A Road Ran Through It

'A Road Ran Through It', is my story. It is a young man's story. It takes us to times of rebellion against my enforced induction into the Royal Air Force in 1960. It is also about the realisation that some important actions taken against me by the military authorities, at that time, may well have been founded on a deeply ingrained political bias that had existed since the Second World War. The story also centres on some of the various extra-curricular activities in which I engaged, in order to diffuse the boredom that derived from doing the, for me, totally uninteresting job to which I was assigned during my service. I describe my initial sense of mistrust of all figures of authority in the Royal Air Force. During the two years I began, very unwillingly at first, to gain a wider perspective on the RAF as a more caring organisation. I also entertained a growing realisation that the majority of my colleagues wished me no harm and that, moreover, they were often quite willing to go out of their way to make life easier for me.As the story unwinds we begin to get glimpses of the dysfunctional quality of my life at home. During those two years I gained a wider perspective on my parents. It was a window on the almost complete lack of tenderness that had existed between them for most of my life, a life that had been akin to living within a perpetual war zone. It had, I realised, been much worse for my sister than for me. Towards the end of the story I tell of the rapprochement, which enabled me to construct a long awaited denouement with some members of my family who had been 'dead' to me for the whole of my life. I also open up, in some detail, the unwelcome realisation that a large part of my family was both socially and personally dysfunctional.There are light-hearted sections in all parts of the work. In many ways it becomes a feel-good story. The final chapter rounds off, particularly well in my view, this element of my two year experience of service for 'Queen and Country'.