Office Life

Dear Friends, Romans, Bristolians & Countrymen (and anyone else who doesn’t fit into that category but would like to be included – don’t want you to feel left out now do we!

It is some time since I dropped you all a line and now that Dennis is back in the office after his heart attack I have a bit more free time to catch up on my personal letters.  Poor man, he says he is finding it hard going as he feels so out of touch with things but wants to plod on so he can pick up the threads again as soon as possible.  The work has fallen off anyway so it is not too bad but he seems to have lost confidence in himself for some reason and keeps asking “So we still do this?” or “So we still have to fill in these now?” etc.  I have given him my files to browse through so that he can read what has been going on in his absence, but he seems to be such a worrier nowadays.  I hope he hasn’t come back too soon.  Today he has gone out to lunch with Fred – so that means a couple of hours I daresay as Mr Shead is away on holiday this week.

Christy Minstrels at Lewisham

Last Saturday I went to see the New Christy Minstrels at Lewisham ….and while there I saw a Syd Lawrence Concert advertised for later this year, for 16th December – so I have got myself a ticket already for Seat 14 Row D in the stalls.  How’s that for anticipation?  If I should ‘kick the bucket’ before then I will leave the ticket in my will to be raffled for SLAS funds.  How’s that?

The Show (you aren’t paying attention are you – I am talking about the New Christy Minstrels on Saturday last – Gosh!  If you are that tired go and lie down for half an hour – we will wait for your, won’t we.  Well, SOME of us will wait – the others have a bus to catch).  Anyway, as I was saying, the Show was very good but there were only a handful in the audience.  Still it had its advantages as at the end of the evening the two girl singers came down into the audience and shook hands with everyone and had a little chat, which they most probably wouldn’t have been able to do it it had been a full house.  The one that came to me was called Rebecca, she said “Good Evening, I am Rebecca and I hope you have enjoyed it this evening” to which I replied in the affirmative and she gave me a wide smile, a warm handshake and a photo of the group “as a kind of souvenir” she said.

The first half hour was taken over by a Comedian, who was very good indeed.  He jolly well had to work hard too with so few of us there.  One of the many jokes he told, and about the only one I can remember (probably because I thought it was funny) was about an American Doctor who had come to this country on a working exchange visit to Lewisham Hospital.  (To get the full benefit of this joke you need to think it to yourself in an American accent, right?).  Well, this Doctor was working in Casualty at Lewisham Hospital, like I said, and he went to write out a prescription for a Patient and took his pen from his breast pocket – only to find it was a suppository.   Looking at it in some surprise he remarked to the Nurse, “Gee, look at that, some bum’s got my pen”.

Grace Russ - 20th Sep 1979