Lil’s Stay

A couple of weekends ago I had Lil stay with me for the weekend.  She only came for the day really – in fact she called in on the Friday afternoon at the office to collect my keys to take Dexter to the vet to have his stitches out, she had bought a wire carrying cage at Selfridges because the time we took him to the vets to have his growth removed I had hired a wicker type basket from the Pet Shop and he had kicked up such a fuss trying to claw his way out that I felt I couldn’t go through such a struggle again.  Hence Lil dragging herself all the way the way up to the West End on my behalf.  It was very good of her really because I hadn’t seen her since she left Gillespies in September 1984.  She was much later arriving at the office than intended – because she had got lost and had, in fact, been round the block four times.  During one of the trips she had seen, what she thought were four policemen sitting outside a café and asked them if they knew where Dover Street was, and was quite shocked when they all looked blanked – then, on looking closer, she saw they were really sailors!  However, she did eventually arrive and trotted off to Charlton with the keys to take Dexter to the vet and arrived home later when all was finished and done. 

Chinchillas Create Havoc

Dexter is now as good as new, and all the others, Tipsy, Primo and Humbug are O.K. – as are Adam and Eve the two Chinchillas, although they created havoc the other week when they escaped and were running free in the flat for a whole week.  Adam was under my bed at one time and I lay awake at night listening to him gnawing away the bed from under me. Eventually I was able to catch them and get them back into their proper quarters, but not before much damage was done.  The backs of my books in the bookcase have the spines all chewed up, the sleeves of my records are likewise and when I pulled out the drawer of the writing desk – lo and behold there was hardly any back to it where they had gnawed away.  Still, they are lovely creatures really.

Man Sniffing Legs in Café

During the weekend that Lil stayed with me [brave soul slept on the front room settee] we went to Woolwich and into one of the cafes there. We were just having a normal conversation when suddenly a man who had been sitting on the next table was on his hands and knees at the side of our table and sniffing Lil’s legs!!!?  We were both so taken aback that we sat there and stared at him, with Lil saying “Ooer, Oh Glory” over and over again. Then the man looked up and said, in quite a matter of fact voice, “I’m looking for sesame seeds” which was just too much for me and I just collapsed into laughter, while Lil still carried on with her “Ooer, Oh Glory” parrot fashion.

Other News

• Ron & Sally have two girls now, Katherine, who is 2 ½ now, and the one born earlier this year, Sarah.

• Mr Tomlinson has had an operation for the removal of his voice box because of cancer in the throat, and now has to learn to speak through a hole in his throat like Jack Hawkins did.

• Mr Hamilton has also had an operation for cancer of the bowels but is O.K. now as they performed a colostomy.

• What else of import?  My garden is a mess – the flat is not much better – when I get rif of all these boils etc., I shall have to have a good set too.

Grace Russ - 15th August 1986