27-11-2012, 11:52 PM
1
My granny maud
Tea with Maud.Maud was the only grandparent I can say I ever knew. My Dad's parents died during the war and Grampy Bob hardly ever spoke. She was very special and would say her name was Maudina Selina Angelina Lusisa. This was pure fantasy of course, her real name was Maud Nelly Louise , one of eight children born to George and Frances Payne.
Tea with Maud was always a hit and miss affair. I have early memories of sitting round an open fire in her house in Aldermoor Avenue with bread being toasted on a long handled fork . We giggled a lot. Grampy sat in an old chair sipping tea from a saucer, pausing now and then to twirl his moustache. He was going to tell me how the camel got his hump, but somehow never did.
I used to drop in after school, from 1959 after Grampy died. I was always made welcome, the welcome being as fresh as the bread was stale. I guessed that she preferred it that way. The only way I could dispose of the bread was to ask to take it home with me and feed the geese on the way home . For a while I bought a fresh loaf at the Co-op, always remembering to quote her dividend number 11187.
Alas the Co-op bakery closed and we went back to stale bread, kindly given to her by her caring neighbours .Drat their kindness and generosity. I can see her now, sawing the brick hard loaf into thick slices, sloshing on dripping, wiping her nose with the back of her hand and finally giving her hand a deft second swipe on her pinny.
Having an insatiable curiosity landed her in trouble once when she climbed into the back of an ambulance in the High Street to see if there was anyone she knew on board. The returning medic commented,
" Your nose wont get rusty will it Missus". He may have been talking about her curiosity, and then again perhaps her running nose and hand wiped on his stretcher.
Mrs Dewey, her neighbour also had a dripping nose. Rather apt for someone with a name like Dewey. Mrs Dacey, another neighbour was a lovely friendly gushing lady with a wonderful smile, spoilt by a huge purple mole thing on her lower lip which made us youngsters wince as it popped in and out of her mouth when she ate Maud's rock hard rock cakes.
I was reliably informed years later that she bit on it and bled to death.
Mrs Dewey became more and more oddly behaved, and adopting a full length rubber Mac, galoshes and sou'wester hat in all weathers, and walking from the road where she lived to the drain outside Maud's where she emptied her tea pot every day.
The crunch came when she started guarding Maud from visitors , turning them away at the gate, including me. One day she stopped coming . Locked up we think.
Maud couldn't settle anywhere for long and we last had tea at the rest home in 1992. We could safely resume drinking tea , knowing that the cups hadn't been used to soak her teeth in overnight anymore.
Virtually deaf and almost blind she managed one last sweep of her hand to one ear, one eye and her nose.
"Ear Eye Nose You" she pointed at me and giggled.
28-11-2012, 01:58 AM
2
Re: My granny maud
Bobbyboy I used to sing to my 3 grandkids when they were babies ' eye, nose,'cheeky cheeky chin' repeating twice,eye, nose, cheeky cheeky chin, cheeky, cheeky chin nose eye, while pointing to the appropriate place. You seem to fantasize a lot, reminds me of what's his name fair haired sang about duckings.If she toasted the damned bread you wouldn't know if it was stale. You were obviousley too well nourished as a child. You know I could just eat some dripping on toast (Get thee behind me TH)
28-11-2012, 09:49 AM
4
Re: My granny maud
You are so lucky, Bob, to have such memories of that. I never knew my Dad's mum as she died before was born, only have a vague recollection of his dad. Mum's parents died when I was little, I remember seeing my Mum's dad when I was a year old on my birthday, he asked me what I got for it and I showed him my underskirt I got and he shouted thru' from the big room to the kitchen "hey Rose (my Mum) this is a bloody wee dummy you've got", as I wouldn't speak!! Don't remember his wife, except as a "shadowy" figure all in black dress!!Good post Bob! Thank you for sharing.
28-11-2012, 11:16 AM
6
Re: My granny maud
I come from a long line of 'rebels'. My Grandmother was a 'Match Girl' at Bryant & May factory in London, knew Annie Bessant (Google the name if you don't know) and took part in the industrial action outside the gates of factory. She was also a Suffragette and during WW1 was conscripted into Woolwich arsenal making ammunition. Don't know how she did it, but brought a 'live' 6" naval shell home with her. It stood as an ornament in the hearth beside the fire and as kid I used to play with it. It was only after she died and we had to clear her flat that we discovered that the shell was still live.
28-11-2012, 03:09 PM
9
Re: My granny maud
Originally Posted by hazel
->
Bobbyboy I used to sing to my 3 grandkids when they were babies ' eye, nose,'cheeky cheeky chin' repeating twice,eye, nose, cheeky cheeky chin, cheeky, cheeky chin nose eye, while pointing to the appropriate place. You seem to fantasize a lot, reminds me of what's his name fair haired sang about duckings.
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