“There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they’ll take you” Beatrix Potter.
I love that quote from Beatrix Potter; there is a sense of expectation and there is no better way to start the Blog, reviewing 2018, based on the wonderful National Trust Calendar Tea Towel. This was designed by Pat Albeck, my favourite tea towel designer; she had been designing them for the National Trust since 1970s and this was her penultimate design. She died in September 2017.
This year “was not what I expected”, as Lyra would say. 2017 was full of holidays and short breaks; we used the caravan a lot. After Dorothy’s death in January, everyone stayed healthy. You are lulled into a false sense of security; all will be the same. Not a chance. 2018 was the year that I had planned to move. They say that moving house is one of the three most stressful things that happens, and I can see why. I knew the bungalow would be difficult to sell because of its location and size. Bungalows are often associated with older people but they would be down-sizing, not buying a very very large garden and a five bedroomed property. It was eventually bought and we provisionally agreed a moving date of 13 March. What my buyers did not account for was that their buyers had a 100% mortgage secured by their parents. My advice to anyone is never accept an offer from someone with that sort of security. Nothing wrong with it in principle but because there were four parents, there were four financial checks and one had not declared a loan they had already taken out to buy a car. We were fortunate that the owners of the property to be bought did not withdraw because of the length of time involved. Eventually we moved on 19 April; when I say move, I mean the furniture went into storage and we initially stayed in a caravan in Stragglethorpe, in the wettest weather of the summer. There was a lot of work to be done, new extension, garage conversion, walls knocked down, front door moved, new kitchen, new bathroom…… but it was possible to live in the bungalow after a month, if you didn’t mind the dust. The furniture didn’t return until 16 August, but it was just perfect.
Moving house was definitely about down-sizing, a painful process but exciting all the same and I discovered eBay!
Anyone who has read my Tea Towel Blog will know Benjamin (the cat) disappeared, went walkabout, in January. This was not usual behaviour. I contacted all the right people and posted more than 100 leaflets through neighbours doors asking them to check their sheds etc. Nothing. In many ways, I was glad of the delay in moving because it gave Benjamin more time to return home. Nothing. So I moved with a sad heart, people telling me that he was probably living with a new owner. On 20 April, the estate agent rang; my heart sank. The move couldn’t have fallen through because we had ‘completed’. But no, the estate agent was ringing to say that a cat like Benjamin was sitting on the patio at my old house; the new owner had checked with the next door neighbours and he confirmed that Benjamin did have only one-third of a tail, like the one peering in through the window. Benjamin was about half his weight, so much for living in luxury with another owner and was absolutely delighted to see me. Problem? The other cat was in a cattery while we were in a caravan. Benjamin’s cat box was in storage! Easily solved and Benjamin was reunited with Isabella.
Liz, who had a knee replacement in 1997 and left her with a fixed straight knee, found herself with a collapsed knee, not the one that was fixed. Walking with a fixed knee and a collapsed knee is not an easy thing to do. She hired a wheelchair for a week, followed by an electric scooter for a week; not much of a choice. The ‘lightweight’ scooter, that could be collapsed, was too heavy for me to lift into the car, even in bits. To ‘drive’ it was difficult and without shock absorbers was the most uncomfortable mode of travel. I found it very difficult to assemble (possibly dangerous) so we abandoned the idea of a scooter. The wheelchair was a better option, if it was light and collapsible, and so, for six months, Liz has used a wheelchair. This has led to a world of discoveries: how you travel by plane using a wheelchair, how rude taxi drivers can be and how helpful some bus drivers are, which is the best supermarket for borrowing a wheelchair or having those baskets that attach to the front of a wheelchair, how wheelchair unfriendly clothing shops are yet small independent shops can be so friendly, how helpful strangers can be. The one thing I have learnt is (a) how much I hate steep inclines and (b) how to spot a steep incline from a mile off. Life is a real challenge now; no more caravanning, no more beach walks, no more steps, no more climbing rocks, no more inclines, no more sitting in the middle of the row at the theatre but what it does mean is problem-solving, using your imagination to overcome challenges and the advantage of not sitting in the middle of the row at the theatre is that you often get a better seat!
Liz and I cancelled several holidays. Edinburgh Fringe Festival wasn’t possible because of her knee. Arran wasn’t possible because Liz’s Dad died. He became ill in July with Summer Pneumonia, was in hospital and seemed to recover. It had, in fact, affected his ability to swallow and about three weeks later he died. This was a man who had had a stroke in December 2015, was paralysed down his right side, lost his speech altogether and needed to be cared for in a Nursing Home, yet maintained a wonderful sense of humour, a love of people and a positive outlook. He had many infections, a number of hospital stays and doctors ‘wrote him off’ but he came bouncing back. We all thought that was what would happen this time; maybe one infection too many, maybe his fight had gone, maybe he wanted to be with his wife. I’d known him more than twenty years and felt a deep sadness at his death but it also reminded me of the death of my parents and that feeling of suddenly being at the top of the ‘family tree’, a place I never wanted to be. I can see that sadness in Liz and her sister Lyn.
But what about the tea towels? Moving house certainly hasn’t stopped the collection growing. In fact the new bungalow has offered the tea towels a new home!!
What more could you want? A double wardrobe converted into four rails which can hold at least forty hangers on each; since each hanger holds 10 tea towels there is certainly room for expansion (that would be a minimum of 1600 tea towels!!). I am only at 1000 tea towels at the moment.
This year the tea towels went on to Instagram (myteatowels), a site dedicated to pictures of tea towels. Wilko, Dunelm and John Lewis look at me suspiciously when I am taking photos of their stands! There are 300 posts on the Instagram account which is more than I thought possible. Cats are always a good addition to a tea towels photograph!
The myteatowels.wordpress.com is still going strong. There have been about 130 new Blogs this year, including about 150 tea towels and there are still a lot to write about.
http://www.virtualteatowelmuseum.com has certainly grown with the addition of two Special Collections. I am very fond of ‘Homage to Four Beatrices’ which gave me the chance to look into my mother’s side of the family. It was an emotional journey.
One of the great days out was in March when I was invited to the 70th birthday party for my aunt who I hadn’t seen for about 35 years; her daughter who had arranged the surprise party was 10 when I last met her (she’s a bit older today). My Uncle and cousin travelled over from Italy for the occasion. A really great occasion. In October, Amanda (my cousin) sent me a tea towel from Sir Frederick Gibbert’s Garden and we have agreed to meet up there in 2019!
Rob, who I shared a house with in 1974, sent me a tea towel from his travels to Australia. Great tea towel and we met up in Draycott, the first time I’ve seen him for 25 years. Moving house has meant that I had to find a new reflexologist who has given me several of her tea towels, vintage with good stories attached. But 2018 has been a good year for tea towels: there was one from Cornwall from Gwyn, Harry and Meghan’s Wedding from Julie, RNLI from Aunty Joyce, the Summer Fields from Liz K, Rothenburg from Anne, British Birds from Margaret, Knorr from Lynn, the Azores from Lyn and Rob…..
I joined a Puppetry Workshop in January, completely out of my comfort zone, never done anything like this before. Nottingham was holding its first Puppet Festival and they wanted a group of 12 people, with the aid of a puppet-maker, to create a pack of dogs. My idea was to be able to use a number of my very old, shredded tea towels to create an Afghan Hound and her puppy. The tea towels were to be cut into strips and dyed with tea. I loved it. I met a lot of interesting, and creative, people and we had great fun. A number of new tea towels came from this project.
2018 has been a year of more Creative Writing, including 10 weeks of poetry which I never thought I would do. However, two of my Blogs included a Triolet, a form poem that I fell in love with.
This year has seen 6 visits to Aberdeen to see my friend Jean. Seeing Jean is always an inspiration but unfortunately one of those visits was because she fell and broke her leg. At 92, this is not so good but she made a good recovery and is now walking with her Zimmer frame once more. Another visit was to help her with her Christmas shopping and on the way back home we went to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh to see their Botanics Show. A visit to the Royal Yacht Britannia was also made.
So 2018 was a busy year, a year without a holiday, an unexpected year but actually a very enjoyable year, especially since I was given two books on tea towels. I look forward to 2019 with maybe a holiday as well as all the other interesting things that might happen!
myteatowels 