Did I tell you X’s remark when Y went on looking for a good place to picnic for rather a long time? ‘This road is just like God, it goes on and on.’
We were challenged to croquet within half an hour of arrival on a very ‘sporting’ course. About my third turn I aimed at his ball, missed and went into the border. ‘You twit,’ said he in exactly the tone he would have used if addressing his brother. I said, ‘I question whether that is an appropriate way to address a great-uncle, even though I agree with your opinion.’ (You can talk to him like that if you want to; he has a remarkable vocabulary and turn of phrase for his age.) ‘Oh,’ said he, ‘I do apologise’ as it might be someone who has trodden on your toe in the underground by mistake.
I hope the kids don’t remember Christmas, by their comments! X at 8 p.m., ‘I hope I get more presents next year. A bike’s not much’, and Y on opening the wheels and axles I got him to make a go-cart,’ Thank you daddy, did you get these at the dump? Little buggers!
‘Mummy can I have some soil to make goblins for my dolls’ picnic. You know – like the ones daddy made?’ Shades of cannibalism? Not a bit … after much deciphering we worked out that the key words were foil and goblets.
I need a short coat to replace a simply horrible one I’ve had 4 years – very warm and perfect condition but looks like a size 20 altered – which it is – does nothing for my morale!
I must tell you from X’s last letter the garb of one of her American lecturers – red socks, no shoes, red and black stripy vest and clashing red shorts!
I bought myself a super sleeveless jacket with reveres in white polyester – which they called a sleeveless blazer, but I wore it with my grey tiered cotton skirt last night – I thought it looked pretty snazzy myself.
I also finished my startling scarlet top – like the one in green you liked – and am very pleased with it and wore it to the Xs last night. She has gone a bit gay and bought a super woollen smock from an arty shop which looked v. nice. She also had a woollen-weave in black and gay colours skirt made but bought a silk coffee-coloured blouse to go with it – but it doesn’t.
X has a slight blonde haze on his chin and lip, I thought he really ought to start shaving, only to find he’s hoping to grow a beard by next month as the girls’ school has asked him to be Arthur in Camelot!!! I was glad I hadn’t remarked on it!
Great goings on at the school. The mad cook had left and they had a man who committed some dreadful indiscretion with one of the staff so was replaced pretty smartly. Evidently there had been a minor rebellion amongst the nuns, and a lot of them left the Order.
In a letter from X – which may well have a few frills on it! – she said Y was being horrid to her husband and not enthusiastic about settling in S.A.; I don’t blame her I think I’d hate it. It’s just a matter of time before it blows up. I must get the book by Van der Post ??Flamingo Feather again – very frightening – very real.
I’m most intrigued about X and SHAEF as to us it stands for Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force. Don’t tell me there’s a war on and no one’s told us out here?
In my effort to get rid of things I advertised my knitting machine. I got one answer and expected to get some $250 for it with table and all the books and wool winder – and got $25. I phoned all round and they’re v. difficult to sell but it was in perfect condition, if basic. I was quite sad to see it go – but haven’t used it for yonks.
I think all these friends and acquaintances dying off make me realise more than ever we’re in that range for unfortunate occurrences. We’re both trying to get rid of junk etc. I’ve decided to take on some help again chiefly because I can’t face up to the idea of spring cleaning which hasn’t been done for years.
X allowed me to come into her garage and have a big clear out a month afterwards. I spent 5×9-hour days tidying and throwing the odd thing away! We gave away or threw away 3/4 of the gear!! Quite an achievement – X was very good and stayed away most of the time allowing me to work through it all.
I decided to sort out my famous drawer of stamps – I got in an awful mess of piles of this and that and about midnight started being a bit ruthless, came across a cut out embossed one of Queen Victoria – the kind you get on stamped PO envelopes. I must have cut it out in my youth, it was right round the edge of it, and out it went. Within days I saw in the paper the first embossed stamp of QV was now worth £2,000. I don’t know which printing it was but could have wept. X very kindly sieved the whole of the incinerator, and then undid all his little parcels of garbage in the dustbin, to no avail. Ah well, I suppose it was unlikely it was the right issue.
I felt quite flattened after 9 days of dear little X and Y and her American friend for 5 of them. X is really delicious but totally time-consuming – so good and very intelligent tho’ he only has a few words. I think he enjoyed being king of the castle for once and not having to fight his brother for everything. I took him to the family service one Sunday. For half the time he sat in angelic silence but once he felt at home he walked up and down the pew and took a great liking to one of the young fathers who he clutched affectionately round the neck.
We had the family to lunch yesterday which was a trifle exhausting, though taken one by one they are all delightful small boys. I can’t think how she survives them all the time. Three Labrador puppies would be easier to cope with.
We went down to the X’s of course for lunch, passing at least 2 parks in which fathers were sitting with hordes of screaming children round them.
I’d be ashamed to leave the house: the children have wrecked their walls – I don’t remember you all being so destructive – apart from X who drew on all the hall walls when we were at Y, and X had to repaint them. (It was she who scratched her new wallpaper – aged 13 or 14 too – as I reminded her when her oldest tore a strip off his new wallpaper in the first week!) However perhaps I’ve given you all awful inhibitions with fierceness.
X is bumptious, rude, too clever by half and rather adorable!
X was trying to work a little helicopter thing his grandfather gave him (you know those things you pull a string and they take off). He wasn’t being very successful so GF decided to show him how, only to have the thing sail over the house, accompanied by X’s bitter comment ‘Now you’ve done it’! Luckily it landed the other side.
I told you about X’s black eye and the dr’s comment of being a ‘bloody stupid thing to do’ and her rejoinder that ‘very’ would do – and anyway it wasn’t bleeding!
I had X for the inside or a week, and he very earnestly told us at lunch one day that he thought Mummy was going to get a new baby soon, ‘I think she’s going to buy it at a shop’, I suppose it’s because he’s the youngest he doesn’t know better, the other two are very up in the subject!
She’s still as embarrassingly loving as ever, she attacked the vicar when he came to see me about something t’other day. I’m WAITING for her to grow out out of it – I can’t think of any way to stop her without giving her hang-ups. She’s also taken to having some terrific paddies, every toy was thrown out of the dolls’ cot the other day, the smack helped me but had absolutely no effect on her. However after about 10 minutes screaming, she came out of her room, pleasant as ever, gave me a big hug and said sorry for the noise and carried on as though nothing had happened.
Now it is Sunday, 24th, and we are all organised. It’s sad that X is away on a trip overseas this year, and so we are having to fall back on Y to play the organ tomorrow. Last time he got the books mixed up and played tunes from A&M for hymns from A&M Revised – which was not very helpful. Yesterday he rang up to say his wife had lost his list, and did I know the numbers we had decided on! Luckily I did.
I had to write to our vicar – he keeps getting more staff and has v. big ideas – then says we didn’t have enough to cover last year’s expenses so another $12,000 had to be got for that and would we all add another 12% to our offerings for this year – and it’s better if we have it paid into the church a/c +++ I wrote a really blistering letter to get it off my chest and then toned it down when I typed a fair copy!!
X has gone to try and talk one of the vestry into being Vicar’s warden as our present one says he can’t take over during the interim as he’s done it 3 times. It’s so sad, it’s such a lovely little church and is kept beautifully by the faithful few – but the accent is on the few.
Isn’t this cloning a possible horror – the pathetic picture shown of 2 little monkeys looking utterly miserable clinging to each other and another of some brain op with a chicken barking or some such – I feel God will step in any minute the mess we’re making of the world.
The Mysteries of the Gods – have you seen it? Not much that wasn’t in the first film but better presented I thought. X and Y were stuffy about it as they said he misquoted the Bible etc. She and I went to see it [Mothering Sunday.] She’d got 3 posies at church, but X had got Y’s somehow, so Y had burst into tears and X had given him them both and they’d fallen to bits which set up a new howl, I’m glad I wasn’t there!!! I was just bemoaning the fact I hadn’t any of my ‘little ones’ with me at church when the little boy with the woman next to me, brought me one, which was nice. I know I used to find it a very emotional occasion when I had you all bring them to me.
We enquired at the fire station who told us where to find the Anglican church and were lucky enough to find the service just starting. It was an enormous barn of an A-frame building, with a colossal echo. Quite a lot of people, but X felt that they had forgotten to ask God to come. I think they have no vicar at present, and they had a girl giving the sermon; and the priest who eventually took over the service walked out in the last hymn saying ‘Bye Bye’ very informally – presumably he had another service he was late for somewhere else, but it could have been done better.
We had a slightly more exhausting family service that morning than usual, owing to a ringleader for the opposition aged about 18 months, recently arrived, with a high-pitched scream that she let off every now and then which was reminiscent of the Flying Scotsman in the old days of steam. The rest of the opposition found her very encouraging.
We now have 3 out of 10 under 35 on the committee which is a nice change (though some of their ideas shake my conservative soul to the core as for instance when one of the two young clergy maintained that he could see good Christian reasons for people living together out of wedlock – though he never actually said what they were.)
The first of a new show X is hosting – 4 critics of various media – very good – nice and relaxed and unjolly. He looks so much better now he’s abandoned his toupee and has short back and sides (and no top!)
We were having an ice cream cone and my crown came off my front tooth – I looked v. nasty – praise be my dentist was kind and fitted me in next morning. He’s now away for 3 months – so I hope it lasts that long. I don’t like him and don’t think he’s all that good at finding holes – I actually have to tell him – but he made such an excellent half plate for X, I feel I must stay with him in case I need one (sad day that will be!)
We thought she’d be staying a night or weekend but found she’d planned a 2 week visit. She’s an amazing person actually – she must be 76-ish – absolutely exhausted us. She’s evidently a graduate from Reading, horticulturist, violinist and pianist – this came out bit-bit only. She also had a motorbike back in the 1920’s when it must have been quite amazing for a woman. It was rather sad actually as I think her visit to her son was not a success – I don’t think they got on and living alone she talks non-stop and knows it but can’t stop!
I have had my hair all cut off – never before has it been shorter than X’s and completely but completely straight and grey – I had second trim yesterday and felt so self-conscious I wouldn’t go out in the evening and feel I should get a wig. It’s the first time in 43 years I‘ve had straight hair.
I fear Mrs. X has misguidedly worked madly to give family all the things they didn’t have. I think they’ve all had anything they wanted and they had to go to town to potter round the shops the first Saturday home as there were definite withdrawal symptoms.
We could weep for you over the flat – are they all as delayed as this, or did you just happen to hit an exceptionally bad scheme? I don’t wonder you’ve taken to drink-making and window-sill forestry. The former for its near-immediate relief and the latter to lengthen your time perspectives!
The man came to cut the hole in the roof of the dining room and it has certainly vastly improved the room. It was a threatening morning and sure enough, when he had got the old tin off and was just arranging the first sheet of plastic, up came a squall and blew the other sheet out of reach against the chimney and knocked his ladder half down into the bargain. So I had to hop up and help hold things down until he got them screwed. Even then it couldn’t be finished with the second sheet of plastic inside as in the process of removing the soft-board batts insulation etc. there appeared a large electric wire diagonally across the hole. So an electrician had to come to fix a couple of junction boxes on the rafter at the side of the hole.
We’ve had the power put on our section. I would have had the water put on too but when I applied to the Council I was told I couldn’t have water connected until I had a building permit. When I said that seemed rather unjust as I was paying a water rate the man said, ‘Yes, but that’s the rules’.
God speaks
We were so taken with the beauty of the patch all over again that we started talking about seeing the Lockwood man to discover the current price of houses and I spent two wakeful but happy hours planning all the things I would grow until the good Lord suddenly said in a loud voice, ‘This is very foolish – if you could do all that now you certainly couldn’t for more than two or three years, and what about all the other things you want to do?’ – so I stopped planning and went to sleep!
We had a couple of men here yesterday renewing the guttering of the house (known in the Yellow Pages as Spouting – a term which foxed me for quite a time when I was looking for them). They got it done in a day which was quick, and hopefully they have made a good job of it though it hasn’t rained enough yet to put it to the test. I had hoped that the copper which they were taking down would be so valuable that the whole thing would more or less be paid for, but no such luck. The estimate for the copper was only about $100, though the price per kilo was quoted as $2.80. I didn’t manage to get hold of an odd foot of the stuff to weigh it and work out whether I was being swindled, but in any case it would have been difficult to work out how much the copper weighed and how much the paint on it!
There is a funny little room with no windows – I think the previous owner built it on as an extra space for his opossum skins to hang and dry out – which is going to be easily adaptable a a darkroom with very little trouble – and I’ve managed to pinch the electric lead to an outside light which he had for his kennels and we don’t need, to provide the power for it.
They live in a house which we once considered buying (as do a great many people here!) – with a bog of a field next door in which I could quite easily have drowned when I went to look at it in midwinter.
[Re house just sold]
I hope to goodness they enjoy it – it’s going to be a squeeze, I think, with 3 grown sons and a teenage daughter: and outside will be worse since they own a car 3 feet longer than the carport, tow other cars, a small van, a horse float, and 2 horses, besides which he normally brings home the Firestone van which he drives for his job! All that on our hilly and bending drive will cause a few problems of priority on a Monday morning, I fear. But as we have left $9000 with them on mortgage repayable over about 7 years, I trust they are going to enjoy it. Mrs. X certainly didn’t want to contemplate another move, she said.
Filed words 