Destination Unknown

In 1954, Agatha Christy, of whom I am still to this day a fan, published her novel 'Destination Unknown'. And, since 1954 was also the year of my birth, and the title of Christy's novel is an apt description of the journey that my life has so far taken, it seems appropriate to adopt that title to describe my time on this planet. Indeed, given the mystery of what happens after death, 'destination unknown' may well even serve as a suitable epitath for my tombstone, as and when my departure arrives.

I have scant memories from those early years. We lived in a post war prefabricated bungalow, not too far from the city of Liverpool. We had a beautiful white dog we called Snowy and there was a big old oak tree between our flat-pack dwelling and the ubiquitously flat, grey, prefab next door. In those days, it seemed like the whole world was coloured grey. But there was an enormouse amount of sunshine in my young life due to the enduring, all encompassing, love of my mother.

The first main event I can recall was moving from the prefab to a brick built terrace house a few miles away. In terms of events of the world beyond our humble abode, I can recall almost nothing of any note.

From research, I know that throughout the decade of the 1950's, the United Kingdom saw a continuation of its recovery from the post war years of the 1940's. The increasing population saw the birth of what became known as the Baby Boomer Generation, which was one of the signs of a country growing in confidence, in part due to an expanding economy.

In the UK, throughout the fifties and sixties, unemployment figures were at an all time low of just three per cent. Which meant that working class people like my father, were always in full time work. This meant that we could afford to buy a black and white television and a radiogram, which was followed by a Dansette record player. A car and telephone, would have to wait until much later.

Entering the sixties, suddenly there was an explosion of political, scientific, sporting and cultural events, or happenings. Due entirely to the advances in tv and satelite transmissions, the main events that I can recall from that period were, the assassination of JFK (1963) the Beatles bursting onto the pop music scene with records like 'She Loves You' (1963) and Cassious Clay (Muhammed Ali) beating Sonny Liston in 1964.

The only other two events that made a deep and lasting impression upon me, as a young teen, were man landing on the moon and me leaving my hell hole of a secondary school, both in 1969.

Looking back over the following fifty something years, the main things I remember were, losing my virginity, a fumbling affair, in a tractor furrowed field, on a farm, and the events arising subsequent to that.

I got married, had kids, got divorced, got married again, had another child, got divorced again....all for nothing. With both of my divorces, I got well and truly fleeced, even of my children, from whom I continue to be totally estranged.

There were times when I thought I knew where I was going in life, but I was wrong. At times I went with the flo, at other times I made a great effort to effect the course of my journey. In 1984, having chosen to try to change the direction of my life, I graduated with my first degree and entered a period of prosperity. By 1990, it was all over and almost all was lost.

In 1994, I graduated once again with my second degree. Alas, my efforts to retrain and regain my past properity, failed miserably.

In 1995, due in no small part to the loss of my financially very lucrative career five years earlier, I lost the love of my wife and family. It seems it is true, that when hard times come knocking on your front door, love flies out of the back window.

I picked myself up and started all over again. By 1999 I was remarried and in 2001 a father again. In 2005 it was all over, again. And what followed was fifteen years of insane personal and legal persecution by my second ex wife.

In 2014 my second ex absconded the country and kidnapped my young son. I have neither heard from, nor seen either, since.

Thankfully, in 2015, I met an amazing woman who picked me up and saved me from an abyss I never thought I would ever be able to climb out of. And to this day, in 2023, I remain deeply grateful for her love, care and fidelity.

I do realise that where I am, as pleasant as it is, is merely a staging post on my journey to infinity, where ever that may be. What I have come to learn over all of those years is that the destination is not so important as who accompanies you on your journey through life.

I have also learned that the material things that we think we own, money, cars and houses, we are just custodians of them, until the stewardship of such things passes on to others.

I have often heard people speak of the land that they own. How little do they realise that nobody owns the land, the land owns us. It was here billions of years before us, and will remain here for billions of years after us. Our stay here is transient, and one day, the land we think we own, will simply swallow all of us up whole. And it will be at that point that you will reach the route to your final, unknown destination, which we can only call, infinity.