Top of the Pops

Granpop was a stooped man, with a particular way of walking, his arms held slightly behind him. He was active and practical and got things done with meticulous precision. He ran his life on a tight schedule, getting up at the crack of dawn to fetch the paper down at the village and up again in time to bring my grandmother her first cup of tea in bed. Lunches were at 12, dinners at 6.

He was hard of hearing which led to an impatience and intolerance of many things, particularly loud noises and silly behaviour. We were fully aware of this so we strived to be on our very best behaviour at all times. It wasn’t pleasant seeing Granpop cross.

Living in the Canary Islands, we were limited to what was available on television. As we arrived in England for the summer, one of our favourite things to do was to watch English television. When we were little they were the early morning children’s programmes and as we became teenagers they became music programmes like Top of the Pops.

The challenge was to ask Granpop if we could watch. Granpop was firmly in charge of the television, if the news or the golf were on, it was strictly out of bounds. First port of call was to ask Granjoy, who would respond, ask Granpop.

Then it was deciding who was going to pluck up the courage to ask.

We rehearsed our words carefully before venturing into the living room. Granpop at this point would be sitting in his chair reading with the television off. In a voice loud enough for him to hear, we’d ask the dreaded question. To add to the already nerve wrecking experience, he would respond Sorry dear and we would have to repeat ourselves once again, this time louder.

I think he would always ask what time and which channel and we would respond with all the necessary information. If we were going to ask we had to get our facts right. The television was turned on at the precise time and turned off as soon as it had finished. Granpop left the room whilst we watched. He had no tolerance for loud music, gyrating rock stars and way out looks.

Julia and Granpop, it wasn't always serious and strict, we had times like these too when Granpop was relaxed in the garden