So it goes...

It has been one of those days ... it is always a mistake to lay in bed in the early morning sunshine thinking what you might do when you have the whole day ahead. Do a little gardening ... take a walk in the park... visit a garden centre ... . It all started well, I thought I'd give my planters a feed, even though they'd had plenty of rain and Mr T said he would put some laundry on, all before breakfast.  After a 'bit' of tidying round I had a few more things to add to the wash.
"I've already put it on" he said,
"But it is not going" she said ...
You've been there, you've done that - machine full of water and unwashed clothes, the light's not on and the door won't open.
When I retired I thought I would buy a 'good' washing machine, so it was worth purchasing a good warranty agreement too. But the vendors wanted me to ring the manufacturers to arrange one of their engineers to call, and the manufacturers wanted me to ring the vendors to get the warranty details. I must say everyone was very polite and helpful, but it still took ages to sort, and then I had to take the sopping wet wash to the local launderette, somewhere I haven't had to frequent for many years. I had no idea how much a wash cost these days. I am sure you are getting as bored with this tale as I was with the laundry. No one else seemed to be sitting and waiting for their wash, but I sat and read my book keeping a wary eye on my undies, it must have been an unusual sight as one girl asked if I was the owner.
However I am pleased I bought the shop's guarantee as that covers accidental damages, whereas the manufacturer's doesn't and I've a horrible feeling that the wine-box spillage has gummed up the electricals - we shall see. It will be next Tuesday before anyone can come out. We can manage till then.

But after all that I was in horrible foul mood, and then Mr T wanted me to help him do something on the computer, grrr moan mutter (feeling guilty) - I really should have just gone out, even though the sun had gone. But I have a moment now and I am going to post my next set of memoirs.
I haven't got any more in the pipeline at the moment, but I am working on it, be warned.

Drawing from memory

I am on a roll now and you will have to bear with me. I have pages in my sketch book of little drawings of bits I can remember from my granparents' house and I am using them to illustrate my Norfolk Holidays book. I have decided not to be too precious about it, otherwise I shall agonize over every sentence and drawing, but just to get it all down. I am sharing it with you, but his is a long entry so skip it if you wish, but I hope you enjoy the drawings. The weather is miserable and we are stuck at home, so this is a great way for me to occupy myself. Mr T is making progress, but  we are not 'out of the woods' yet and still having weekly visits from the District Nurse. So here is part two...

If you have managed to read all that, thank you!! It is for my sake really, but I am happy to share.

Memories of Norfolk - Earliest Memories

Inspired by reading Jane of Marigold Jam's wonderful memories of her childhood I thought I would start recording my memories of many summer holidays spent with my Norfolk grandparents. It is something I have wanted to do for many years, so now is a good time to start. When chatting to my sister we always end up having at least one conversation about our times there so I have decided to keep my memories in a journal which I shall illustrate with drawing and photographs. I will share my first chapter with you, and see how it goes, there is a lot more in there.

In every family - a story

I was looking through some old photographs and wanted to share these with you. Although I was brought up in suburban Essex I always feel a country girl at heart and that is because for most of my childhood I spent many school holidays with my Norfolk grandparents.

This picture always shocks me - my grandfather is wearing his working clothes and what a life he led. He was a WW1 soldier and returned to Norfolk to work on the land and sea. He would be away for long stretches when my mother was young in  Lowestoft  working on the drifters fishing for herring, then he would work in the sugar beet factory. He used to work repairing the roads and  at harvest whatever was required. Picking potatoes was another job and hoeing fields. I can remember him working on the the harvest and in his later years on the local estate feeding and caring for the young pheasants which were being reared by broody hens in coops in the wood. We used to take him his lunch which was often a lemonade bottle of cold sweet tea, a 'door step' of bread, and chunk of cheese and a raw Spanish onion.  He used to pare bits off with his penknife to eat. My poor old Grandmother was crippled with arthritis but she loved to have us to stay. 

Here she is with my baby sister and me in front of the 'shed' which was the coal store and and also had the boiler in it for doing the laundry, although I cannot remember it being used. 'Round the back' was the privy - quite a trek once it got dark! Outside the back door was the pump and water for the laundry would have to be pumped up and carried to the boiler. Luckily the Co-op mobile shop also did a laundry service so she did not have to slave over hand-washing bedclothes - what a life! Although my Grandmother died in her seventies my Grandfather lived on, on his own for many years.

Here is a photograph of my Mum giving him a hair cut in front of the same shed in 1980 when my grandfather was 90! He still had an excellent head of hair!

He still had the pump for his water and the privy was still 'round the back' although at this time he had a 'home help'. Every Sunday, his neighbour, a chicken farmer would send his two children round with a hot roast chicken dinner - and I can still hear my Granddad grumbling in his almost undecipherable Norfolk accent that a bit of beef would be nice for a change!! He finally had to succumb and moved into the local nursing home where he lived until he was 93. He had had more than one heart attack, and had bad stomach ulcers, but he was a strong man and as tough as his old boots -or 'high-lows' as he used to call them. I wish I had a gift for words to record the many wonderful memories I have of my grandparents' cottage which was a time capsule. I can see it so vividly, I am sure you have similar memories, I hope you've enjoyed mine.

Lovely stuff

Just to wish you all a great weekend free from creative frustration - I am going through it myself. I thought I would share this leather tag my little sister made me with a photo of us on the beach looking after a stranded guillemot (We now think) At the time we called it our penguin, but it did not surrvive as we found its body the next day.  This was on one of those wonderful wild north Norfolk beaches where my father would fish from the shore and we would spend days and days on an almost empty beach with sand as far as the eye could see in both directions. I guess I must be about nine or ten. I have put the tag on a page from one of my journals in which I made a collage of some of the scrummy paper I got in a pack from a local store. I may write on it later, but the colours went well with the beach theme - although it was usually pretty nippy on that North Sea coast.