Normal Greatness.
Ordinary People Living Their Lives.
Photos & text by Peter O'Leary.
It’s a celebration of humanity, an ongoing collection capturing some of the complexities, beauty and strength of people and how they live life. We are in a time where interaction as humans is under radical change, and despite the multiple modes of communication that are available, we have never felt more disconnected. Despite that people are still finding the things in life that make them, and others, feel optimistic.
Photo above; “Come in come in, I’ll make you a cup of tea, put your stuff down – do you take sugar and milk?”
Photo above; “We’ve lived here for over 40 years. After our first child we got moved to Broadmead – we were on the top floor of Coopersale House. I remember we had snow there one year, and there was snow on the handrail, you could look down from the landing to where the shops were, kids were playing there. What I did, I grabbed some of this snow, I built this snow ball and just threw it into the wind – and I watched this snowball go woosh with the wind and hit this kid right on the back of the head, couldn’t believe it – he was alright but it was unbelievable. Another great idea at the time, I bought some bangers from the shop, emptied out the gunpowder into this brass canister – my brother who did model planes and he had fuse wire that he used for his jet engines, I packed it in with plasticine with the fuse wire in it, took it down my dad’s allotment and put it in a hole – we lit the fuse wire and ran but it took ages – you would never believe the noise it made, we ran and ran like crazy, went back the next day but there was nothing left of it.
Photo above; “My first job was in a chemist in Woodford, I then worked in warehouses and other places like that, I became a gardener for people when I got made redundant around 60 -it was the best thing I ever did and the happiest I’ve been at work”.
Photo above; “I’ve aged ten years in the last two since getting diagnosed with prostate cancer, until then I used to work six hours straight over at the allotment everyday, I’m so frustrated with it and now, I can barely just get over there”
Photo above; “Never had a lesson in my life, it’s been something I’ve done ever since a school boy – at senior school I came top at art several times. Then work came in and I stopped for a bit - but I still wanted to paint, oils over there is where I came back to it, but it was a bit messy so I stuck to the water colours, but they take a lot of patience and have to be exact. You can see on the back of that one there I started one, but it was a complete cockup. Something attracts me to the walls and the sky’s, it’s only in the past 5 years that I’ve started to get an appreciation for architecture".
Photo above; “There are loads of them somewhere, piled up under a pile of something else. I’m a bit of a hoarder you see, always loved painting though – mainly water colours but I did a few oil paintings at one stage - and photography too. I started writing my life book before Covid but then it stopped. I don’t think I could do it now, just snippets”.
Photo above; “I saw that cabinet, a friend had one, and I really like it, so I made one – it took me ages but I’m glad I did, one of those things. They are more of my paintings, oh and that book you’ll be interested in”.
Photo above; “We’ve got the box set of lord of the rings, can’t tell you how many times we’ve watched it, it’s funny we had the box set then one of them wouldn’t play, just happened that Pam was going past a charity shot and saw one – do you know if was brand-new. When I was about 10 I somehow got hold of a longbow from a friend, I use to go over to the fields and shoot a metal tipped arrow up into the sky, directly up just for the thrill of it, the closest was two foot away – if that had have hit me on the head I’d have died straight away.”
Photo above; “It was just our 60th wedding anniversary, I was 18 when we met, I’ve been blessed with Pam, we’ve been through some pretty low times and we’ve had some pretty high times through our 60 years, and thank god she’s still with me. There was a time when I became an alcoholic and she’s stood by me, she was advised to leave me at one point, I should say I’m still a recovering alcoholic, it took me six months of cold turkey to get over that”.
Photo above; “It’s like when I had colonic cancer, I said to the surgeon where do I go from here, surgery he said, so I said ok let’s get on with it. Two days after the operation I was in the ward, I was getting a bit stir crazy and wanted to get home, I got fully dressed and ready to leave and waited for him to get on the ward, and I’m pleased to say – touch wood – I’m one of the lucky ones.”
“It’s more than just the allotment, I don’t even grow anything anymore but I do love being a part of the committee and the community, it’s important to get out and see people I know and friends”.
Photo above; “When we were in hospital once, there was a Caribbean nurse that stepped back to hold the door open for us, she said you two have been together for a long long time – about 60 years. Well, you wouldn’t believe it we had almost been married for 60 years at that stage, and I said to her how do you know, she said - I just know these things”.
Photo above; I woke up one morning and the little pond we had then was half filled with mud. I emptied it out and though it must have just been a fox or something, but the next day it was half full again – yeah and then he spent the next four months staying up all night with his binoculars and humane traps trying to catch this bloody rat, you should have seen him sitting there in the dark in the middle of the night – but he eventually caught it without hurting it, and released it over in the fields".
Photo above; Bob and Pam are both currently living with cancer, Pam was recently diagnosed with lung cancer, “But don’t worry it’s not too bad”
I spoke to Bob last week, he is out walking every morning and looking forward to spring kicking in properly so he can get out a bit more.
Salt of the earth: People who are exceptionally honest, reliable and humble.
Photo above; “Did you see the sign? Thanks for coming over, and you’re always welcome for a cuppa at the nut house – it was lovely to see you!”
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