Marion Blair (30 Sep 1940 - 30 Jul 2016)

In loving memory of Marion Blair who sadly passed away on 30th July 2016
My Mother frequently described herself as a "war baby" WW2 started in 1939. "Papa" Hugh was fully confident in his self & My Mother was born on Sep 30th 1940. Don't think she'd seen much of Papa until the end of the war. Papa arrived in 1946 as he'd been clearing the North sea of mines. He arrived home,probably having walked from Princes St Station completely exhausted having spent 2 days in a packed guard's van. Mother had been at a neighbours house & went into a blind panic when she got to the door,she stepped over the crumpled heap at the door & ran in screaming to her Mother. "There's a tramp at the door!!!!!" What are we going to do? 5 year old Marian had been assured,no! this is your Dad,come on in Hughie. Mother was still not convinced. THAT tramp can't be MY Dad,he must be someone else's Dad!! That's MY DAD!! pointing to the picture of the sailor's on the wall,so spruce,clean shaven & with an ironed uniform. Hugh had to have a long bath & a good shave before Marian would take anyone's word for it. Fast forward to the early 70s,the miners were frequently on strike & by sheer co-incidence much of Muirhouse & West Pilton had their electric cut,because they were all skint. Papa turned up at 2 of his daughter's doors,to be told there was no food apart from a ham sandwich & no power to boil the kettle for a cup of tea. "Why don't you go down to Marian's" She's being supplied by a different power station,she's always got plenty electric" The truth was My Dad was in a good job & always had money for electricity. The meal still took 3 hours to cook as the power was still low. Papa was sat in front of the telly waiting for his mince & tatties. Ted Heath was playing the piano by candle light. Papa lost his temper & started his typical sailor's language saying "this tory conman doesn't need to kid me on he's no electric,he's got a generator in his shed. Mother was told to keep Hugh's foul language to himself,but Marian was fed up with doing this,she'd been trying to do this until she was blue in the face.
Can't remember when the Brazillian football star Pele came on the scene,Hugh seen this guy on the pitch & started his language again,he was the archetypal Alf Garnet, & he called the footballer "Peel" & had more complaints from my Dad,(my Dad not only never used foul language,but especially disliked this in front of me,aged about 4) Mother put up with a lot in her life,but eventually got to see the better side of me. The 1980s came along & I was a mad keen cyclist doing 12,000 miles a year,building my own bike wheels & filling the house with as many bikes as I could get away with. Mother never completely understood me,always referring to my only transport as scrap iron,& it didn't make any difference if they were freshly painted.
Marian was only abroad twice in her life,December 2010,I timed it perfectly. Mother & I had a sun kissed 6 days in Malta when Edinburgh & probably the rest of the UK was 2' deep in snow,we enjoyed all of Malta's old buses before the EU legislated them out of use. February 2015,my Mother was the only one who could make it to my wedding,this was in Russia after all! She coped with temperatures of -25c surprisingly well. The day I got married could hardly have been any nicer. -17c but it didn't feel cold. Mother only had 10 days with my new in-laws but she was welcomed like an old friend & a space was made for her in the small flat in Nizhniy Novgorod. Mother always spoke of the welcome she received & my in-laws bonded with her almost immediately. Mother even liked ALL the food that was put in front of her,not something I can say as I find tripe horrible! All we have now is a wedding video & a collection of photos & very fond memories. You left us too soon,we were not ready to lose you for many years to come. I hope I'm forgiven for all the grief & tantrums I had,for the house being filled with my over the top bike collection, & for the cockatiels nibbling the wallpaper. Sleep well. Andrew xxx