The Grand National holds a very special place in my heart. From a Liverpool family, when I was little we lived at Aintree, it wasn't just my link living close to the racecourse that makes it so special though. My Grandad worked on the racecourse for years. I grew up with so many tales of it and he loved it. Becuase of his work he would always stand at Becher's Brook during the race but alway said that jump was cruel. Horses always fell and even though it has been altered in modern times, still do. Many of these horses over the years died and in my Grandad's day Shire horses were then sent out to drag the dead horses away. These were the horses he worked with and loved. Among my most treasured possessions are some of the horse brasses my Grandad collected from these Shire horses at Aintree racecourse. As a little girl I would polish them at the table with newspapers all laid out. This was my job on a Saturday morning and when I polish them now with Scarlett I can't believe it has come right round in a big circle. Yesterday there was an enormous milestone in the history of the race, a woman jockey won! I doubt my Grandad would ever have believed such a thing would have happened, and all, because of the pandemic, with not a single spectator there, but what a breakthrough for women. This photo was taken of my Grandad working at the racecourse around 1930. He is on the far right of the photo looking very big and strong I always think. These are one of the sets of horse brasses from the Shire horses I have.
Coincidentally one of the items I saved from the boxes I brought down from the loft was another item it had been my job to polish on a Saturday morning. It was this brass planter. All through my teenage years I remember it in our house with a plant in it. My Mum had plants everywhere, all beautifully tended, she kept plants for years and they always did so well. We don't have window sills in our house now, so growing house plants is much harder but I love my plants too. I've polished up this planter and I may even keep it at the caravan during the summer so we have a bit of greenery there.It would mean I would be transporting plants back and forwards which I'm sure would make Tom despair of all the "paraphernalia" as he puts it I insist on taking, but I love it to look nice while we are there. He says everyone else on the caravan site is sitting sunbathing and I'm polishing!
Talking of polishing eldest son phoned yesterday evening and he is taking his old Routemaster bus out today and he has spent all week polishing it and getting it ready as it has not been used for months. He took it for a short drive round and everyone was waving to him as he drove past. He said it hasn't felt so normal for such a long time. I hardly dare to believe when so much of the world are still having such a terrible time that we may get back to some sort of normal life. I was telling him about the new wheel arch for the caravan I had ordered and he said he would get it resprayed for me the same colour as the caravan and then take off the old one and fit the new one. I'm ever so pleased as it looked like a very tricky job to me!
Tom is off today and we are going to a place near Heathrow to buy a white dove as a friend for Dottie. Then after a week or two, when they have got used to each other and if the weather has warmed up, we will put them out in the aviary together. Dottie is so adorably sweet I can't bear to think of her having a life on her own in a cage so I hope it all works out OK. I hope everyone has a lovely Sunday what ever your plans. xx
