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