Musings of a Mediocre Mother
You know, sometimes in life you make the acquaintance of someone who makes an impression on you for whatever reason? This happened to me recently. I was having a drink in a local pub with hubby. At the adjacent table an older lady and gentleman sat down, (white wine for her, half of bitter for him). The lady was tiny in stature and build and although older, her age was indeterminate.
The pub was very quiet and we exchanged a few comments, in particular about Wimbledon which was being shown in the corner of the pub. It transpired that the lady loved tennis and had played and coached herself. She said that she’d known Virginia Wade when she was a pupil at TWGGS, (who knew?).
As their portion of garlic bread arrived, the gentleman asked us to guess the lady’s age. Only the very young or the very old but looking good on it, like to play this game. The answer was a quite unbelievable 93! She started to tell us about her family, children and grandchildren, one of whom she had tragically lost to cancer when in her 30’s, but whose picture she carried in her bag.
They hailed from Langton and so I asked them what had brought them to the South side of Tunbridge Wells, whether they were regulars in that particular pub? The answer was no but they were neighbours and every Friday night he would pick her up and they would drive to a different pub in the area where she would have the 2 glasses of wine that she consumed every day. How wonderful? I hope I have someone who will do that for me when I’m in my 90’s and I hope she gets to do it for many years to come.
I think I made an impression of a slightly different kind recently. We went to Camber, the whole family, on what was going to be the hottest day of the year so far. (Going off on a tangent for a minute, hot day turned into a sea mist, a massive drop in temperature. strong winds filled with sand which covered the entire body and took 3 washes to remove from my hair, ended up eating our picnic in the car park accompanied by a sense of humour failure by me).
Anyway, before this happened, hubby had taken the boys down to the sea and as you’ll know, when the tide is out at Camber, you can walk for a very long time. I stayed behind, stripped down to my bikini and generally assumed the position, willing the sun to do its best. I became aware of a dog taking a particular interest in my picnic bag and turned around to discover that the owner was an old school friend of mine and her hubby, at which point I identified myself and greeted them without thinking about my state of undress. Have you ever tried to look elegant whilst sitting on one of those mini beach chairs? Getting seated involves a rather long drop down. Standing up again either means several rocks back and forth until enough momentum has been gathered to propel you up and out, or having to roll sideways out of the chair. You’re not lying flat so gravity isn’t at work on the stomach. Oh, the shame! Perhaps I should invest in a Burqini swimsuit just in case I see anyone else I know.
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