Dear Agatha

I’m sorry it is so long since I’ve written but I couldn’t find any ink to put in my pen

Then when I found some quink I couldn’t unscrew  the top. I stood it in some very hot water upside down for half an hour and now I have one is to open it

Why am I so out of date as to write with a pen?

To me it’s rather like drawing and I also used to love looking at handwriting on envelopes when I got birthday cards or letters etc because every person’s handwriting is unique m

At the moment I’m looking through the window at an elderberry tree. I believe that there is a bird nesting in it and I’m hoping to see it flying in and out but so far I have had no success except that it’s very nice just looking at it all the time through this French window

The beautiful big flowers have a lovely perfume though I’ve never seen it  in a shop or pharmacy.

Mysteriously my neighbours tcats that used to frequent my patio have disappeared. Perhaos staying indoors because of the heat?

They are very large with thick coats

My great niecw is only one year old and she’s already able to run

To think that she is running where others crawl it makes me wonder what she will become in adult life? Perhaps it’s dangerous to be so different from the norm.

Yesterday I was having trouble with my front door as the bolt on one side seemed to be very stiff

I have discovered the truth of the maxim

Two heads are better than one

Last night I couldn’t think what to do until I rang my friend and she didn’t know what to do but just a very fact that she was there made me feel more confident that I managed to do what was necessary and then today it was the other way round when she was trying to bolt the door and she couldn’t do it until I went  stood next to her

It adds to my belief that it’s not natural for us to be alone all the time or even a lot of the time but if you’re in a good mood and relaxed it’s very nice to sit looking through the window  at the garden in tll full bloom with the sun shining or even to sit outside and eat one’s meal in the fresh air.

We’ve already had quite a lot of hot weather this year I hope you were experiencing the same in Ireland.

Of course when you’re working full-time and sharing your home with someone then being alone can seem a luxury that’s hard for you to achieve but equally the other way alround one might long to have another person here who loves you or at least cares about you or is it interested in you in some way.

There is another saying which is

A problem shared is a problem halved

And although I don’t believe in vomiting out all our life story or problems onto anyone nearby it certainly true that talking to someone who listens  (not as common as you might imagine) yes indeed sharing a problem can put it into I absolutely sure about is that if someone especially one of your children or young relatives confides in you you should never tell your friends what they have said. If they find out which is very painful that the secret itself shared with you is now going around the gossip in your street or in your family

Well I’m afraid this letter is not very exciting but I’m hopeful when my health improves I will get more energy to write something more interesting as even when you’re restricted to a small part of the world there are a lot of things that you can observe and participate in.

But I like the long days and I like this sunshine

Sending you my love

Mary

I like to sit down by the fire

Scratching my back with a wire

But it’s not yet invented

Though often circumvented

Everyone I know is a liar.

My ancestors lived in a cave

Until they reached  the end in the grave

So cold in the snow

And when the wind blows

To live well they had to be brave.

A solitary life is not best

It puts us too much to the test

But when you are old

In bed you are cold

Your trousseau  would be a silk vest.

Those who die young are deprived

Of a long and  fruitful  late Life

They leave grief in the bed

In which they were wed

The other is cut by sharp knives

From where does the darkness come down?

Humanity just call it a clown

Darkness at noon

Too late or too soon

The walls will all come tumbling downm

Mary was sweeping the floor with her new Shark cordless electric carpet sweeper just replaced by Lakeland Plastics, that store beloved of British women.Emile was watching her from the lid of the old gramophone where he sat surveying the sitting room.
Leave that spider alone,he called to Mary
Why? she asked kindly,are you planning a date with it?
No,it’s a good thing to keep them as they may catch flies and other nasty things.
Mary turned and gazed at Emile.She was wearing some blue Tencel jeans and a bright pink top with embroidery round the neck.Her thoughtful face w as covered in Radiant Glow foundation as her friend Annie was trying to make her look more attractive to men.Which men was a puzzle as Mary liked to spend time alone or going out with her female colleagues to search for books on Dirac’s owl,Schrodinger’s cat or Godel’s ants.
Her male colleagues were mainly very conceited or shyer than rabbits brought up in the cliffs at Lyme Regis.
However Annie wanted Mary to marry again, as she saw her own vocation in life as being a mistress to a bright and intelligent retired man whose wife worked full time or was in the Library studying the Babylonian number system or other esoteric topics
.So she could help Mary and herself at the same time.
Shall we have a party,she chuckled to Mary as she came in through the ever unlocked back door.
What sort of party,Mary asked nervously.
I want you to meet some men,Annie reminded her.
I believe that like bombs falling on London in WW2,that if a man has your number on him he will find you,Mary teased.
Maybe your phone number,Annie retorted.Why don’t you get a spare mobile and I can put some posters with that number on the trees down the side roads saying you are looking for a new partner.
I thought I had made it clear that as some Orthodox Jews believe that Zion will only come when God wants it to do,so a man will turn up when it is God’s will.
That’s a bit much.Do you think you are God’s chosen person? Is God interested in finding you a new husband? Annie shouted.
Well,it may seem strange to you ,but even seeming trivia like me being married to some new man can have deep consequences for the whole world… a bit like the butterfly’s wings If I am happy it spreads around me and makes others happier too.Or if God wishes me to write a book and I need a man to cook for me then one will turn up,Mary responded in her low and musical Tyneside accent.
On the other hand, God may wish me to lead a contemplative life,she carried on.
Annie was puzzled.Why do you think God has all these plans for you,she enquired.
It’s not just me,said Mary.It’s everybody but that does lead into difficulties as we look at the world around us.Does God want all. these refugees to drown or for Britain to stay in the EU or leave and please Florenc Tonson? It reminded the women of their convent school classes where they had studied a simplified version of the writings of Aquinas and his proofs of the existence of God.
It was this book which had given Mary her first doubts about religion and, being somewhat dim in the tact department. she had shared her misgivings with the headmistress, who was not happy to be questioned even in front of mere school girls.
Emile,she cried,I wish I were a cat.My schooldays were so terrible
It’s your own fault, said Annie.I just pretended to believe it and kept quiet by fantasising about my new lingerie and how my boyfriend would like it
How remarkable it is that girls and boys can be so different in their personalities and ways of coping with puberty.

It was like a prison,Mary said.Still it made later life seem happier.
How did you afford new underwear so often,she asked Annie
I wore my mother’s! this dear friend informed her.
My mother didn’t have that sort of underwear,Mary told her.And see how something seemingly so trivial can affect one’s personal development so much.Still I was fed and allowed to study and play the piano and do my homework to the sound of Horace Wagner and Richard Straussbumt.
Did it help you to concentrate,Annie asked in a puzzled way.
No, it allowed my brother to dominate me and otherwise he might have hit me or knocked over the folding table where I kept my exercise books ,and pen ready to write essays on Twelfth Night and the periodic table.
Annie burst out laughing.Sorry,Mary,I am not laughing because you were bullied but it just sounded as if tables had periods,the way you said it.
Imagine how hard it was dealing with all that in a tiny house with the loo in the back yard.It was taboo so had to be concealed.When we went to Dublin for 2 weeks my three sisters and I all had our periods and we brought back all the blood stained cloths in our suitcases.Luckily the customs man did not look inside.
Was there nobody who could have burned them for you?
The landlady never mentioned it so neither did we.
No wonder I am so peculiar.
Well,I like you,said Annie.You are so kind and sympathetic and good to talk to.And you are always coming up with new ideas and interesting books.
I suppose we complement each other.Mary said shyly.Maybe we should get married and forget about men.
Annie’s eyes opened wide.
I think I’d better ring 999.she screamed.
And so say all of u

When Mary got home,she took off her coat and put the kettle on the fire!

She got the tea caddy out and put some tea into the pot.Suddenly the door burst open and Annie her exuberant neighbour fell into the kitchen like a teenager
Are you ok,Mary asked her gently.

Those 4 inch heels are rather dangerous.

Annie was wearing a sky blue track suit,red stilettos and a big green pashmina. Her make up had melted all down her face as she was so warm with running

She had some waterproof make up but had the feeling it might be dangerous to clog the pores.

Where have you been?she asked curiously.You were ages.

I forgot to get off the bus as I fell into a reverie,Mary told her

That sounds like a black hole!Annie cried

I was daydreaming so I ended up by the river and a policeman asked me for a date,sort of.

Did you have any dates with you?

No,I only had Stan in my bag,alas.

Where is he?Have you put him into the wardrobe?

It’s already full.He’s still in the bag at the moment.

The two women fell into a sad mutual silence realising Stan would never now teach Emile to swim in the bath nor return his overdue library books.

Am I liable for his fines,Mary wondered.

I can pay if you like,Annie,said generously.She got out some home made biscuits and gave one to Mary who was wearing a long black dress from Lands End which resembled a defunct nun’s habit.

Are you thinking of retiring to the cloister soon ,she continued.

No,I don’t believe in Christianity any more.Christ.yes,Christianity ,no.

What about Xmas?Will you celebrate?

I shall pray and do out the kitchen cupboards.

Are they that bad,asked Annie curiously, twiddling a ringlet with her fingers.

Possibly,Mary giggled!They didn’t teach domestic science at Oxford!

And Mother was always busy cooking and cleaning the grate after she got home from work.

Talking about grates,I’d better look at the kettle.She lifted it off the fire and held it up in the air.It was very black on one side,just like the one Mary’s mother had had so many years ago.

Why don’t I make some tea,she asked.

I don’t know,said Annie.Is this the Xmas quiz?

No,you don’t understand.It’s a rhetorical question.

Oh,do stop showing off,Annie told her.I only went to Knittingham Polytechnic and we never did Greek,just Aramaic.I have forgotten it now.

Mary poured out the tea into two pint sized mugs and the women sat silently warming their hands on the mugs and meditating on the wilful backwardness of the local poly which now only taught Latin,Hebrew and chemical engineering.The latter was an error as the professors thought that was what Wittgenstein had studied before finding Bertrand Russell more attractive. How to be more precise it was Russell’s ideas that he found attractive to start with until he saw the errors Russell had made

Russell’s paradox had haunted Annie ever since those happy student days.

Though she would have preferred Russell to his paradox if she had been given the choice.