Love You More than Rock & Roll

The fiftieth post has come round really quickly - thanks to all of you who are reading regularly. Can't believe this blog is being read in over thirty countries now. Daily posting each morning is a testament to strong black coffee and the diversionary powers of Sponge Bob Squarepants. There is a great UK pottery company called Bridgewater - I drink my morning coffee out of a mug that says 'I love you more than Rock & Roll'. I remember when they opened their store on the Fulham Road in London - Emma Bridgewater's designs were so fresh. It's no wonder her intelligent, humorous style has been imitated (well, copied - never did believe that rubbish about imitation being the sincerest form of flattery - being copied is boring, but I've always believed moving on and doing something even better is the best recourse). Her work is really original, and I admire that. My Bridgewater mugs are a simple pleasure every single day - the favourites are the ones the children made at their pottery cafe in Staffordshire - wonky painting but absolutely original. In the afternoon, (caffeine after lunch and I'm too buzzy to sleep, sad but true), I move on to peppermint tea or decaf Earl Grey from 'I love you more than Elvis', and keep my pens and pencils in Marlon Brando.

Elvis died when I was my little girl's age, and I loved him so much, with the intensity of a six year old that my parents couldn't bring themselves to tell me. I didn't know for years. In fact, as I found out when the pilot and I finally made it to Graceland a few years ago, it seems rather a lot of people haven't been told (there were birthday bouquets wishing the King many happy returns - Elvis Lives!). If you've been to Memphis, you can appreciate how surreal the whole experience was (we stayed in the motel opposite, where an Elvis impersonator lives permanently - I woke to see the King smoking on a lounger by the guitar shaped pool). The details were so curious - turquoise hilted guns, a copy of Khalil Gibran's 'Prophet', green shag pile carpet on the ceiling. But what struck me most was how modest Graceland was - the crockery in the small, cosy kitchen reminded me of my grandmother's house.

TODAY'S PROMPT: Like a lot of passions my love for Elvis fizzled out, but one of the unexpected joys of parenthood is introducing your kids to things you loved at their age. I bought my little girl an Elvis CD from Oxfam the other day, and watching her groove around with the toddler to 'Let me be your teddy bear ...' was fantastic. At her age, growing up in remote moorland Devon, American culture was dazzling to me - along with Elvis, DC comics gave tantalising glimpses of exotica like Tootsie rolls, X ray glasses and Sea Monkeys. I read every single Hardy Boys & Nancy Drew book I could lay my hands on, and loved the Three Investigators. Remember what you loved at six? What did you read, and listen to? Share this with your kids and have fun remembering. It's what it is all about - love, life and rock & roll.