Back in January at the beginning of the year coffee morning with a group of lady friends there were the usual observations from some about ‘another year down, wonder how many more there will be to come?’ For ladies of a certain age that’s always an unknown.
This get together was a special one
Sadly our ‘oldest lady’ was not there….and would not be at any of our gatherings again.
We needed to process the news of her death, accept she wanted a family only funeral – to pay our respects and say goodbye in our own way
So much of the morning was taken up with consoling her daughter (who’d popped in to say hello) and sharing memories of ‘our Marge’.***
(I don’t remember if I’ve recounted this story before- but here goes)
** Like the time when late one year she was really down in the dumps, she had lost family and friends and the passing of time was beginning to get her down.
However after the ‘festive’ break she seemed to have put all that behind her because over coffee she had us in stitches relating snippets of fun from her big family Christmas get together where her youngest grandaughter had made a model of a time machine that would ‘roll back the years’ and ‘make Nanny happy again’.
Like several of the ladies she’d been in Australia for many many years yet was the only one who still talked about her life in England.
‘Think of that she said, I can go back to living in the little village where we all knew each other, where there was a corner shop (who delivered) and a greengrocer, the post office was in the front room of Mrs What’s Her Names’
‘Oh, and lots of other good things I can’t quite think of at the moment’.
(had trouble with her memory at times😊)
One of us laughed and said it sounds a bit like the village where Milly Molly Mandy lived with her Mother and Father, in the same little cottage as Aunty and Uncle along with Grandma and Grandpa. Another said, don’t forget Billy Blunt, little friend Susan and Toby the dog!
Of course some of the newer younger ones had never heard of the little girl in the striped dress or the books a lot of us had read in our childhood so out came the phones to see what they could find out.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milly-Molly-Mandy
After that it was Reminisce Central at the table with talk of all those trades who delivered to the door – mobile shops! First and foremost there was The Coalman! Then the milkman and his horse later overtaken by electric carts, the baker who came with a big basket on his arm, a greengrocer who had a van with sides that lifted up to display all the fruit and veg. I mentioned we had a fish and chip van and a long Co-op grocery shop that came once a week similar in size to some of the mobile libraries seen on the roads these days
When the younger ‘girls’ started talking about ordering online and not having been in a shop for years Marge was all ears.
Close to 90yrs, unlike some of her friends she was neither a computer or mobile phone user so she still couldn’t get her head round ‘ordering somewhere in the sky and it arriving the next day’
……’How do you know you’ll get what you asked for if you don’t talk to a real person’
‘It would be lovely to have things home delivered the way they used to……but I would miss having a chat with the man at the corner shop!’
Sitting here with my early cuppa I’m still feeling the loss of the group’s ‘elder’ who played such a big part in welcoming ‘new chums’ for many years. It would be great if we could roll back time and have our fun loving Marge with us again – we’ll just have to imagine her having a real long chin wag with whoever was manning the pearly gates the day she arrived 😊
What’s on ‘your’ mind this Monday- would you like to tell us about it?
Still Waters 
I’m not sure I’d want to roll back the years…unless I was going someplace else!
Tis Monday here across the ditch and I’m hoping this Rain Wet Stuff falling from the sky will cease. I believe it’s rained most if the night. It’s gloomy out of the window but it’s not cold. Looks like a day indoors. I’ll find something to do 😉
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At the moment, after the past few years of constant rain we are pleased not to have it coming down quite so frequently. Sunny days turning cool/cold overnight- autumn days.
As for going back – I’d like to see my progression over the years. Meet several people who’ve gone before me.
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If I had to roll back years.. Probably I would have never left India.. It seems too late to go back now though I still feel the pull.
It’s Bank Holiday on Monday, and finally I have decided to explore the much famous Lake District
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I’ve had one move where things turned out differently to what I hoped/expected – just a 10 hour drive away (not quite India to UK and elsewhere – entirely different cultures) then after several years I persuaded The Golfer to agree to returning here to Melbourne.
Do you mourn the loss of years spent away or revel in ‘having seen the world’
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I don’t mourn the loss, I like seeing the world. Moving different places has given me a wider perspective. But I’m an introvert and I feel that loneliness and yes parents are far way.
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May be its like a guilt, that I am not there for my parents.
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Marge sounds a lovely character. And I hadn’t thought of Milly-Molly-Mandy in years!
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I did look in our local library but no luck, not in the catalogue. The librarian felt it wouldn’t suit young readers these days!. Gobsmacked was I!
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This morning I am (sadly as usual) beating myself up for all the things I haven’t done and which need doing. Which is foolish. I hope that when I die people have better things to remember me by than an unweeded garden and a cluttered and sometimes untidy house.
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Here’s hoping for some better days EC…..(although I did go to one ‘celebration of life’ (not a funeral, just a gathering of people) where the deceased lack of housekeeping skills was mentioned- in a humorous way
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Hari OM
Ohhhhh… Milly Molly Mandy! I adored that book! Thank you for the memory trigger. Would I roll back the years, though? No – there’s too much to deal with here and now and lots still to look forward to – even if it is only tomorrow… YAM xx
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It was a book about a little girl living a life similar to many children and one that others who lived in different situations would have liked to have lived. As I mentioned elsewhere our local librarian didn’t think it would suit (meaning appeal) to children these days.
I’d like to have a bird’s eye view of my life over the years…seeing how I’ve changed.
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It’s a common theme among us, if we would like to go back and to what age. I’ve enjoyed hearing talks of when I was a teenager, or age 10, or whatever happy age. I’ve never wanted to go back; I couldn’t bear to relive any old age. The present is fine, thank you very much.
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You’ve got a point there Joanne – you’ll know what’s coming in later years
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I seem to remember a book called, “Milly Molly Mandy and the Green Umbrella”. I felt her embarrassment went her plan for using the umbrella went wrong.
Don’t think I’d want to turn the clock back unless it was just to pick up my 23 year old body then return to the present.
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It would be nice to meet some who have gone before us – and maybe just have a glance at how we were over the years but I can’t think of any age I’d like to be. They all had their difficulties- and fun times as well.
Our local library don’t have copies of the books- the librarian feels they wouldn’t appeal to children these days
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though it is sad she is no longer with your group, I have to say i enjoyed reading about her and the things you and your friends chat about. so much said here is just like my early life and brought back memories. the one about the coalman/milkman etc is exactly what my husband has memories of. he was born in 1936 and him growing up years were just like these described. ice man, milk man, grocer, coal all delivered. I do most of shopping online and I do miss chatting with people in the stores
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They’re a great group of ladies who I have fun with- unfortunately not as often as I used to.
Unfortunately as life changed over the years all those delivery people were gradually put out of work or had to find new ways to ply their trade which was a shame for those housebound who then had to rely on others to ‘shop’ for them
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You remind me of a 90+ year old who came to a group I was in. When she was about to move to nursing home care I farewelled her and she said she’d be back. She never was though.
People drift quietly away and we never know what will be our last meeting. I hope she’s having a grand old chat with someone in the next life
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Sometimes the body doesn’t want to do (or others don’t want it to) what the brain would like to do. Sad you couldn’t renew your acquaintance with that lady
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