The Invisible Years.

I got a bit lost in reminiscence tonight and realised something interesting. I have no group photographs at all from the two institutions in which I spent a large part of my teenage years. No class photograph from high school, and no divisional photograph from the Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. I don’t recall anybody even mentioning the idea of taking a photograph. It’s as though fate was intent upon keeping any record of my connection to a common cause out of the historical record.

I do have one photograph of me during my Dartmouth period. It was taken by my mother during a leave period and so naturally I’m alone, which seems only fitting. But it does at least offer compelling evidence that I was once a naval officer cadet. The real mystery, however, is how I went from looking like that to how I look today. Time is never kind in such matters. And do excuse the lack of sharp focus. Getting photographs out of focus was something my mother was particularly adept at doing.