Letter 10
05/01/23 16:05
My Dearest Bunty,
I am hoping to get this letter to you before the Christmas post stops. What an inconvenience it is this year with the long holiday! I hope the Post Office rise to the occasion and get this to you with my warmest greetings at this time.
The Estate is looking wonderful and there is hope for snow on Christmas Day this year once again. I can hardly wait, as I love to see the trees festooned with branches of snow and how it sparkles in the moonlight, saving us not a pretty penny in decorations outdoors I may add! I was walking with Trevor and Roper our gundogs the other day and the ground is hard underfoot and I think that is a signal for a bitter snap ahead. I was able to see in the distance some of the herd of wild deer on the estate, but without my binoculars to confirm, I could not make out the exact number. Catriona says that the poaching seems to have come to an end for now. That suggests to me that the last lot were taking to supply some up-market restaurant, probably in London from what I hear as once again this year venison is seen as a healthy alternative to beef. I was so glad that we have no cattle on the estate farms after the outbreak of Foot and Mouth a few years ago we would have faced ruin if we had, but having diversified into more exciting produce such as the small ostrich pens in the Lower Farm, we have been saved from penury!
Sir Hector is being morose these days as I think he is not looking forward to the visit of his sister and her family and as you know I suffer them all being here at all! Such ungrateful young people she has as children; never a word of thanks for the small gifts which Sir H and I place in their stockings by the fireplace for Christmas Day. It is all Play Station this and X-Box that with them and as for the tangerine at the toe end of the stocking... you would think they never new about tradition! I must say I am looking forward to having them leave and a few days with Sir H alone before the paying guests arrive for the New Year.
I have to say that the fashion for calling Hogmanay 'New Years' has arrived here in the North East. When I first heard it on the telephone from a prospective visitor I had to ask 'New Year's what?' only to be met with a dumbfounded silence. I know the Americans call it that, but we have to remember our grammar as it is a SINGLE year that is dawning and it is NOT the possessive case! Oh how the wonderful English language is being destroyed by some of those lowbrow shows on cable television! I did manage to see the rather wonderful BBC4 show about 'Gracie Fields' and although she was definitely not of our class, dear, she did have a knack of entertaining and singing some of those comic songs so beloved of Daddy. Some were very close to the bone I can tell you and Mamma was forever telling him to keep quiet whenever in earshot of Duncan, may he rest in peace, or myself. I hope it is repeated on the terrestrial channel for you to have a look at. It brought back such happy memories of our times at school. Do you remember that mill-owner's daughter in the Upper Sixth when at Cheltenham? I heard she married very well in Canada sometime after the war, but there was always that air of 'trade' about her which meant she would never have been presented at Court for our dear departed King George. Such a gentleman. I well remember the Caledonian Ball in 1951 and having the honour and privilege to dance a Schottische with him and the strong smell of Players cigarettes about his Prince Charlie jacket - fond memories indeed. It is a wonderful thing to see our Royal Family in highland garb and dancing furiously to the fiddles and pipes and I do hope that our little 'Event' on 31 st will have some of the class we were exposed to back then, but I have my doubts, dearest!
Yours as always, Flora
This story first appeared on www.panetwork.co.uk in 2004
I am hoping to get this letter to you before the Christmas post stops. What an inconvenience it is this year with the long holiday! I hope the Post Office rise to the occasion and get this to you with my warmest greetings at this time.
The Estate is looking wonderful and there is hope for snow on Christmas Day this year once again. I can hardly wait, as I love to see the trees festooned with branches of snow and how it sparkles in the moonlight, saving us not a pretty penny in decorations outdoors I may add! I was walking with Trevor and Roper our gundogs the other day and the ground is hard underfoot and I think that is a signal for a bitter snap ahead. I was able to see in the distance some of the herd of wild deer on the estate, but without my binoculars to confirm, I could not make out the exact number. Catriona says that the poaching seems to have come to an end for now. That suggests to me that the last lot were taking to supply some up-market restaurant, probably in London from what I hear as once again this year venison is seen as a healthy alternative to beef. I was so glad that we have no cattle on the estate farms after the outbreak of Foot and Mouth a few years ago we would have faced ruin if we had, but having diversified into more exciting produce such as the small ostrich pens in the Lower Farm, we have been saved from penury!
Sir Hector is being morose these days as I think he is not looking forward to the visit of his sister and her family and as you know I suffer them all being here at all! Such ungrateful young people she has as children; never a word of thanks for the small gifts which Sir H and I place in their stockings by the fireplace for Christmas Day. It is all Play Station this and X-Box that with them and as for the tangerine at the toe end of the stocking... you would think they never new about tradition! I must say I am looking forward to having them leave and a few days with Sir H alone before the paying guests arrive for the New Year.
I have to say that the fashion for calling Hogmanay 'New Years' has arrived here in the North East. When I first heard it on the telephone from a prospective visitor I had to ask 'New Year's what?' only to be met with a dumbfounded silence. I know the Americans call it that, but we have to remember our grammar as it is a SINGLE year that is dawning and it is NOT the possessive case! Oh how the wonderful English language is being destroyed by some of those lowbrow shows on cable television! I did manage to see the rather wonderful BBC4 show about 'Gracie Fields' and although she was definitely not of our class, dear, she did have a knack of entertaining and singing some of those comic songs so beloved of Daddy. Some were very close to the bone I can tell you and Mamma was forever telling him to keep quiet whenever in earshot of Duncan, may he rest in peace, or myself. I hope it is repeated on the terrestrial channel for you to have a look at. It brought back such happy memories of our times at school. Do you remember that mill-owner's daughter in the Upper Sixth when at Cheltenham? I heard she married very well in Canada sometime after the war, but there was always that air of 'trade' about her which meant she would never have been presented at Court for our dear departed King George. Such a gentleman. I well remember the Caledonian Ball in 1951 and having the honour and privilege to dance a Schottische with him and the strong smell of Players cigarettes about his Prince Charlie jacket - fond memories indeed. It is a wonderful thing to see our Royal Family in highland garb and dancing furiously to the fiddles and pipes and I do hope that our little 'Event' on 31 st will have some of the class we were exposed to back then, but I have my doubts, dearest!
Yours as always, Flora
This story first appeared on www.panetwork.co.uk in 2004