BiddyGrotto

[Robinia]

It seems we're not getting any changes on AB 'til after xmas so I've set up a grotto for us. Sorry it's a bit like a scene from Great Expectations but I've sprayed a few cobwebs silver & blown the dust off me doileys so please come in & sit down.
What do all the biddies/grumps want to find in their wrinkly stockings this year then? Do you like all this festivity or will you be the grumpy gran/grandpa from hell this year?
Please feel free to take a present out of the bran tub as you leave by the way. Contents may be unidentifiable....oops sorry...be varied.

[gessoo]

Oh Smudge you have just reminded me of going shopping to a large department store when I was little and watching those lovely change machines whizzing round the ceiling. Hi Tech those days, eh!!!

[smudge]

Thank you again all. I am feeling better these last few days & trying to keep abreast of the more important things in life! Need to keep going for the sake of the family (as my dear old Mum used to say)!

P.S. The date of the Memorial service for my dear sis Amy, is now on the 17 Feb. In the meantime, I think of her sharing a pot of tea with her husband & my Mum & Dad - that makes me feel happy.

[netibiza]

smudge is the memorial service in Eastbourne, if so, where will it be held? I keep looking in Eatbourne Gazette notices, but haven't seen anything. I'm just interested . I know Sutton Place although it's changed a lot round there, at the end of Ashford Road, my Dad used to have a tailoring Shop, but we lived in Upperton Road and then Southfields (back of GPO).

[smudge]

Yes, shopping it was what I would call fun in those days gessoo & all.

Funny you should mention that Robi - I also used to love going into the local hardware shop - we called it the Oil Shop! Either one of my 9 siblings & I would take empy bottles along to fill them with parrafin for the victorian looking heaters in the bedrooms! We then used to lay in bed of a night talking & watching the lovely soothing patterns on the ceiling, until we dropped off to sleep. zzzzzz

[smudge]

*is what

[gessoo]

For Smudge:

Cash Railways

Glad your arm is feeling better and that you are able to have happy thoughts about Amy xxxxxx

[smudge]

*paraffin - I'm slacking!

[netibiza]

Heat in your bedrooms - blimey smudge were you posh or something. We had a 15 bedroom house (cos it was cheap and we were many) and it was freezing , we had washbasins in the bedrooms and our flannels used to freeze overnight. We had an ideal boiler (later an Aga) in the living room (cooking was done in the scullery) and a fire in the lounge, and in dining rooms on sundays and high holidays, and an electric heater in the hallway at Xmas. The kids of today don't know how lucky there are.

[smudge]

That really made me laugh gesso - paying for shopping looked so complicated in those days, compared to paying by switch!

Thank you for your good wishes for me & my dear Amy.

Looking back on the posts, I'm glad you're feeling much better now & able to get around more. There's nothing worse than not being able to get out in the fresh air & meet people! Oh, yes there is - it's called ironing! He, he!

[Jude123]

Well after all this talk about Shopping and Supermarkets it's time to own up. I work for Sainsburys and have done for 15 years. Not my chosen career when I left school but at the time I needed full time employment and they were one of the few companys who were prepared to take on the more 'mature lady' I dont mind any criticism good or bad - it's just a job!!

[smudge]

Neti - The first service will be held in Eastbourne on the 16 Feb (not quite sure where tho') - that one is for the friends Amy made whilst living there.

The second & main service will be held on 17 Feb in Bexleyheath - that one will be for lots of family & friends (who are still around of course).

If you've been looking in the Gazette - Amy was christened Annie after my Mum, but was nicknamed Amy from a baby by my Grandmother & is what we always knew her as. Her married name is/was Farmer.

[gessoo]

And what is wrong, Jude, with working in Sainsburies? Some of the nicest people I know work on the checkouts of our local Morrisons (who are happy to take on us seniors). I always have a good chat to all the lovely checkout people and shelf fillers when I go in there. In fact, several years ago I did consider applying for a job, but it's not the best work for someone with osteoarthritis in the neck and upper back!!

So keep up the good work, you are very valuable.

[smudge]

Nothing wrong with working in Sainsbury's Jude - the staff at our local one are all very helpful & friendly - I'm sure you're just the same.

[smudge]

Great minds think alike gesso - crossed posts!

Absolutely nothing at all wrong with working in a supermarket!

[Jude123]

Sorry Smudge didn't mean to take the conversation away from your dear sister. I hope all goes well at the services.

As for where I work, I dont really mind, I've made some very good friends there who I will keep in touch with when I retire.

Just got back from the docs. and he's given me another week off work to get my strength back!! Bless 'im.

[Jude123]

Like the piccie IAP reminds me of our Original Sainsburys in the Cornmarket, but believe it or not I was quite young then. A long narrow shop with a counter all the way round and assistants in long white overalls, Brill!!

[smudge]

That's quite alright Jude, the though never crossed my mind.

I bet we have 'More Rabbit than Sainsbury's', though he, he!

[smudge]

*thought!