The boy who didn’t get a purple chopper

Growing up in the 60s, 70s and 80s in New Farm Loch, a housing scheme in Kilmarnock , when my parents relationship imploded was far from privileged and wasn’t easy. My mother struggled to hold the family together, whilst my father who was a miner struggled to leave the 1960s behind. On reflection, it was a difficult time for all who worked in heavy industry such as engineering, steel working, shipbuilding and mining and many never made it out of that misogynistic haze. Many children and parents witnessed domestic violence and abuse on a scale we’ll hopefully never see again. Many were impacted by those experiences.

I eventually noticed that I was clearly scarred and my formative years were definitely effected. The experience also misshaped my future expectations from this world, although my one strange regret at the time was not getting a purple chopper when half of the kids in the scheme had one. Maybe that is how kids deal with stuff.

Perspective helps us all on our daily journey through our mental health conundrum. This collection, often autobiographical and along the timeline of the events and the impacts occurring, hopefully provides the reader with an understanding of how we can scar others or be scarred ourselves. Being mindful about the past helps bring a sense of understanding of the journey we are all taking and can help us appreciate what we have in the present.

Remembering the past through a childs lens. Embrace this space.

Sunglasses

I guess I was 6 or 7 when I realised sunglasses don’t only block out the sun. In the 60s and 70’s they hid a multitude of emotional and real scars from domestic abuse. Travelling in a blue A1 double decker bus from Kilmarnock to Saltcoats every other summer was fun for kids but it wasn’t all about sunshine. Sunglasses by Bob Robb 9 Jul 2021 or check out the Poetcast video

Sanctuary

We should make sure our children are well balanced, safe and happy. Lets ensure we acknowledge them and how important they are to us as we struggle ourselves. As a kid, like many, I was bullied but found Sanctuary by Bob Robb 5 Feb 2021 or check out the Poetcast video

You asked for a tree

I used to spend hours and hours just being me, in less peopley woodlands which surrounded the loch (dry) near my home. Probably fairly introverted and hiding away from clear and present personal conflict and avoiding potential new conflict from school bullies. The entire woodland ecosystem plays a huge role in locking up carbon, including the living wood, roots, leaves, soils, rotting wood and its associated vegetation. All around the world more woodlands are needed to ensure the future has a future and people in the future can have the privilege’s we have. by Bob Robb 30 Sept 2022 or check out the Poetcast video

Shelter from the Storm

Its appalling that in the last recorded year, there were over 60,000 incidents of domestic abuse raised in Scotland, not just against women and 50 years after I witnessed abuse. My dear mother suffered from domestic abuse for a number of years through the 60s and 70s. But you can escape it. She did, in […]

by Bob Robb 1 Apr 2022 or check out the Poetcast video

Being Benny Rooney

This came to me shaped in a traumatic but nostalgic moment from the 70s, when I was at Primary school. I had an ever so brief period of being a Morton fan and invented fantasy football league a few years earlier (another time for that full story) to deal with my anxieties which grew as my parents toxic relationship imploded. We use various tools to support us on life’s journey. Mindfulness creativity can help focus on the present. Being Benny Rooney by Bob Robb 9 Apr 2021 or check out the Poetcast video

A two bar fire for a family of six

Be thankful for what you’ve achieved. Grown ups of a certain age, will remember two bar fires. Fighting your sister or brother to get near it. For long periods in the 70s and 80s, a two bar fire was all we had. With ice covered windows: extra duvets, crocheted covers, three pairs of socks and extra jaickets were how we built resilience to every winter. I am fairly sure that those times were the beginning of my resilience education. A Two bar fire for a family of six by Bob Robb 26 Feb 2021 or check out the Poetcast video

At the end of your street

I guess I should have known when we didn’t even have enough leftover wallpaper to cover my school jotters, that we were living near or on the breadline. And when I had to turn a v neck into a crew neck to go to the school disco as fashions changed, alarms bells should have rung but then again I was just beginning my teenage angst years . Poverty is still rife and embarrassing for the developed world. Waiting on a ‘Monday book’ to feed people is disgraceful, with the riches in this world. At the end of your street by Bob Robb 19 October 2021 or check out the Poetcast video

Oor Maw

Silly things remind us of our parents, when they are gone. For me its an old broken tattie masher amongst many other things. And not just one masher, we seemed to have a series of broken tattie mashers in our house. Focus on the happy times, it’s a choice, you can make. Oor maw lived on Tatties and Mince. Oor Maw by Bob Robb 15 Jun 2021 or check out the Poetcast video

1978

Do you remember TCP? Seemed to be a snake oil salesman’s cure for all and sundry, when I was growing up. And the smell! Apparently, originally it was the phenol which supported its magical cure abilities. Memories and the emotions linked to smells can increase your happy hormone levels and trigger positive feelings. I remember Christmas’s smelling of a Kay’s catalogue which kinda reminds me of humbler times. 1978 by Bob Robb 26 Mar 2021 or check out the Poetcast video

Imagine the Energy

I started full time work when I was 25, the month that a local mine (Barony, Ayrshire) closed. My father worked at the mine for most of his working life until retiring a few years after the miners strike of the mid 80s. He like many miners, steelworkers and others based in heavy industry were strewn aside. Imagine the Energy by Bob Robb 29 Jan 2021 or check out the Poetcast video

Underneath the bridge

When coming through those difficult teen years, we often have challenges and often make bad choices. I made my fair share. Kestrel Lager was one. When I was 15, 16, 17, I was a tare away. As were many of my friends. We weren’t really disrespectful to the adults, who passed us, whilst we had […]

by Bob Robb 4 Feb 2022 or check out the Poetcast video