Laughin' on the ither side o' ma face
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According to my Birth Certificate I was born in a private clinic in Palmerstone Place on May 23rd, 1943. When the Consultant Obstetrician learned that my Father was a low earning Insurance Clerk currently fighting in Germany for our freedom he waived his fee. Much later I was to find out that on the day before, 2,000 tons of British bombs had been dropped on Dortmund. On the following day, my first day on earth, a further 2,000 tons of bombs and incendiaries were dropped on Dusseldorf. Later in that week, Essen was bombed, followed by Hamburg. In Europe, more newborn babies such as myself would have perished than survived. But of course, as an infant, I was blissfully unaware of such a backdrop to my new existence, although I was gradually to become aware of the deprivations and dangers faced daily by those around us in our tenement block in Howard Street, Canonmills, where I grew up to become an Edinburgh lad.
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About the Book
The book offers a frank account of early academic promise that ended in disillusionment and ultimate failure. It offers hope to those whose initial successes may have come to nought and demonstrates that glittering prizes, easily won through natural ability, are often snatched from grasp by unforeseen circumstances, to be regained only by dint of diligent effort. The book may also be of interest to academic psychologists studying memory, as many readers may doubt the veracity of the author’s early recollections. The author assures his readers that all the memories documented herein were either carefully validated by his mother when she was alive or corroborated by written records of the day.
About the Author
Dr. Dodds is a consultant neuropsychologist working in Nottingham. This personal account of his early experiences in Edinburgh during the war years and after contains vivid memories going as far back as his infancy at six months of age. The book is written in English rather than in Scots dialect, and it recreates, with an adult’s understanding and insights, events that puzzled or disturbed the child at the time. It also presents a social history of the period firmly rooted in the Canonmills district of Edinburgh during a period of uncertainty and austerity.