I am guessing that if you follow this blog you have an interest in travel. The person who inspired my desire to seek out far flung places was our neighbour when I was growing up.
We moved next door to Nancy and Aga when I was four and I lived there until I was 19 and took my first trip to Italy. Nancy must have been about 45 when we became neighbours, but she seemed ageless always. She died recently when she was in her 90s. I never really knew how old she was. Aga was older and died a long time ago. She was the quiet one.
Nancy was wonderfully flamboyant. She was tall, had red hair and was very elegant. She was handsome rather than beautiful. She had a lovely house full of treasures she had collected from her travels all over the world. In particular, she had a glass cabinet full of glass, marble and alabaster figurines from Italy, mostly Venice. I decided when I was very young that I too, would collect these fabulous things and I would go all over the world to do so.
Nancy threw the best parties. She was a great cook and a wonderful decorator and she would let me look before the guests arrived to see what she had prepared and how she had set the table or decorated the room. I was allowed to stay to watch beautifully dressed people arrive to be welcomed by those long arms flung into the air, followed quickly by a “Hello darling!”
I kept in contact with her until she died and made sure that I told her what a big influence she had been on my life. She liked to get postcards from my travels and to hear about the places I had been. I am very glad I had Nancy in my life. She is the reason I travel.
high above Italy
My sister has just sent me some photos from our childhood. We can’t find one of Nancy, but there is a great one of Mum and Dad as Fred and Wilma Flintstone at one of Nancy’s parties. It must be about 1961 0r 1962.
Wilma and Fred
We were quite cute as children I think. Time goes too quickly.
me with my brother Robert
Our mother was very beautiful.
Robert, Mum, me, Jeni and the new TV
We all loved the beach.
Mum with 3 of us
Here we are showing off our toys.
- I just love Robert’s pose
The reindeer Robert is holding still exists.