  Dave's post was filled with his memories of school days and the way our lives link in to a larger history. My mind swims in the past searching for a foothold on the shores of the present. As I read his words an image came into focus. I was almost eighteen. Our arms linked, I walked with my grandmother in the early evening towards the primary school I had once attended. It was polling day and the news had been filled for weeks with discussion of today's referendum. Would this be the year that the UK joined the European Union? So many times Nan and I had taken this same route together, as the acrophobic woman who rarely left the house gritted her teeth and fulfilled her duty. To vote. She never missed. This time would be different, this time I had my own polling card and the right to voice my own opinion. I felt such pride as I marked my decision. I felt part of a great solidarity of past souls who had fought so hard for my right to hold this small piece of paper in my name. When I look back, that day is my coming of age, much more so than any birthday. Next week I will walk to the polling station with my daughter.
I cannot help feeling a little sad that she does not feel the same sense of pride and responsibility as she votes for the first time, as I did, on that long ago evening. This is part of a chain of posts linked together by word association. The previous link in the chain was here. If you want to write another link here's what to do: Find a word, phrase or theme from this post to inspire your own and go and write it. It's that simple. Try not to write something that's similar to this post. That way the subject of the posts along the chain will vary.
E.g. if I write about going to the doctor's, then don't talk about the last time you were ill, instead describe how you used to play Doctors and Nurses with the girl next door. Get the idea? Your post can be in any style you want. Copy this paragraph and tack it onto the end of your post, updating the link to point here, then leave a comment here that points to your new post. 
