Memories

It all began with a reorganising of the living room ... moving the working desk to a corner away from the window.

Disadvantage: less natural light.

Advantage: fewer distractions!

The desk in question is an old typing table from my schooldays ... with the advent of computers the oak desks were redundant and I managed to obtain one.  Not, I may add, before the technology department had raided them for the small drawers. 
So, in all the moving around I turned up a book that I've not read in many years ... so ... much of the day off has been spent reading, rather than continuing to sort through papers.

 On the desk in the new location ... just under a watercolour that an American friend, Jeremy, commissioned for me when I was in hospital.

 "I Bought a Mountain" ... set in north Wales, in Snowdonia.  That was the area that I came to know very well while working at Plas Menai in Llanfairfechan.

 The owners of the guest house, the Estcourts, were very kind to the summer student workers.  While the pay wasn't excessive, the perks were fantastic.  Twice a week guests were taken out on tours and, as often as was possible, student staff were encouraged to go along too.  Over the years I climbed Snowdon five or six times on such excursions.
At other times people would include one or two of us on a family outing to some of the beauty spots and beaches along the coast from Llandudno to Caernarfon.
Six consecutive summer holidays were spent in those beautiful surroundings and my duties progressed from chamber maid, to waitress, to, at the end, assistant chef.  That's probably why it doesn't cost me a second thought to cook for fifty people! 
Plas Menai was one of those places where all the guests came for meals simultaneously and then there were morning and evening prayers with a Bible Study.  Each week had a special speaker ... over the years I heard some of the best (and possibly a few less than best) of the English Brethern speakers.  We were expected to attend prayers if our duties permitted.

It was interesting to revisit mentally some very happy memories.  So the day turned out rather differently from that which I had vaguely planned.
With book in one hand and coffee in the other I'm afraid that Henry was neglected.

You see, I had planned to spend much of this wet and dreary day off vacuuming and tidying ... ah well ... there's always next week!