Iden

My mother: was as neat as a pin. Unfortunately, I didn’t take after her. She never got messy, and if she met me from school, I was always proud, because she wore clothes well. She made several pairs of plastic cuffs, edged neatly with bias binding, which she wore to do the washing up, lest her cuffs got wet. “ Don’t put down, put away, ” she would say, and she always promised that when I had a home of my own, she would come and mess it up the way I messed hers up. She taught me to love words [rather unfortunate, because I never shut up] but next to flowers, I love words. She made me look up a word in the dictionary every day, and if anyone said, “different to”, instead of “different from,” she would go on for ages about poor grammar. Sometimes it was as though she was lifted from her school chair and set down in the kitchen. She wasn’t overly clever, but very pedantic. “You look like a Piccadilly totty”, she would say if I wore a lot of make-up. It’s funny the way we differ from our parents in some ways yet are the spitting image in others. I don’t do family- trees, but I love to compare the family I know, one with another, little traits coming out of the woodwork. If I eat a bowl of soup in front of the TV, I’ll be spattered in soup in no time. I invariably have to change my jumper. I need a bib like my mum needed her cuffs, but then my mother would never have eaten soup in front of the TV, she would lay the table for just bread and cheese.” “I don’t know where you were dragged up”, she would say!
By The Newsroom
Published 8th Feb 2019, 05:00 BST
Updated 11th Feb 2019, 09:50 BST
Iden newsIden news
Iden news

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR HELP: Last week’s Iden Bowls Club jumble sale made over £500, and the club would like to thank all those who donated items and bought items. Thanks to those who served and those who made cakes. A jumble sale takes some organising, but the event was fun, and invited a lot of camaraderie. People came through the door like an incoming tide, and it’s always heartening to see that someone’s cast-offs have become another person’s treasure.

TONIGHT, IN IDEN VILLAGE HALL: There is a meeting of the Iden and District Natural History Society tonight in Iden Village Hall, at 7.30pm. The lecture tonight is ‘Ferning In Mexico’, given by Paul Ripley. All are welcome. Visitors pay £3. The society is celebrating its 100th year, its popularity has never waned.

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A TREAT FOR THE LITTLE ONES: Every Wednesday morning, in the Old Hall by the church, there is playtime and fun for pre-school children and their parents and carers. All are welcome from 10.30am-12 midday.

A SERVICE OF HOLY COMMUNION: There is a service of Holy Communion in Iden Parish Church, on Sunday, at 9.30 am.

BINGO AT THE BOWLS!: After a winter break, Iden Bowls Club resume their Bingo on Friday 22nd February. Doors open at 6.30pm, eyes down at 7pm. Refreshments are served, and it’s always a fun evening. Everyone is welcome.

THE PUB QUIZ: The Bell , in Iden has a quiz, on every third Wednesday of the month. The next one is on February 20th, beginning at 7.30pm. It’s a fun evening and gives us all a chance to prod our brain cells. Everyone is welcome.

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TREES ARE GREEN: The trees will soon be green, whereas at the moment, the only green on them is moss and lichen. One evening, bored with TV, we spouted all those old chestnuts, Teresa Green, Arfur Mo, Justin Time Lucy lastic, Anna Din, and the Scotsman, Fill macavity. [I won’t sleep tonight now trying to drum up some more!] Oh, Polly Thene, Andy Arry, Ben Dover, Sue Mee, Walter Wall [just a bit of frivolity to share with you!]

A HAPPY BUNNY: I wonder why it is that some countries seem to treat their animals with such disdain, and yet we are so hell-bent on making sure that even the goldfish is happy. This week I had quite an in-depth conversation with a woman in Lidl‘s about a cheaper cat food. Hers liked the meat in gravy, and mine like the jelly. Hers had a penchant for fish, and mine chicken. It was obvious that both were relatively spoilt. We love to see our animals happy, and so we should, they are part of our family, and if they could manoeuvre their haunches, we would probably have them sitting up at the table with a knife and fork.” I bought Noah the chicken she likes”, I said to my husband. “ Oh, I’m so glad, what am I having ,bread and jam”, he replied [he always thinks he’s last in the pecking order]. We buy our animals toys and Christmas presents, don’t we, and help them unwrap them on the rug on Christmas morning. This year I bought my daughter’s cat a tin of cat food to hang on the tree, made from bone china [‘What are the odds that you could buy a china tin of cat food]? I put a note on it saying, ‘Dear Hazel, Grannie bought this for you, so you have your very own Christmas decoration, meow, meow, we love you Grannie and Grandad.’ Countries like Turkey would have us committed! Some days I don’t make the bed until the cat has had a nice rest on it. We don’t mind if they hog the fire, because there is nothing as homely as a dog or cat curled up in front of the fire. “She’s favouring her back leg” we might say,” limping, keep an eye on it, it may mean a trip to the vet” [something which is going to cost us our holiday or two months groceries.] When my son’s dog stays with us I fill him up with treats he isn’t supposed to have [I figure that its only like allowing him an ice cream, on holiday]. “ Have you ever noticed that even on sunny days cats will come in, knowing that there will be a storm”, my husband said, “and birds know not to fly in the rain”[he can be very profound]. Maybe I should give him chicken and the cat can have the bread and jam!

CONTACT ME: If anyone has anything to add to the Village Voice, please ring Gill Griffin [telephone 01797 280311

Related topics:Bowls