I didn't realize we could have tea here too. That's marvelous.
Gerry I love you really you rough 'ole mountain boy. I think if we met we'd soon be best pals - we have a lot in common it seems:

I DID it paint chips when I was a kid! I chewed many a lead-painted toy probably.I also ate glue sometimes. (When making Airfix aeroplanes usually).
Mother and father didn't exactly ask me to run away - but they DID send me to boarding school. That's almost the same thing isn't it?
My parents DID have children that lived! Me and my brother!
Believe it or not my parents are related too! My father and my grandmother were cousins!
Also I was brought up on a farm. So I'm a sort of 'hick' rural-type too! I bet you love the smell of cow manure just like I do!

I have to say that I don't know whether I lacked oxygen at birth. Do you think it damaged your brain? I can see it now on Elan Vital dot com. "Poisoned, brain-damaged, interbred, manure-loving hicks squabble amongst themselves in cess pit of the world- Ex-Premie forum!"