Preface to life



Some thoughts to the reader, which, may help to know me a little.

Life, I would say on the whole, has been pretty good to me. Not as glamorous as some lives, but, it has been very interesting and full, and it has been very good. First and foremost, I was lucky to find a wonderful partner in my wife Anita. She has been the one who has the fortitude to stand along beside me all these years, and has given me the encouragement when I needed it most. I can tell you, I needed that help and encouragement many times during our married life.

People have different ways of planning their lives. Some stay at their occupations for life and will be secure in their retirement, good for them. However, one has to make a choice of what to do. I know I made a hell of a mistake when I left selling Real Estate, I know I would have been very comfortably off today. We are however, allowed one mistake in life, mine was a doosey.



Chapter One

The reason for writing the following, has been generated by the memory of one man; that man was my Grandfather. He left this world after having quite a full life, and yet it was untold, except, for the few tales he told me. Those very few are all I have. I would have wished to know much more what he had done in his lifetime, in fact I would have given anything for him to tell me all. What he did tell me, was wonderful to hear, and really something to remember.

As I have done so many varied things in my life, I don’t want my children or grandchildren to be uninformed of what happened during my time. Therefore, what follows, I know will be of great interest to them.

Let me tell of my Granddad. Granddad, Tom (Tot) Morton never became wealthy or in fact could be said to be poor but, only in monetary wealth. He did however, become a beautiful person, loved by all. He had quite a few adventures in his lifetime, which, unfortunately, were never put down on paper. He traveled, fought in a war. Then lived most of the rest of his life in the County of Durham.

I feel it a shame that so little was passed on to his kin; so, with this in mind, I am hoping this little autobiography will be of some interest to those that follow me. I hope this little bit of history of the Morton family will be worth while to our offspring, they will know something of their beginnings.

Granddad worked down in the mine most of his life, digging coal from far below the surface. I believe he started work when he was 9 years of age. Way back then, young people from poorer families did not get very much education. They had to work as soon as possible. When Granddad started at the mines, he probably was doing the same type of job as I did when I started at the age of 14.