I confess, I am shockingly untidy, and forgetful – I’m looking at the STUFF around me on the table where i work, beside the window. The window is at the back of the house, and looks over part of the village – Old Church Road. I can see the side of the house of our neighbours at the back, and the back gardens of their neighbours, and then the backs of the houses and their gardens on Old Church Road.I can see down into our back garden which is fabulously tidy because we got someone in to “do” it! Yes, we’ve given up the battle with the wilful lawn and the enthusiastic weeds – lack of expertise, lack of willpower, lack of interest – and yes, I might feel as if I’m in my twenties or thirties, but really I am not by a long chalk.
The garden might be neat, but behind the window my room is shocking. Every day I intend to tidy it and every day recently I’ve succumbed to writing. I just have far too much stuff to fit in my room, too many books, too many empty notebooks, too many bits of paper with random notes…
For example – something written in my aunty’s handwriting, she died, twenty years ago at the age of eighty-four and this was written many years before, She was jotting notes about the family, people’s names she remembered from when she was young, but couldn’t actually remember how they were related. Someone called May might have actually been Mary, but so could Polly as apparently that was a nickname for Mary. There was an Emmelina who was probably their sister.
Something else scribbled on the yellowing page torn from my aunty’s notebook was about the family home in Littlehampton, on Pier Road, I believe called Katella. It was a name created from the names Kate and Ella, but I’v not actually found who they were, so I’m guessing my aunty wanted to know too.
I should throw it away, as there’s not enough information to properly know what my aunty was thinking, and I’ve very extensive family history information. And it is only a piece of paper, torn from a notebook. I might take a photo and then put it in the bin!
And then there’s the rest of the pile of random jottings…
My featured image was taken many years ago in Littlehampton, and may be Katella.
Lois Elsden 