A typical day with our Nan

‘A typical day with our Nan’ – By her Grandchildren

Nan, we hope you are ready and listening because your Grandchildren are about to reveal all!

So, what would a typical day be like with our Nan?

Well, the morning would begin with you bringing Granddad, ‘A cuppa tea’ (one sweetener) at about 08.30am. You would knock on our door and take us downstairs whilst Granddad had, ‘his wash and shave.’ This was not before you removed the giant wood-chip board from the top of the stairs, assuming none of us had fallen down them the night before!

Now, what could breakfast have been? Anything we wanted, of course. Ben would say you certainly win best cooked breakfast, hands down. Your fried bread was awesome.

Then, daytime entertainment could consist of any of the following, weather permitting:

• 20p Bingo
• Playing shops on the kitchen floor with your collection of old tins, soap cartons and empty talc bottles
• Doing puzzles at the table
• Running around the living room being silly and dressed up in clothes that drowned us from your dressing up box – photo evidence of myself and Verity is still on the wall in your house
• Being placed on top of your old twin tub
• Going to the park at Ridlins or at the back of Sainsbury’s
• And picking Bluebells from the woods for our mummies

But, what have we left out Nan? You got it, a day would never be complete without our trip to Sainsbury’s or, ‘up the top’ as Saskia recalls. Now Nan, there was a thorough routine here wasn’t there? This needs a little more attention to detail and would go something like this:

A glance in the kitchen mirror – check. Comb through the hair – check. Oil of Olay on the cheeks and forehead – check. Shopping purse from the drawer – check. Are we set? Almost. Best just go upstairs and hide any valuables in random places first!

In the afternoon, you would open your cake and chocolate box from which we could choose a sweet treat and watch Granddad eat his apple. Granddad may then have been tempted by a little “shut eye”, at which time Josh would claim you’d say, ‘arc at him over there in the corner.’

Occasionally Joycie may come up from down the road for you to have a cup of tea and, ‘a natter’, as you put it. Coralie remembers that nobody could ever get you off the phone. Even our little Evan, for one so young, has cottoned on that he can make Great Nanny Iris speak!

The fun and games would continue until it was time to prepare dinner at which point Granddad would pour you, ‘a little drop of Sherry.’

Following a delicious dinner of our choice, we would be sat down on cue for your beloved Coronation Street or if a Saturday, a bit of Cilla Black and Blind Date. Later we would go, ‘up the apple and pears’ where you would tuck us up in the Clown bedroom or back bedroom.

So far, this was a typical day with you Nan. But the following are particular fond memories of our time with you:

• Receiving our Snow man presents at Christmas
• Always being given the precise change out of our birthday money (£12, and if she brought a gift that was £10.99 we also got the £1.01!)
• Putting curlers in the girls’ hair when you came to stay. You would always divide them up equally so that no one had more curls than anyone else
• The girls in particular remember a party in the garden in celebration of yours and Coralie’s Birthdays and you having a fit because a wasp was near Coralie’s mouth
• Our visits to standalone farm and having to wash our hands 10 times after touching the animals!
• Our time at the holiday camp with you and us, your Grandchildren, winning best fancy dress as the seven dwarves
• You dancing with Granddad at Sam and Lisa’s wedding after “having a few” and Granddad not long having had his knee replacement!
• The celebration of your 50^th wedding anniversary at the Greek restaurant and you pulling disapproving faces at the belly dancer
  
  On a more serious note. Nan, through you we have been blessed with this gift of life for which we are thankful and we will live on in your memory in the ways you taught us how.

All that’s left to say is, keep a space for all of us at your side until we meet again. And in Granddad’s words, ‘sleep tight Dolly Daydream.’