England 40 Years Ago — June 14, 1981

This time 17 years ago we were saying goodbye to my folks after our wedding. Today I said goodbye to John for a week and almost hello to my folks who arrive Tuesday for a two week visit. John will be in New York for a week.

Do you know how to tell someone here that he is crazy? “You’re a nut case!”

Had a crash course (not literally) to prepare us to take the very strict driving test here. Someone at the office suggested a 2-hour lesson, so we booked in for that at a driving school in Epsom. John kindly let me go first at 10:00 while he strolled $ around the town and ate at McDonald’s. At 12:00 John took his turn until 2:00. What a grueling thing it was! Before five minutes went by the tiny man said to me, “You just failed your driving test!” He was very pleasant – explaining that he wasn’t criticizing my driving, but preparing me for the test. I had failed to visibly check my rear view mirror every eight seconds. How picky they are here! It’s a fault against you if your wheels ever touch the curb. Each time you stop for a traffic signal, the handbrake must go on! He said I usually approached a stop too fast and took a little long to venture into traffic. By the end of two hours, I was almost afraid to go over 10 miles per hour, and that would have been a fault for not proceeding normally!

Kate brought a new friend home from school one afternoon. This girl moved to Reigate about six weeks ago, having lived in Yorkshire and Cornwall before.

John $ can now open the small oven of the cooker as well as fiddle with the controls of the dryer. I shouldn’t be surprised, but I always am, to open the dryer door when the cycle is finished and find the clothes sopping wet. He can put more wet clothes back in the washing machine than I can put into the dryer. He can also throw more stones onto the front stoop than I can sweep off.

Yesterday the girls worked all morning at the school fete. Kate’s class was in charge of the raffle tickets, and Lisa’s of a stall selling anything red, white or blue. There were several games of chance, second-hand clothes, baked goods, games, toys, books, and plants for sale. We bought a shirt for $ and a pair of almost new Wellingtons for 20p. John bought the girls little mirrors with the school emblem on the back. The playground was gaily decorated, the event very well attended, and it was great fun.

In the afternoon the two Johns stayed home while we went with the womenfolk next door to the village May Pageant. (It had been postponed.) The parade of floats, clowns and a small band went through the town and to an open area. The new May queen was crowned, the dance of the May pole was performed, costumes were judged, an award given to the shop with the best decorations, and a clown performed. There were a few stalls selling cool drinks, plants, ice cream and chances to win goldfish. It seemed as if the whole village turned out for the affair. It was quite warm bringing on great thirst, so we all came home to have tea at our house. I opened the biscuit tin to find all the biscuits gone and had to improvise by making toast and serving it with lemon curd. It was nice to have a chance to sit and talk with our house-mates.

John needed to pick up some things from the office before flying out today, so we went to Westminster Abbey for church. (It is within walking distance of the office.) The choir was really on its toes today, the counter-tenors being especially good. We drove to Epsom where we ate lunch and John caught a bus to the airport.

This morning I picked up my parents from the airport. I dropped the girls off at a friend’s home to go to school with her girls. Despite my making two wrong turns, we met in the airport only 10 minutes after they finished the formalities. Couldn’t have worked out better; I might just have had time to get lost in the airport had I gotten there sooner.

They took a short nap, we got the girls from school and went to Box Hill, the nearest National Trust property with a fantastic view when you can see it. Of the four or five times I’ve been there, this day was the clearest. So many times the weather can be gorgeous, but slightly hazy.

After setting Mr. Clewes to work one day we drove to Leith Hill, a protected area noted for rhododendrons. We were able to see all the lavender ones; all the others were through blooming. The plants are more like trees here – we’ve never seen such tall ones.

We drove to Epson Downs race track, Epsom, Leatherhead and on to Ripley, Surrey. [Ripley is the name of our home town in Tennessee.] The folks said their council had been in touch with our city government back in my grandfather’s day. Dad also mentioned that he and Mother had sent a care package to the town here in England after the second World War. We took one picture, got lost, practiced a few U turns, and came home. [That one picture is missing, either lost or mislabeled.]

We treated ourselves to a cream tea in a hotel in a neighboring village. It was a great experience except for the price – rather steep. Scones were served with clotted cream and jam, and we had a plate of cake wedges. I thought we wouldn’t have enough food to keep $ happy (he eats more than Kate at times), but a cat that looked just like one we had in NY kept him occupied. That black and white cat entertained us by strolling under tables and coming almost within petting reach. The resemblance to Tor was uncanny – the only thing different was that he had a tail.

We watched quite a bit of TV in the afternoon as the Queen and her party arrived each day at Royal Ascot in open landaus. That race course is near Windsor. I put up with the horse races to see the people. Lady Diana was the big feature this year. All the men have morning dress and gray top hats; the ladies wear short dresses and the fanciest of hats. Also on TV were the preliminary matches for Wimbledon which begins tomorrow. Any time we aren’t out, I’m sure the oldest and the youngest of us will be lured to the screen to watch the games. The next door neighbors were able to get two tickets for the center court tomorrow. They said the children will be allowed to wander about watching the outer courts, and they will all take turns sitting with a parent at the center court.

Yesterday John arrived home from New York looking slightly rumpled about the mouth. From the account of how little sleep he got, I’m surprised he wasn’t in one heap. He slept while the rest of us went to Chartwell, Winston Churchill’s home. He thought it would take us an hour to get there, but it was only half that. This time the girls and I saw much more of the garden than when we were there nearly a year ago.

Today we worshiped in St. Paul’s Cathedral and spent the afternoon at Hampton Court. $ learned how to get out of his push chair; he practiced getting in and out for an hour while I was walking him in the garden. Below is a sunken garden at Hampton Court.

Below, my parents at Hampton Court.

Note: for months I have added captions to photos. Today that wouldn’t work.

England 40 Years Ago — April 19, 1981

Do you know what a mail truck is called here? I’ll give you time to think while reading this.

The heating system went caput in the early hours of Tuesday, and the speedy people in this country were able to get a repairman (engineer) to fix it by Thursday afternoon. Heaven forbid we have an emergency! Actually, this house is well prepared for systemic failure. We were able to use an electric immersion heater for hot water, and could have lit fires in two fireplaces. Luckily, the weather was fairly warm.

One day we went for a long walk at a nature preserve, Leith Hill, drove along back roads and on to a second visit to Silent Pool.

Kate and Lisa with azaleas at Leith Hill

The weather all week has been glorious. So lovely, in fact, that there has been no rain and we had to water our new plants by hand since there is no outside tap on this house! One day we fixed up a bucket brigade; I held down the bulb in the toilet which made it overflow into a pipe that empties just outside the front door near the plants that needed water. Lisa, Kate, and Philippa manned the pitchers and doused the flowers. We thought it was a good idea until we found a puddle on the carpet in the bathroom.

Lisa, Kate, and Philippa as bucket brigade

Penny S. has a friend whose mother has just gone blind. The lady has had failing sight for some time, and the last operations were unsuccessful. Understandably, she is very low. Penny asked me to go see her. I intended to, but got stuck at home over-seeing Clewes and waiting for the boiler to be fixed. I did call her on the phone and hope to see her soon. She said she had taught school in Pennsylvania for a year and still hears from her friends there.

Good Friday Kate invited Philippa to go with us to her church, and she did! The rector had a good sermon giving Barrabus’ view of Good Friday. I never thought of it from that perspective. Philippa came home with us and stayed from 10 to 7. I’m surprised the girls didn’t get tired of each other. She went home to get her food so they could have a picnic together.

Meanwhile Lisa invited Catherine to go to London for a service. The two girls and John went on the train to St. Paul’s for the Bach St. Matthew Passion. They left here at 4 and returned at midnight. John said it was one of the best he’s ever heard. The church was full – think of that when you watch Prince Charles’ wedding this summer – and the congregation sang the chorales. Glorious! He recognized a counter-tenor who sings at St. Mary’s. That man was in the choir. The other man he knew happened to sit right in front of him – a man John had entertained in the office because he is on the board of directors from a South African company. That man and John spent the intermission (called interval here) talking.

Mr. Wilson, owner of this house, appeared on our doorstep and handed us a basket of creme eggs for Lisa and Kate. He had another for the girls next door. Wasn’t that sweet? These creme eggs are the standard sweet for Easter. It’s a little smaller than a normal egg, has a shell of chocolate about 1/8 inch thick, white filling, and a round of yellow representing the yolk. [I found them in the States about 20 years after we first had them in England.] There are also hollow chocolate eggs in the stores, but no rabbits and chicks. I was told children color eggs, but there seem to be no kits for it. Wonder if they use food coloring. We skipped that custom this year.

Yesterday we went to the Claremont Landscape Gardens – begun in the 1700’s and recently restored. It features an ornamental amphitheater, lake, island, grotto, and camellia garden. We were glad we took advantage of the good weather because today has been rotten.

We’ve had rain, sun, and wind today with chill temperatures. We wanted to try something different, so picked out a church by the listing of music in the paper. Went to Grovenor Chapel near the American Embassy in London because they were to do a Palestrina Mass. The service was Anglo-Catholic, much like St. Mary the Virgin in New York. There were few people there, the pastor came out to give a few announcements, and I began to wonder if we were in the right church. He disappeared, but was soon back with fancy robes of gold and red accompanied by two others dressed like he was and three men in white. He admitted later while thanking various people for their work this past week that he couldn’t have done his part in the complex service without the coaching and rehearsing of someone who knew all that had to be done. This was his first Easter service there.

What a disappointment the sermon was! He picked a text from a novel and jokingly told people not to look for it in their Bibles. Good grief! He went on to say that everything had been said that needed to be said at the Easter Vigil service the night before. I thought he’d have done better to do a recap of that than talk about a novel.

The music was delightful. John wonders why churches with good music can’t come up with good sermons, too. Those with lousy music often have good preachers. John $ didn’t fare too well, so John took him for a mile walk. He cried lots at some point and instantly fell asleep as we started the trip home. We stopped for a McDonald’s hamburger to tide us over until I could get the dinner cooked. This was at Epsom – you’ve heard of Epsom Salts and Epsom Downs. This town is one of the closer big ones to Walton.

I found the traditional thing to serve on Easter is a Simnel Cake. Years ago it was served on Mothering Sunday because so many girls went into service, but were always given that day off to go home. That was the only day they went home! Now it has shifted to Easter. The cake is a fruitcake with a middle layer of marzipan baked in the cake. After it has cooled, it is topped with a thick layer of marzipan, 11 eggs of marzipan decorate the top edge, and a chicken coming out of an egg is in the center. I did all that the day we waited for the boiler to be repaired.

My homemade version of a Simnel cake. We still have the mugs.

Before I forget – a mail truck is a post van. Did you guess it?

I remarked to someone that I hadn’t seen any iris here. That must have been before they started to come up. We have clumps and clumps right under the kitchen window!! I don’t know that it is the kind of iris I’m used to; will see when they bloom.

All the trees have a greeny haze about them, while some are in full leaf. The fruit trees look like they will burst because they are so full of blooms. Daffodils are fading, tulips are out in riots of color.

We have huge hedges bordering our garden, most of them still clinging to old brown leaves. Caroline told us they are a common hedge here; when young, they keep their green leaves year round; older ones shed theirs. I wish they’d hurry up and turn green.

We rejoice with Susan that her doctor is making encouraging comments after her surgery last week.

This coming Saturday we go to Cornwall for a week. Mail will probably be delayed, so don’t get upset.

Happy Easter!