Algorithms for the Masses by Julian M Bucknall

Despite getting a sheet-fed scanner, I still use my flat-bed scanner to scan, mainly photos. The last couple of times we've been home, Mum has given us some old photos. Well, not necessarily given, but lent so that I could scan them and, if needed, print better ones.

The one on the right there, for example, was taken when I was 15 or 16, standing in front of the front door of our house at the time. 1972 or '73. If I recall correctly it was taken by my Uncle Ty, who still remains an avid photographer, though obviously at the time it was on film.

Looking at it now, it looks like I'm just about to sign up with The Style Council, or maybe even The Jam. Steely gaze under a fringe, and a polo neck. Damn cool or what?

To contrast that photo, here's a much older one:

 

This was taken in 1908 and shows my great grandfather and his family. My great grandmother, seated there, was pregnant with my grandmother, Mum's mother. Despite the general mortality rates at the time, all the children survived and grew up to be adults. Three of the lads even joined up for the first World War, although one of them was too young (Mum says he was found out and my great grandmother had to travel to France to pick him up). My great grandfather was a policeman in a village called Wolston, just outside Coventry.

I never knew any of them except for the girl seated on the right, who was my great aunt Annie, who died at about the same time as my photo above was taken. Unfortunately, I've misplaced the notes I took on all their names so I'll have to ask next time I phone my parents.

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