Ill-judged comments

[The letter contained] a very unfeeling comment about X’s g-dad who was run over and killed. I hope she didn’t make the same comment to the parents!

She manages to speak much better than we had thought possible and I am sure when it is all done we shall very soon get used to a slightly different look. X [young grand-daughter] is being rather dubious and hasn’t gone to see her yet. A good thing, as being stared at is a bit unnerving for her and they are a family who make very very candid comments about one’s appearance anyhow!!

X seems to have settled down well in her job, and heard the other day from the woman at the agency that her boss had said that it was working out well – this in spite of having missed the post one evening with some urgent stuff and then told the boss that might not have happened if he had told her to begin with exactly when it was wanted instead of having answered her enquiry ‘Yesterday’ – which is certainly far from illuminating.

[X is a child that the writer is helping as a volunteer] I had spent a little time working out a poem with one OUGHT word in each line in a context which I hoped would help. I put this in front of him and asked him to read it, to which he replied ‘Have I got to?’ If he had said ‘It looks difficult’ or something of that sort I might have just agreed with him – but as it was I felt very annoyed and said with some heat ‘No you haven’t got to: you can go out in the garden and never read again as far as I’m concerned, and I’ll go home’ – at which not surprisingly he looked a bit startled.

X writes to her – I’ve opted out. A letter she sent (as her father said she had to) saying she didn’t ‘mean to hurt me’ is not enough to right the incredibly rude letter she sent. I very likely use phrases she misunderstands – as I her – so we’re safer not corresponding.

We went to see X’s watercolours first, which were in a touristy gallery on the Front with, it must be admitted, a range of quality in the goods! Anyone within earshot would have been in no doubt, that’s for sure!

The other thing of interest is I now have a close friend of 78, from the old church, but he had left the church 4 months ago because his sister-in-law spread rumours about us that reached his 5 children – like he was sleeping over and I had killed 2 husbands!