years of careful negotiation.
A telly and Teas maid in his bedroom.
Being hugged albeit it briefly. This came later in life.
Holding hands when walking. A combination of enjoying human contact and having terrible eye sight. By end age of 50 the astigmatism in Dave’s eye had rendered him almost blind in that eye.
Trips to the Transport museum to drive the tube simulation and look for pictures of electric trains in the bookshop. Dave was a friends and family member of the museum for many years.
The lights at Blackpool. Gambling on the 2 penny machine and one armed bandits at amusement arcades. Peter and Dave went two times on a trip to specifically to go the the arcades and see the lights being turned on. Peter had no interest in either.
Gold coins (more commonly known as £1 pieces) The means for obtaining illicit kit-kats
Black Cabs
Going to the circus.
Ballet shoes.
Small children.
Going to Morrison’s for a cup of tea in the café
Feeding the swans and signets on Bridgwater Canal, at Ashford Reservoir or anywhere he could find them.
Trips to the Planetarium.
Spider man. Bruce his teacher painted a picture of Spiderman for David. It is still in pride of place above his bed 50 years on. Bruce Bannister the Incredible Hulk.
Listening to “sounds of the 60’s” and “Pick of the pops” on the radio and identiftying the songs and/or Film theme tunes.
Swearing on TV or even better in real life.
People having dispute or heated debate. Controversy and arguments of any sort. “Duffing each other up”
In addition to Salt and Vinegar crisps, Kit kats, also Jacobs cream crackers, easter biscuits, digestive biscuits, fishfingers and Mcaine's crinkle cut oven chips. The only other chip that passes muster is the chip shop chip. Peas and Carrots but no other vegetable. Mars Bars, Black tea by the gallon.
TV programmes to numerous to mention, but mainly detective films,Sci-Fi and soaps. Knight rider with Kit the talking car was a firm favourite. Dr Who, The prisoner, Marine boy, Batman (the old cartoon) Watching endless programmes about the holocust on the history channel. “Lest we forget”
Hiding official letters behind the cupboard. These would be letters from school or the daycare centers he attended (the enterprise centre, then the YMCA and finally Roller Coaster)
People actively listening and talking to him. Better still people listening and chatting whilst he drank tea. This was when the more existential questions would pepper his conversatation. Despite a predisposition towards conflictual dramas Dave tended to attribute good motives to most people’s actions. .
Never changing his clothes (except on bath nights). When Dave moved into the “Blue House” Rachel rang up expressing concern that none of his clothes were making it to the clothes basket.
Baths were an area around which there were many routines and rituals:
1) It had to be a Scaldingly hot. If he could get away with it, with no cold water was added.
2) No one could have a bath the same evening because that would involve them using some of “My hot water”.
3) Because of the first two rules, Baths could only be had on set nights of the week at around 11 pm.
Fourth ritual is listed in the "Things Dave hated" section.
Ashford Lodge ritual around “Bath night” as a child was. Peter (his Dad) would come and measure the temperature of the bath before Dave was allowed to get in.
London ritual around bath night was. Present Dave with a pot of tea in his bedroom and announce it was time to put his bath on. Whilst distracted by the tea, the bath would start on cold. Be ready to switch taps to only hot as soon as he had started on his second cuppa as from then on his attention started to shift from the tea.
Things Dave Hated:
People getting the shower carpet wet (his solution was for me to put a towel over it to keep in dry when I had a bath or shower)
When his favourite TV shows were pulled from the schedule
Homelessness.
The Death Penalty.
The Russians “Ruskies” in his words. A fear inherited from his Grandpa Hallett.
Communism. Another fear inherited from his Grandpa Hallett.
Scorpions. He would often say " don't forget to check your shoes for scorpions" to anyone planning to visit a hot country.
Exercise, including walking any distance over 5 minutes.
Moving Escalators (due to his bad eyesight)
Having a shave.
Running out of T-bags and or milk.
Emptying the T-bags out of his teapot. The number of bags would often creep up into double figures. Another cause of arguments with Peter. Who tried a disastrous and very shortlived attempt to ration the amount of T-bags Dave had.
Human rights violations.
Dictatorships.
A TV that wasn’t tuned in correctly to ALL the channels.
Barometers that were not correctly calibrated.
Parties/ any family gathering that took him away from his TV.
Formal occasions.
Having his photo taken in a group setting.
Christmas presents that were not exactly what he wanted or that were someone else's. As that delayed opening his.
The contents inside his easter egg. This could be anything, he simply didn’t want it. Only interested in the chocolate outside egg and the kit-kat mug it came in.
Any crisps that were not Walkers salt & vinegar.
People crying.
Having to do anything outside of his normal routine.
Animal/insect/plant extinctions.
Power cuts.
Oppression of any kind, but particularly Palestein.
Discrimination.
Global warming and its consequences.