Old videos

The family sit to watch old videos of happier times. Babies eating and dribbling, Toddlers kicking the air for want of kicking a ball that is in the general vicinity, Kids opening presents that were promtly presented proudly to the video camera. Happy times.

The teenagers smile and perhaps the teenage hormone levels are controlled, re-adjusted, balanced and maybe old Pa is ok, really.

Visual culture tradition envelopes and embraces oral cultural tradition; I can explain things, remind of things, things of how they were, show we were once a big happy shiny family. We look at faces, faces that have gone to another place, that were younger, single and a half-chinned-ish, faces that have matured into teenagers. The smiles on the TV remind that once we did not need to shout to be understood.

History is explained, the first time elder bro' met younger sis 'and sis' did very little and bro' got a present for not pulling an arm off lil sis, parents got a smile from bro' and a few months later sis' joined in and smiled and we played happy families. School sports, school plays, Christmas, carols sung badly, Easter eggs, visiting friends lost to the sands of time, friends still a phone call away, friends we will visit soon or sooner or later.

Video may have killed the radio star but may have re-focused the Pryce family for a while at least. Dysfunctional Family Extreme is put on pause for a while.

And perhaps I have a feeling the One Big Happy Shiny family is just under the surface, a veneer awaiting to be scratched.