I come from a large family,I may have mentioned it once or twice;)
Five brothers and two sisters,and of course me made us a family of eight children and two adults.We lived from there being four of us in a terraced house that had two bedrooms and a double attic that was made into two rooms.
We consisted of
Brother A....The eldest,older than me by eight years and regarded as shiftless and worthless by the male parent,mainly because he got booted out of the Army,eventually went to Scotland to work on the rigs,now has his own business,married one son and one stepson.

Brother P....Second in line,regarded as the blue eyed boy,joined the Army at 16 served 15 years untill wifey insisted he quit or she wouldn`t marry him.Now a leading fireman in Newcastle-under-Lyme,married,one son one step son one step daughter.

Me......The crazy one!!

Brother T......After trying quite a few jobs out decided to join the army,upset male parent by joining RCT instead of beloved R.E.M.E,served five years in Ireland all told at the height of the troubles in the seventies.Left army and has done nothing much since,widowed one son.

Sister K......Had an affair with the husband of the woman she babysat for,they tried running away together,they were caught,she was 15 he was thirty. As she was almost 16 an arrangement was made and she ended up going to live with him as soon as she reached the magic age.They are still together despite numerous affairs on both sides,however she does now believe herself to be better than the rest of the family due to an inheritence her husband gained,married ( eventually) one girl two boys.

Brother D.......My favourite,the things this boy has done. Began his career as a criminal at the age of 11,his favourite was TWC,he just loved those cars.Graduated as all criminals do,spent most of his teens and early twenties in jail. Nearly losing his daughter to meningitas seemed to wake him up. He now has his own business,still a jack-the-lad but legally ( just) never married but lived with the mother of his four children and one step child till two years ago.Now with someone else but happy.

Brother PG......This is my lost brother,trained as a chef when he was in his teens,I shall write about this brother seperatly eventually.Never married,children,unsure. whereabouts at this time unknown.

Sister B....... The baby of the family,untouched by anything as was protected by all,met husband when she was nearly seventeen,married him at 18,still happily together. Husband was a soldier when they met and married,left the Army and now has own business. Two daughters.

Thats my family in brief,we are not a close family by any means. Probably due to the fact that we were raised with an iron fist ( It was a leather belt in actual fact with studs in) and very strict and uncompromising attitudes. The male parent was a tyrant ( and other things) who regurlarly beat his wife and kids. Luckily for us he was a career soldier and was home only at weekends and holidays,there were many weekends he didn`t come home,of which we were grateful. He left the army after twentytwo years of service and life was practically intolerable from that day on. Mostly it was about surviving and getting out as soon as you could,easy for the boys but not so easy for a girl who was shy,retiring and wouldn`t say boo to a goose.
I have come a long way since then.