Letter 27
15/03/23 14:36
My Dearest Bunty,
What a carry-on seems to be developing in the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh! The population is shrinking in Scotland and no one seems to know what to do about it. I am sure that First Minister McConnell has his eye on the ball with this, as it seems that Ireland will be bigger in population in the next twenty years or so if the outflow of people of working age from Scotland is not stopped. I put this down to a lack of love and understanding of the scenery and traditions of Scotland by those youngsters in the Central Belt. I would ensure that there is a strong sense of national pride instilled in them whilst still at school. I know that in the past Scotland had faults and in the main that women were not appreciated for their economic and social contribution, but times have changed and the young people have more opportunity now in Scotland than at any time in the past. Do you know what I would do? I would create a Scottish passport, and only those who have worked in Scotland for fifteen years would be able to get one. Naturally the Scottish Parliament would have to oppose applications for a UK passport for those who have not met this criteria. Is that too strong? Something has to be done to stop the 'brain-drain' to the South East of England and beyond, and drastic measures are required now to stop this getting worse. Not only that, but the numbers of children being born is decreasing as well, but there is one good thing on the horizon and that is that numbers of marriages are increasing after those dreadful years when it was common to be 'living together'. How I hated those days as it smacked just a little of 'taste and try before you buy'. I know we are of a generation where divorce rates rocketed once the Sunday papers stopped being interested in the latest divorce 'scandal' and we have seen marriage slip in popularity, but it is such a wonderful event for a girl to experience. Possibly the only day in her drab life where she is truly a 'princess' and looked at in awe. I know that is how I felt on my wedding day to Sir Hector, and remember it with much fondness and humour! What parties there were on the Estate for our nuptials! I am sure the locals still talk about it.
We had an application to the Registrar General of Scotland approved last year as you know and now can host weddings on the Estate in the Great Hall, but so far these have been few and far between. I have had an approach from a rather shady character in London who suggested that we combine our licence and his bridal carriage business, which he is hoping to expand to the North East. My dear, what a fright I got when I looked into his operation on the internet! One of his coaches is straight out of Walt Disney's 'Cinderella' and is a confection of the most questionable taste. On seeing it, Sir H was heard to mutter 'It looks good if you are a Southern Sharon' and I have to agree, although I secretly laughed at the idea of the pumpkin coach negotiating the cattle grids that are all over the local area! Can you imagine anything in poorer taste? I would fine those people who see that as a mark of class for a wedding day! What is wrong with a Bentley?
What a shame it is that you never had the opportunity to marry. You would have been an excellent wife, what with your cooking skills and home economics, but I guess that Mr Right walked Right On Bye in your case. Still I hope you are able to rejoice and celebrate in my successful marriage, which is coming up to forty years soon. Can you believe it? Where has the time gone? Sir H is now in his seventies, still looking sprightly but I wonder what will happen to him as age and infirmity grow? There are some good homes run by the Kirk I know, and some very expensive ones in the private sector, but I cannot imagine putting him in such a place, however good and cheerful. I think I will have to keep looking after him in his dotage - may that be a long time off!
Yours as always, Flora
This story first appeared on www.panetwork.co.uk in 2005
What a carry-on seems to be developing in the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh! The population is shrinking in Scotland and no one seems to know what to do about it. I am sure that First Minister McConnell has his eye on the ball with this, as it seems that Ireland will be bigger in population in the next twenty years or so if the outflow of people of working age from Scotland is not stopped. I put this down to a lack of love and understanding of the scenery and traditions of Scotland by those youngsters in the Central Belt. I would ensure that there is a strong sense of national pride instilled in them whilst still at school. I know that in the past Scotland had faults and in the main that women were not appreciated for their economic and social contribution, but times have changed and the young people have more opportunity now in Scotland than at any time in the past. Do you know what I would do? I would create a Scottish passport, and only those who have worked in Scotland for fifteen years would be able to get one. Naturally the Scottish Parliament would have to oppose applications for a UK passport for those who have not met this criteria. Is that too strong? Something has to be done to stop the 'brain-drain' to the South East of England and beyond, and drastic measures are required now to stop this getting worse. Not only that, but the numbers of children being born is decreasing as well, but there is one good thing on the horizon and that is that numbers of marriages are increasing after those dreadful years when it was common to be 'living together'. How I hated those days as it smacked just a little of 'taste and try before you buy'. I know we are of a generation where divorce rates rocketed once the Sunday papers stopped being interested in the latest divorce 'scandal' and we have seen marriage slip in popularity, but it is such a wonderful event for a girl to experience. Possibly the only day in her drab life where she is truly a 'princess' and looked at in awe. I know that is how I felt on my wedding day to Sir Hector, and remember it with much fondness and humour! What parties there were on the Estate for our nuptials! I am sure the locals still talk about it.
We had an application to the Registrar General of Scotland approved last year as you know and now can host weddings on the Estate in the Great Hall, but so far these have been few and far between. I have had an approach from a rather shady character in London who suggested that we combine our licence and his bridal carriage business, which he is hoping to expand to the North East. My dear, what a fright I got when I looked into his operation on the internet! One of his coaches is straight out of Walt Disney's 'Cinderella' and is a confection of the most questionable taste. On seeing it, Sir H was heard to mutter 'It looks good if you are a Southern Sharon' and I have to agree, although I secretly laughed at the idea of the pumpkin coach negotiating the cattle grids that are all over the local area! Can you imagine anything in poorer taste? I would fine those people who see that as a mark of class for a wedding day! What is wrong with a Bentley?
What a shame it is that you never had the opportunity to marry. You would have been an excellent wife, what with your cooking skills and home economics, but I guess that Mr Right walked Right On Bye in your case. Still I hope you are able to rejoice and celebrate in my successful marriage, which is coming up to forty years soon. Can you believe it? Where has the time gone? Sir H is now in his seventies, still looking sprightly but I wonder what will happen to him as age and infirmity grow? There are some good homes run by the Kirk I know, and some very expensive ones in the private sector, but I cannot imagine putting him in such a place, however good and cheerful. I think I will have to keep looking after him in his dotage - may that be a long time off!
Yours as always, Flora
This story first appeared on www.panetwork.co.uk in 2005
Letter 26
11/03/23 14:33
My Dearest Bunty,
As you know it has been the Estate policy to open the grounds and House to the public on Easter Monday, but this year Easter falls so early that much of the necessary work will not be completed in time. I had to sadly agree with Catriona the Estate Manager that it was more important to have the grounds up to scratch and looking wonderful, and the House spring cleaned within an inch of its life, rather than to have coach loads of disappointed visitors remarking on the 'stoor and oose' - as she called it - on the picture frames and under the furniture. I must say I was most shocked at her as I think our winter charladies do a fine job but even I have seen some of the so-called 'oose' drifting across the Main Hall in the winter sunshine and I have had to sadly agree. Spring-cleaning is now at the top of the list of jobs to be done before the end of Easter. As if I had not enough to do in that period, what with my commitment to the Church at that time. I shall get the ladies who 'do' to bring in more cleaners in order to make the place spick and span.
Do you remember me writing about the new vicar in my local church? Well he has turned out to be just what we needed to revive the congregation. I still have my doubts about his short hair and fast motorcycle, but even I have to move with the times. He has struck up a good friendship with the local Kirk minister which should see great dividends as time progresses, not least at the Sales of Work and Jumble, although I NEVER go to the latter as it seems to be tables groaning with old and threadbare clothing not fit to be sent to the poor in Darkest Africa. However Sales of Work are great events, I do like the cake tables and allow Sir Hector to have a flutter or two on the Tombolla, where he only ever seems to win bottles of HP Sauce for all the tickets he buys. I will not have that in the House so he keeps it in one of the sheds, where he and Ruaraidh the gamekeeper I am sure have sneaky bacon sandwiches out of the range of my rather good nose! Men! What strange creatures they are, wanting to spoil lovely Ayrshire bacon with that mix of molasses and dates! The very idea! He says the same about my morning toast with Marmite, but it does remind me of breakfasts at Cheltenham Ladies College where that seemed to be the only spread available to us!
We had some samples of the shirt embroidery arrive the other day and I must say it is wonderful. I understand that a computerised Singer machine takes all the hard work out of this task and that it is only a few moments before the Crest is seen above the heart of the shirtfront. What a marvel technology is these days! I remember having some embroidery placed on my blouse for taking my Seat in the House of Lords and it took weeks for Granny Grogan, the local seamstress from the village to get it done, and even then it was nothing much to look at. Such a pity my ermines covered up the tweed suit I was forced to wear that day, as I would have made a stirring sight I can tell you.
Oh my lovely House! I have been following all the debates and to-ing and fro-ing going on in the last months as the Peers flex muscle over plans started in 'the other place' as we were told to call the House of Commons! I can see that the Lords has changed a lot since the Reforms and they seem no longer content just to meet old friends and dine in the Palace, and are expected to put in the hours as if they were in Trade! What a change, and I am sure, not for the better. How I miss an early afternoon tea waiting for the Law Lords to finish their reporting. I never was able to enter whilst they were debating, but I am sure it must have been thrilling to see the Great Brains at work. Most of them left the Chamber before we took up our deliberations. I myself stuck to things I know about: farming, landowning and occasionally fishing.
Yours as always, Flora
This story first appeared on www.panetwork.co.uk in 2005
As you know it has been the Estate policy to open the grounds and House to the public on Easter Monday, but this year Easter falls so early that much of the necessary work will not be completed in time. I had to sadly agree with Catriona the Estate Manager that it was more important to have the grounds up to scratch and looking wonderful, and the House spring cleaned within an inch of its life, rather than to have coach loads of disappointed visitors remarking on the 'stoor and oose' - as she called it - on the picture frames and under the furniture. I must say I was most shocked at her as I think our winter charladies do a fine job but even I have seen some of the so-called 'oose' drifting across the Main Hall in the winter sunshine and I have had to sadly agree. Spring-cleaning is now at the top of the list of jobs to be done before the end of Easter. As if I had not enough to do in that period, what with my commitment to the Church at that time. I shall get the ladies who 'do' to bring in more cleaners in order to make the place spick and span.
Do you remember me writing about the new vicar in my local church? Well he has turned out to be just what we needed to revive the congregation. I still have my doubts about his short hair and fast motorcycle, but even I have to move with the times. He has struck up a good friendship with the local Kirk minister which should see great dividends as time progresses, not least at the Sales of Work and Jumble, although I NEVER go to the latter as it seems to be tables groaning with old and threadbare clothing not fit to be sent to the poor in Darkest Africa. However Sales of Work are great events, I do like the cake tables and allow Sir Hector to have a flutter or two on the Tombolla, where he only ever seems to win bottles of HP Sauce for all the tickets he buys. I will not have that in the House so he keeps it in one of the sheds, where he and Ruaraidh the gamekeeper I am sure have sneaky bacon sandwiches out of the range of my rather good nose! Men! What strange creatures they are, wanting to spoil lovely Ayrshire bacon with that mix of molasses and dates! The very idea! He says the same about my morning toast with Marmite, but it does remind me of breakfasts at Cheltenham Ladies College where that seemed to be the only spread available to us!
We had some samples of the shirt embroidery arrive the other day and I must say it is wonderful. I understand that a computerised Singer machine takes all the hard work out of this task and that it is only a few moments before the Crest is seen above the heart of the shirtfront. What a marvel technology is these days! I remember having some embroidery placed on my blouse for taking my Seat in the House of Lords and it took weeks for Granny Grogan, the local seamstress from the village to get it done, and even then it was nothing much to look at. Such a pity my ermines covered up the tweed suit I was forced to wear that day, as I would have made a stirring sight I can tell you.
Oh my lovely House! I have been following all the debates and to-ing and fro-ing going on in the last months as the Peers flex muscle over plans started in 'the other place' as we were told to call the House of Commons! I can see that the Lords has changed a lot since the Reforms and they seem no longer content just to meet old friends and dine in the Palace, and are expected to put in the hours as if they were in Trade! What a change, and I am sure, not for the better. How I miss an early afternoon tea waiting for the Law Lords to finish their reporting. I never was able to enter whilst they were debating, but I am sure it must have been thrilling to see the Great Brains at work. Most of them left the Chamber before we took up our deliberations. I myself stuck to things I know about: farming, landowning and occasionally fishing.
Yours as always, Flora
This story first appeared on www.panetwork.co.uk in 2005
Letter 25
02/03/23 14:33
My Dearest Bunty,
What a busy time we have had on the Estate in the last days. As soon as the advertisement for jobs went up in some local Employment Exchanges, they were on the phone to us with lists of names, some of which had worked here before but most of them never. It has been a challenge for us to sift through the applicants I can tell you and Catriona the sturdy estate manager and New Cook have been well satisfied with the potential employees for their respective areas. Cook has taken on some of the school canteen ladies for July and August and thinks she will be able to survive the late summer on her own. I have to agree as most of our visitors come in that period, avoiding the area when the midges get too much. What dreadful creatures they are! I have of course been left with the bulk of the applicants: those to work as guides, serving food and arranging the parking. I am sure I have not been lucky in getting the cream of the local unemployed I can tell you.
This was confirmed with the first group of applicants. We decided it was better to interview them in a group, give them some tests in basic English, arithmetic and then to chat in a group to see who were the brightest and to weed out potential grumblers. I well remember years ago employing a young man to take the car parking fees. He was a most miserable sort and not the face I wanted to greet my paying visitors I can tell you! I believe he gave up his position mid way through the season to go for a job as an actor of all things. I hope he gets comic roles, just to see a smile cross his face from time to time!
Our first group of applicants was a fairly mixed bunch. Some of them have had older siblings who have worked on the Estate before and were quite aware of what is in store for them. Some of the girls were most polite, but experience tells me that they can be the most trouble as they spend most of the day arranging dates with the most unsuitable element form the local village and come in to work looking the worst for wear - if they arrive at all! I was pleasantly surprised at how respectable the young men looked at the interview - not a facial piercing to be seen. That is what I had hoped for, although some of their hair could do with a good beaten egg wash or even a proper cut. I remember Daddy taking dear departed Alexander for his end of summer haircut at the Court Barbers in Jermyn Street in London before he returned to Eton. That was always a special treat for Alexander as the afternoon was often rounded off with tea in the Peers' Dining Rooms at my Beloved House of Lords. Who could have imagined that Alexander would only have his seat for the shortest of times after Daddy passed?
Well the arithmetic and English tests were fairly simple, and all passed through that I can say. It is good to see that some remnant of the Good Scottish Education still exists here in the North East, as I read in the occasional Scotsman (when no Telegraph is available) that the Central Belt suffers from a great decline in the basic education that young people need to equip them for the workplace. What a shame! That would never have happened if Scotland produced an army of school madams in the mould of the Nanny I had as a child - or indeed of the strict ladies we had during our time at Cheltenham!
The boys are quite happy to hear that there is going to be a uniform. I expect they need to keep their hooded sweatshirts and saggy denims for impressing the young girls in the village late into the evenings. What a young lady these days sees in an untailored, callow youth I shall never know. It seems slightly disrespectful in my view and downright rude for a man of any age to display the tops of his underwear. I was quite alarmed when I saw that coming onto fashion on one of the cable channels. A lady should have no idea about the neither garments of the male until after the wedding night. Oh I sound so pompous writing that, but you get my drift.
Yours as always, Flora
This story first appeared on www.panetwork.co.uk in 2004
What a busy time we have had on the Estate in the last days. As soon as the advertisement for jobs went up in some local Employment Exchanges, they were on the phone to us with lists of names, some of which had worked here before but most of them never. It has been a challenge for us to sift through the applicants I can tell you and Catriona the sturdy estate manager and New Cook have been well satisfied with the potential employees for their respective areas. Cook has taken on some of the school canteen ladies for July and August and thinks she will be able to survive the late summer on her own. I have to agree as most of our visitors come in that period, avoiding the area when the midges get too much. What dreadful creatures they are! I have of course been left with the bulk of the applicants: those to work as guides, serving food and arranging the parking. I am sure I have not been lucky in getting the cream of the local unemployed I can tell you.
This was confirmed with the first group of applicants. We decided it was better to interview them in a group, give them some tests in basic English, arithmetic and then to chat in a group to see who were the brightest and to weed out potential grumblers. I well remember years ago employing a young man to take the car parking fees. He was a most miserable sort and not the face I wanted to greet my paying visitors I can tell you! I believe he gave up his position mid way through the season to go for a job as an actor of all things. I hope he gets comic roles, just to see a smile cross his face from time to time!
Our first group of applicants was a fairly mixed bunch. Some of them have had older siblings who have worked on the Estate before and were quite aware of what is in store for them. Some of the girls were most polite, but experience tells me that they can be the most trouble as they spend most of the day arranging dates with the most unsuitable element form the local village and come in to work looking the worst for wear - if they arrive at all! I was pleasantly surprised at how respectable the young men looked at the interview - not a facial piercing to be seen. That is what I had hoped for, although some of their hair could do with a good beaten egg wash or even a proper cut. I remember Daddy taking dear departed Alexander for his end of summer haircut at the Court Barbers in Jermyn Street in London before he returned to Eton. That was always a special treat for Alexander as the afternoon was often rounded off with tea in the Peers' Dining Rooms at my Beloved House of Lords. Who could have imagined that Alexander would only have his seat for the shortest of times after Daddy passed?
Well the arithmetic and English tests were fairly simple, and all passed through that I can say. It is good to see that some remnant of the Good Scottish Education still exists here in the North East, as I read in the occasional Scotsman (when no Telegraph is available) that the Central Belt suffers from a great decline in the basic education that young people need to equip them for the workplace. What a shame! That would never have happened if Scotland produced an army of school madams in the mould of the Nanny I had as a child - or indeed of the strict ladies we had during our time at Cheltenham!
The boys are quite happy to hear that there is going to be a uniform. I expect they need to keep their hooded sweatshirts and saggy denims for impressing the young girls in the village late into the evenings. What a young lady these days sees in an untailored, callow youth I shall never know. It seems slightly disrespectful in my view and downright rude for a man of any age to display the tops of his underwear. I was quite alarmed when I saw that coming onto fashion on one of the cable channels. A lady should have no idea about the neither garments of the male until after the wedding night. Oh I sound so pompous writing that, but you get my drift.
Yours as always, Flora
This story first appeared on www.panetwork.co.uk in 2004
Letter 24
28/02/23 14:33
My Dearest Bunty,
Here I sit looking out of the window of the Drawing Room using the wi-fi connection that we had installed in secret in the Autumn. I must say that the freedom it gives to be sitting anywhere in the House with connection to a computer is so liberating. Sir Hector has no idea what this means, as I can work and watch him as he potters about the grounds as he thinks I am in the back of the House in our Estate Office. I do prefer not to be in there doing personal things as Catriona the Estate Manager is always in a fluster when I am there. It is not as if I am spying on her workload, goodness knows she has quite enough to be getting on with now that the snow has finally gone and some springtime repairs are needed all over the place. I am sorry to report that one of our most beautiful cedar trees did not survive the winter and half of it blew down in one of the gales we had last month. I was sad to see it go but even as a precocious child it was never any good for climbing and we did try, dearest departed Alexander, my brother that you were once upon a time fairly sweet upon. Sometimes I think it a blessing in disguise that he was taken from us so in his prime, but I am not so sure that having you as an in-law would have done much for the maturing of our friendship over the years. I am glad that his name survives in the person of my own dearest beloved son. There is still no news of their return from the Colonies but I am sure that any day now there will be a card or letter from either him or Little Flora telling us which aeroplane they intend to catch back to London. I cannot wait!
On the Estate I have managed to convince Sir Hector that uniforms for our seasonal workers are absolutely important, and we have had various catalogues of work wear delivered over the last week. Some of it is really quite smart and practical and we could even have the Clan crest embroidered on the chest of the shirts and blouses for little additional cost. I think the young and not so young employees will look very smart and respectable in their uniforms. I have had a plan to deduct the cost of the uniform from the firs week's wages but Catriona laughed almost in my face on that suggestion so it looks as if the Estate will suffer the cost in total. Still never mind, the bees are buzzing about testing the air at the moment and hopefully that means a bumper crop of Estate honey, to which I will add a pound in cost this year to make up for the uniforms. Costs have to be met, dearest, as you on your meagre income and little prospect of improvement are only too aware. We have decided to go for the bottle green sweatshirt and lighter green on the shirts and ladies blouses. I am sure it will all look very smart indeed and the coach tours from SAGA and the Young Mothers and Kirk Guilds will be most impressed this year. Cook is getting some major help in the kitchens this year, but we have decided already that menus during the daytimes should be cold - pies, flans etc - with the addition of some hearty soups for those looking for something hot. Last year we were wasting food at a great rate with the cannelloni and lasagnes having to be thrown to the local pigs. Cook has suggested getting in a professional bread maker as seemingly on the other estates, home made bread is a great money-spinner and I have to agree that there is nothing to encourage a healthy appetite than the smell of home made bread, cakes and scones just coming out of the oven. We have had the traveller from the dried fruit agents in Aberdeen calling again and again forcing us to up our order for sultanas and dates and currants. I hope the currants are decent this year, as they seemed to settle on the bottom of every cake and scone I had a taste of, or perhaps Old Cook was digging her heels in and thinking of Bournemouth!
Yours as always, Flora
This story first appeared on www.panetwork.co.uk in 2005
Here I sit looking out of the window of the Drawing Room using the wi-fi connection that we had installed in secret in the Autumn. I must say that the freedom it gives to be sitting anywhere in the House with connection to a computer is so liberating. Sir Hector has no idea what this means, as I can work and watch him as he potters about the grounds as he thinks I am in the back of the House in our Estate Office. I do prefer not to be in there doing personal things as Catriona the Estate Manager is always in a fluster when I am there. It is not as if I am spying on her workload, goodness knows she has quite enough to be getting on with now that the snow has finally gone and some springtime repairs are needed all over the place. I am sorry to report that one of our most beautiful cedar trees did not survive the winter and half of it blew down in one of the gales we had last month. I was sad to see it go but even as a precocious child it was never any good for climbing and we did try, dearest departed Alexander, my brother that you were once upon a time fairly sweet upon. Sometimes I think it a blessing in disguise that he was taken from us so in his prime, but I am not so sure that having you as an in-law would have done much for the maturing of our friendship over the years. I am glad that his name survives in the person of my own dearest beloved son. There is still no news of their return from the Colonies but I am sure that any day now there will be a card or letter from either him or Little Flora telling us which aeroplane they intend to catch back to London. I cannot wait!
On the Estate I have managed to convince Sir Hector that uniforms for our seasonal workers are absolutely important, and we have had various catalogues of work wear delivered over the last week. Some of it is really quite smart and practical and we could even have the Clan crest embroidered on the chest of the shirts and blouses for little additional cost. I think the young and not so young employees will look very smart and respectable in their uniforms. I have had a plan to deduct the cost of the uniform from the firs week's wages but Catriona laughed almost in my face on that suggestion so it looks as if the Estate will suffer the cost in total. Still never mind, the bees are buzzing about testing the air at the moment and hopefully that means a bumper crop of Estate honey, to which I will add a pound in cost this year to make up for the uniforms. Costs have to be met, dearest, as you on your meagre income and little prospect of improvement are only too aware. We have decided to go for the bottle green sweatshirt and lighter green on the shirts and ladies blouses. I am sure it will all look very smart indeed and the coach tours from SAGA and the Young Mothers and Kirk Guilds will be most impressed this year. Cook is getting some major help in the kitchens this year, but we have decided already that menus during the daytimes should be cold - pies, flans etc - with the addition of some hearty soups for those looking for something hot. Last year we were wasting food at a great rate with the cannelloni and lasagnes having to be thrown to the local pigs. Cook has suggested getting in a professional bread maker as seemingly on the other estates, home made bread is a great money-spinner and I have to agree that there is nothing to encourage a healthy appetite than the smell of home made bread, cakes and scones just coming out of the oven. We have had the traveller from the dried fruit agents in Aberdeen calling again and again forcing us to up our order for sultanas and dates and currants. I hope the currants are decent this year, as they seemed to settle on the bottom of every cake and scone I had a taste of, or perhaps Old Cook was digging her heels in and thinking of Bournemouth!
Yours as always, Flora
This story first appeared on www.panetwork.co.uk in 2005
Letter 23
21/02/23 14:33
My Dearest Bunty,
Not that I was expecting to be invited to the Royal Wedding in any case, but I am sure there has been a real oversight in the Royal household again as I seem to be out of even the Scottish celebration list this time around. Oh how Rothsay's last wedding was celebrated here on the Estate, as was the rejoicing at the birth announcements for the two boys. How times have changed, and this time he is to be married in a civil ceremony, hidden mostly from view. I am sure this will make him happy finally as he has the loneliest job in the world. How dreadful to know that you are without promotion prospects until your beloved mother passes on? That cannot be healthy to live under that veil, especially since our Dear Queen is doing such a wonderful job and seems to be the picture of health as she approaches 79 years of age. I know we have some way to go before reaching that number, dear Bunty, but it is not at all that far off, and the years pass with ever quickening pace. It seems only yesterday that I was throwing a ball to the children in the front lawn, and in a twinkling of an eye they are grown up and gone of to find their own adventures.
Writing that word reminds me of that Dymphna girl with the flame hair we had in our set at school. I don't know why she popped into my head the other day, but I was watching Greer Garson's performance in 'Random Harvest' on TCM the other afternoon and although this is a black and white picture (what daddy used to call 'a woman's picture') I remembered that she had the most wonderful flame hair as well. Returning to Dymphna, well it seems that she did in fact do well in life and is now on Husband Number Three! Can you believe it? Numbers One and Two died of natural causes (I hear from my sources still in contact with her), that cause being old age and having the burden of a huge bank account to worry about, whilst Number three seems to be a stable sort but ever so much younger than her. How does she do it? She always seemed so tame and meek, but I guess those are the ones that men fall for the quickest! I always thought that girls with red hair had such a disadvantage in life, being forever looking like matchsticks about to be struck, but as time passes I see that actually this is an asset to a woman. I may even think of getting a little 'touch up' myself, as this brown is getting a little dowdy and I am far too old to copy Anne Widdicombe and become a blonde. We shall see what the season ahead brings. I shudder to think that I may be white haired under this all, but then I remark on how steely and smart your own grey hair is - efficient, stalwart but just a little too boring for me. I have my position as Chief of the clan to think of and nobody wants to see a grey haired old woman sitting at high table or attending the Games!
This year I have had an invitation from Clan Deere (Great Lakes Division) to attend their Summer Highland Games. I shall see if the estate funds will be able to cope with a trip for me. I shall not take Sir Hector with me this year as Americans get really confused with him having a different name to me and think that he is the Chief! That has to be nipped in the bud as far as I am concerned. I am a Lady, Chief and Peeress in my own right and I am subject to no man. Goodness I sound like a militant Liberationist from 1972! You know what I mean. I notice that London has been lucky to avoid most of the bad weather the rest of us have suffered. I think that could be in part due to all the hot air going about with the Olympic 2012 bid. It would be good to have the Olympics in the UK again but I am not sure that London is the best place, given all the transport problems, but I wait to be corrected on that issue, as on so many others!
Yours as always, Flora
This story first appeared on www.panetwork.co.uk in 2005
Not that I was expecting to be invited to the Royal Wedding in any case, but I am sure there has been a real oversight in the Royal household again as I seem to be out of even the Scottish celebration list this time around. Oh how Rothsay's last wedding was celebrated here on the Estate, as was the rejoicing at the birth announcements for the two boys. How times have changed, and this time he is to be married in a civil ceremony, hidden mostly from view. I am sure this will make him happy finally as he has the loneliest job in the world. How dreadful to know that you are without promotion prospects until your beloved mother passes on? That cannot be healthy to live under that veil, especially since our Dear Queen is doing such a wonderful job and seems to be the picture of health as she approaches 79 years of age. I know we have some way to go before reaching that number, dear Bunty, but it is not at all that far off, and the years pass with ever quickening pace. It seems only yesterday that I was throwing a ball to the children in the front lawn, and in a twinkling of an eye they are grown up and gone of to find their own adventures.
Writing that word reminds me of that Dymphna girl with the flame hair we had in our set at school. I don't know why she popped into my head the other day, but I was watching Greer Garson's performance in 'Random Harvest' on TCM the other afternoon and although this is a black and white picture (what daddy used to call 'a woman's picture') I remembered that she had the most wonderful flame hair as well. Returning to Dymphna, well it seems that she did in fact do well in life and is now on Husband Number Three! Can you believe it? Numbers One and Two died of natural causes (I hear from my sources still in contact with her), that cause being old age and having the burden of a huge bank account to worry about, whilst Number three seems to be a stable sort but ever so much younger than her. How does she do it? She always seemed so tame and meek, but I guess those are the ones that men fall for the quickest! I always thought that girls with red hair had such a disadvantage in life, being forever looking like matchsticks about to be struck, but as time passes I see that actually this is an asset to a woman. I may even think of getting a little 'touch up' myself, as this brown is getting a little dowdy and I am far too old to copy Anne Widdicombe and become a blonde. We shall see what the season ahead brings. I shudder to think that I may be white haired under this all, but then I remark on how steely and smart your own grey hair is - efficient, stalwart but just a little too boring for me. I have my position as Chief of the clan to think of and nobody wants to see a grey haired old woman sitting at high table or attending the Games!
This year I have had an invitation from Clan Deere (Great Lakes Division) to attend their Summer Highland Games. I shall see if the estate funds will be able to cope with a trip for me. I shall not take Sir Hector with me this year as Americans get really confused with him having a different name to me and think that he is the Chief! That has to be nipped in the bud as far as I am concerned. I am a Lady, Chief and Peeress in my own right and I am subject to no man. Goodness I sound like a militant Liberationist from 1972! You know what I mean. I notice that London has been lucky to avoid most of the bad weather the rest of us have suffered. I think that could be in part due to all the hot air going about with the Olympic 2012 bid. It would be good to have the Olympics in the UK again but I am not sure that London is the best place, given all the transport problems, but I wait to be corrected on that issue, as on so many others!
Yours as always, Flora
This story first appeared on www.panetwork.co.uk in 2005