This photo is special. It's the day before Christmas. I'm with my wonderful quirky cousins. I am back in the street we all grew up and they still live. I adore them and they were happy to help me take these pictures, despite the rain.
Sel's outfit isn't meant to mirror mine. We needed someone to be the umbrella carrier, so he put down his study books, picked his outfit off the floor, put on the new trainers I gave him for xmas and brought his African cane. Does everyone have a cane in their wardrobe?
I'd bought this dress from one of the vintage shops you should visit. When you walk in you just want to buy everything. This is my air hostess dress, well that's what I thought it looked like.
It was only £8, so I couldn't leave without it. It's slightly too big, but I don't mind that. I might fix it, but I'll probably leave it. That's one thing about buying second hand clothes. You don't expect them to sit perfectly. I sort of celebrate their flaws.
These pictures remind me of how happy family makes me. Being back home, the rain, the familiar damp bleak surroundings, the streets stamped with invisible memories, the stories my aunt (their mother) recounts every year like we've never heard them before. We laugh like we are hearing them for the first time. We laugh very loud.
