Now it was not really what Beatrice was wearing that drew me to her it was more her poise as walked past that made me turn back. She had been walking with a stick but did not want to be photographed with it. She said she was only using it on doctors orders as she had been knocked down by a truck a few weeks back and was still recovering..... Then she told
TNMA and I who was with me at the time her story. The trim on her coat had belonged to her great grandmother who had come from the Imperial Russian court which fell a year before Beatrice was born. When we asked her if she had ever worked and she replied that her father who had been in the Diplomatic Corps would never have allowed her to, that in those days ladies didn't work. Mind you that didn't mean she wasn't busy at home both before and after when she got married. She had 3 houses to run and 2 children to look after. Her husband had worked for Beecham (I now wonder if he had any connection to the Smith Klien side of the company). She said he had died 3 years ago and she was now alone. When we said sorry she said not to be that although she had loved her husband that after 60 years of marriage she was now kicking her heels up. She no longer has to cook, clean or do the laundry and was enjoying herself. Well that made us smile. She now has the freedoms we all take for granted in the modern age (my husband cooks, someone else cleans and I do the laundry), I hope she lives healthily in the time she has left to continue kicking her heels up.
