I took a nap for about twenty minutes that evening. When I awoke, the clock on the wall in the alcove showed seven o’clock. For a moment, I thought I had slept through to seven a.m. – just like the Old Man sometimes did.
Friday 25-2-11: two valuations
I had made an appointment with an estate agent, Mr A, to have the Old Man’s house valued. He was due to arrive at 13:00.
At Bert’s, there was only one car parked on the forecourt, on the left side. I was in a hurry when I got to the shop, and there was only one customer ahead of me. So I hardly had time to see which of the men was behind the counter. However, the batter on the fish was not very crisp, so I suppose the younger man must have done the cooking. The shorter woman processed my order, and the taller woman took my money.
Mr A arrived a little late. He volunteered that he had recently valued another house nearby, and when he told me the address, I realised that it was the house of Mrs AD’s parents. He said that the two houses were worth about the same amount; the other house was in better condition than the Old Man’s house, but it was on a smaller plot of land, and it had neither a garage nor off-street parking. Mr A also told me that Mrs AD’s mother had been renting the house; my response was that I hadn’t known that, but on reflection I’m sure the Deceased Lady told me this a long time ago.
Jake the cat – part 1 (Little Legacy 30: Alexander Residence)
My friends Mr & Mrs GM told me today that their cat Wellington had died. He was 20.
When their previous cat died, they were so upset that they decided to get two replacements – brothers from the same litter – in the hope that it would not be as traumatic when one of them died. Wellington’s brother died five years ago.
In the 1970s, the Old Man and the Deceased Lady gave houseroom to a stray cat. The Deceased Lady reckoned that originally, the cat had belonged to the family at number 12. When they moved house, they didn’t take the cat with them. The Deceased Lady said this must be because they hadn’t been able to find it when the time came for them to go. Perhaps her view of human nature was over-optimistic.
Mr & Mrs PG took pity on the new stray, and started putting food out for it. Mrs PG called the cat “Jake”, but I don’t know whether this was the name that the people at number 12 (if they did own the cat) had given to it. (Mr & Mrs PG were strange people. When they moved in, they said that they had come from Surrey – but eventually we learnt that they had come from Brixton.)
The Deceased Lady noticed that in wet weather, Jake could be seen sheltering under the Old Man’s car. “He’ll get rheumatics,” she worried.
It soon became clear that Jake preferred the company of the Old Man and the Deceased Lady to that of Mr & Mrs PG. So after several months on the streets, Jake took up residence with us. This must have been sometime in 1976. “Jake” turned out to be a neutered female.
To be continued…
http://aresidence.co.uk/2012/02/16/child-sponsorship-little-legacy-29/
Sunday 13-2-11: tree-surgery
The tree in the Old Man’s front garden needed further surgery that morning: a branch had come away from the base of the trunk.
I could hear Charlie and Karl playing in Mr & Mrs CJ’s living-room, so I decided not to contact Mrs CJ until I got home to Suburbia Somnolenta. Then I phoned her.
Saturday 12-2-11: storm damage
At Peakville I found that the tree in the front garden had been damaged by the recent high winds.
A long time ago, I worked out that my rôles included those of gardener, washerwoman, chauffeur, cleaner, financial adviser, nag, dishwasher, sous-chef, scheduler, mechanic, telephone answering service, reprogrammer of TV remote controls… – but that I could not be an authority-figure to the Old Man. That rôle I had to leave in the capable hands of Dr F and of other medical and non-medical professionals.
Now I have a new rôle: tree-surgeon.
By the side of the Old Man’s driveway, the daffodils are springing up again.
At Bert’s, the grey saloon car and the little silver hatchback were parked on the forecourt. All four people were behind the counter. As always, the older man looked serious and intense. The shorter woman served me with fish and chips straight from the pan – she shook the fish to rid it of cooking-oil. When I got my fish and chips back to the Old Man’s house, they were still almost too hot to eat – but as they had had no time to drain properly, they were slightly oily. Excellent nonetheless. The crispness of the batter revealed the master at work.
After lunch I walked to the Cheesepare supermarket. There was debris on the pavements and in the gutters – the Old Man’s tree was not the only one to have been damaged.
I filled another suitcase with clothes; then put some more in a small suitcase I had brought with me.
Guest posts, February 2012
Sunday 30-1-11: time moves on
I went to lunch at the home of my old friends Mr & Mrs VM, in Thames Town. Their daughter C was there, and her younger son D who is aged two-and-a-half. I hadn’t met him before. Also there were Mr & Mrs AR, Dr & Dr LA, Mrs SG and her friend Mr NT. Mr & Mrs VM’s son J also briefly put in an appearance.
I hadn’t met any of these friends of mine since late 2008. They expressed their condolences; I assured them that the Old Man’s death was in some ways a release for him.
Dr LA(f)’s mother, aged 82, is now in sheltered accommodation. Disconcertingly, she recently introduced her daughter to a group of her friends – people that Dr LA(f) had met a few times already.
Dr LA(f) is unenthusiastic about the NHS reforms that the Coalition government is proposing.
Dr LA(m) is optimistic that a cure for Alzheimer’s will be developed in the not-too-distant future – if the hypothesis that Alzheimer’s is attributable to beta amyloid plaques turns out to be correct.
One of Dr & Dr LA’s sons, who is aged 24, has a new girlfriend. She is aged 30, and is already asking him whether he plans to have children.
Day-trip to Peakville
On Monday 24 January 2011 I drove to Peakville and back.
At the Old Man’s house, a damaged Christmas card had belatedly arrived. The Royal Mail had enclosed it in a plastic sleeve. The postmark was 24.12.10; the address was correct, but incomplete, with a district-name but no postcode. When I opened the card, there was no writing inside. So I don’t know who sent the card.
Mrs CJ has replaced her old car with a Mercedes.
I quickly packed a suitcaseful of clothes to take back to Suburbia Somnolenta, then I drove to Bert’s. The grey car with the dent was on the forecourt. I saw only the younger man and the taller woman behind the counter. (Probably the shop does not do much business on Monday lunchtimes.) The batter on the fish was not very crisp, so I doubt that today’s cooking was from the hand of the master.
Back at Suburbia Somnolenta, I received a phone-call from Mrs CJ. She had not noticed that I had been visiting – she was phoning simply to check how I was.
I told Mrs CJ about a piece of folk-art I had brought back from Peakville with me: a fruit-bowl made of pieces of wood salvaged from houses in Peakville that had been destroyed in the Blitz. Who the artist was, and exactly where in Peakville the houses were, is information that is now lost in the mists of time. The Deceased Lady’s mother would have known. (Were the houses near where the Deceased Lady’s father’s sister used to live?)
Another thing that I told Mrs CJ I had brought back with me was the rug that she and Dr A had folded up and that the Old Man had put back in its place.
Saturday 15-1-11: catching up on sleep
This week I have been feeling tired and lethargic. Yesterday I was in bed at 20:30 exactly, and quickly fell asleep.
Wednesday 12-1-11: condolence
I received a card of condolence from Dr & Dr LA.
