The Adventures of Grace Russ

Grace Enid Baglin's Diary - based on letters (1990s)

The Blackbirds Sing – June 1992

One Monday morning in June:-

It is 4:15 a.m. and the Blackbirds are singing beautifully. They will stop soon as they've been going for 10-15 minutes and it is now getting light. It is strange how they Blackbirds always start first when it is still dark but then on the point of getting light there is a period of silence until they all start up in the Dawn Chorus.

I had a call at 10 o'clock last night from Libby next door. She had been calling me from her kitchen but I hadn't heard because I had the TV on. She asked me to go out the back and I found her at her bedroom window with a basket on a piece of string, which she let down for me to grab. It had a big dish of strawberries inside. I removed the dish and sent the basket back up. During this carry on my new neighbours above me slammed their bedroom window loudly. They go to bed early so I suppose having me and Libby chatting and laughing outside annoyed them!

They moved in a few months back and are in their middle 20's or thereabouts and have a little girl about two years old. The wife doesn't seem too bad, but the husband is a surly bloke. He locked me out on Saturday night! I'd left at 4:30 p.m. to go into Woolwich, where I met Meg and went back to her house with her shopping in my trolley and had some supper with her, getting back here about 10:30 only to find the catch on the front (door locked). I had to ring the upstairs door bell and get him to come down to let me in. He wasn't very happy about it. As I usually don't get in until nearly 11 o'clock and sometimes even later, it is going to be very awkward if he starts putting the catch on like that. As the main front door is a communal door serving both our flats he shouldn't really do that; and I am certainly not going to be put under a curfew just because he wants to go to bed early and is worried about burglars. I just find it hard to understand all this mania for locked doors and windows.

On Thursday we had our first annual meeting or our Neighbourhood Watch where the general talk was concentrated on locking doors and windows but it was interesting to note (to me anyway) that all the burglaries in our area during the last year were at houses where the doors and windows were locked!!

It seems to me only logical that if you make something secure it is sending out the message that you have something of value to protect and that the house is empty. When Alan picked me up the other week he said "Aren't you going to shut the back door?" It was propped open with a chair. I told him I would put the light on and turn the radio up so it would be quite safe as any passing burglar would think there must be somebody about as only an idiot would go out and leave it like that. I suppose there is no comment to that really!

I had a lovely Sunday. Watched two Beatles films and Star Trek!!! so it was a real nostalgic trip down memory lane. I always liked the Beatles music, but in the 60's thought of them as young lads; yet Paul is 50 years old this Thursday, which is only 9 years younger than me. It is strange how your view of different age groups change as you through life. I remember clearly thinking my sister-in-law was 'old' at 38 when I 18 years. Now 38 seems 'young'.

Well, as it is now daylight and the 5 a.m. news is on, I think I will finish off here and get a couple of hours sleep before it gets hot.

Life with Mum – 1993

July: - So far Mum has been eating very well. Mind you, we have been very fortunate in having TWO nice dinners handed over the fence by Yolande next door; a roast breast of chicken dinner on Sunday and a lovely chicken casserole today. Yo-yo is a good cook and with it looking so nice and smelling so tasty it was a boast to the appetite. I think it also helped that Mum thinks Yo-Yo did it especially for her.

For our evening meal tonight we had 2 fillets of place, steamed over a saucepan on a plate. Mum ate all of hers except for about a one inch square bit. For our 'afters' we had blackberries and custard and Mum cleared her dish of that.

At the moment it is a honeymoon period for her and she is feeling bright and cheerful which probably helps her general attitude.

I am really chuffed with the tomatoes, beans and marrows (in the garden); they are all doing so well, I can almost see them growing day by day. As for the pond, that is still a delight and each day I go out to see if anything is happening.

September: - I have been pottering a lot in the garden and still spend a lot of time sitting on my back door step watching the birds. Mum has been down to the kitchen a couple of times but prefers to stay in the front room and bedroom "because of the steps" she says. In a way this is helpful because we both have our 'space' which is so very important and I'm sure is part of the reason why it is working so well at the moment. If I was in Bristol I'd be stuck in the same room and things might not be so smooth.

I gave Mum her breakfast in bed each morning at about 9 o'clock. She has a small dish of grapefruit segments and then a large slice of toast and marmalade and a mug of tea. About 10 o'clock I take a bowl of water in for her to wash and leave her to get washed and dressed. We have just a soup or something light for lunch and then I cook a proper meal for tea time. This way Mum eats it all. If I tried to give her a proper dinner midday it would probably only be picked at as she would still be full up with her breakfast.

I try to vary the dinners so as not to get her bored with them. Last night we had bangers and mash with fried onions and that went down well. Tonight we will have lamb chops, roast potatoes and runner beans. One night we had tripe and onion and that was enjoyed too.

It has been so hot here, I'm not grumbling though. I am well please with the tomatoes and will certainly repeat the process next year. They are ripening so quickly now, every day there are more to pick.

My neighbour has given Mum several books to read but I don't know if she is actually reading them. TV seems to be her main love - providing it is on 'Number 3'!! (ITV). Mum says "You can watch whatever you want" but when I have turned it over she talks all the way through so it is pointless trying to watch, so I listen to the radio in the kitchen or go round to Meg's; who is also a 'Number 3' (ITV) person!!

I got myself a book from the library 'Understanding the Present' by Bryan Appleyard. It is very interesting.

November: - I feel quite chuffed; almost big headed one might say. I'm in bed and listening to 'The Litmus Test' on the World Service. This is an interesting Quiz Game involving two teams, Pink and Blue (hence the name 'Litmus') and the questions are all of a Scientific nature so although I enjoy it and find it interesting I usually don't know the answers..... UNTIL TONIGHT!

The last question of the Quiz, which was in the 'Press the Buzzer' round was... "What is, or are, Up, Down, Top, Bottom, Charming and Strange? And I said "Quarks" BEFORE the one who answered pressed his buzzer; Wow! This was very good for my morale; that is, until I picked up my writing pad and rested it upon my Library Book only to discover a good ¼ of an inch of the cover of the library book has been chewed away! I had left it by the Guinea Pigs; I wonder if I will have to pay for this. How can I explain my Guinea Pigs ate it?