A Friendly Old Person Next Door

[poliphilo]

We’ve had some good weather lately and I’ve spent a lot of time in the back yard- hence the conversations with the kids next door.

I had a friendly old person next door when I was growing up- and she was really important in my life- more important than any but the closest blood relative. She told me about going skating on a frozen lake in Canada and how our street in Croydon had been called "doodlebug alley" because it was on the route the V1 and V2 rockets took into London and how her husband- a Canadian pilot- had fished for dead Boches in flooded shell craters during the Great War and all sorts of fascinating things. She had a pond full of carp and frog spawn (in season) and foxes came into her garden from the woods (But not into ours for some reason) and her son was a radio operator with the Cunard Line and brought all sorts of American goodies home- like copies of Life magazine and packets of powdered chocolate pudding. She took me to the movies once and it was my first experience of silent comedy.

She wore her hair in a bun and for some reason I always think of her in grey. She had a cat and read the Daily Express and I used to be fascinated by the cartoon strips in the sheets of newspaper she put on the kitchen floor under the cat dishes. We took the Daily Telegraph- no cartoon strips in that.

Later- it meant nothing to me at the time- I learned that her sister had been the second Mrs Thomas Hardy. I remember her having a conversation with my mother about how former associates and servants of the Hardys had been publishing their reminiscences of life at Max Gate and how annoying it was.

A friendly old person next door is something to be

Comments

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I think you've found your metier!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Me too.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

The second Mrs Thos Hardy was Florence Dugdale. I'm seeing sisters Ethel, Constance, Eva, and a Margaret or Marjorie. Do you recall which was your neighbor?

Why is frog spawn so captivating, when one is a certain age?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't remember her first name; she was just Mrs Soundy to me.

Looking at the dates I think she has to have been one of the younger sisters. I'm plumping for Marjorie. I need to ask my mother. She might know.

I used to collect frog spawn in a bucket and watch it turn into tadpoles. Fascinating!

[ooxc.livejournal.com]

That's really - special - the Hardy

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I wish I'd appreciated it more at the time.

[jenny_evergreen]

I had a friendly old person next door, too. Her name was Mary. She was very, very gentle and kind. It's a wonderful thing to be.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

I've never had a friendly old person next door. But what a lovely and interesting one YOU had!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Everyone should have a Mary.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

She was a remarkable person.

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

I had Miss Sullivan and Mr. McAndrew, an elderly pair who shared an apartment at the end of my street. They would give me tea and scones, and tell me all about their house plants and let me hold the cat on my lap.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

I collected frog spawn every spring for years.

http://tinyurl.com/3qyo3wc

You were right: it was Marjorie.

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

She sounds like a fascinating lady.

Doodlebugs... Scary, scary, scary things. Heard all sorts of stories from my mother about them... Cute word, though. Doodlebug. Sounds soft, cuddly and inoffensive.