For those of you who have children or grandchildren it does not take you long to find out that the little darlings are walking germ factories. That was the case with Caron and I who visited both sets of grandchildren recently. We enjoyed ourselves immensely but foolishly, did not take into account the warnings that we had been given. That the lovely children had been attending their nurseries for weeks prior to our visits.
Like early European explorers walking into a tropical jungle, we picked the little ones up from the Tiny Tots and Early Years nurseries and were infected almost immediately. Exhausted, we returned to Hungerford and our lives have not been the same since.
I usually try to pop into the Arcade at least once a week, but due to feeling quite ropey, both Caron and I did not, outside of our normal duties, venture out much.
We however decided to visit the Arcade on Saturday last and whilst there, I found an item that I had never knowingly seen before. We had been perusing for about ten minutes when we made our way towards the Junk Stall which had just been filled up. Caron picked up some incredibly beautiful porcelain dolls and then spotted a round object hanging from the far wall. It appeared to be made of Bakelite (which I am a great fan of) but neither Caron or I could make out what it was.
The label noted that it was £3.00 but the description was
a little blurred (neither of us had brought our glasses). It seemed to state it was a wall protector which confused us both as how could such a small object protect any wall? It was then that an elderly lady sensing our confusion corrected us. It was indeed a protector, but it had not been designed to protect walls but to protect bundles of wool when knitting. When she said that its purpose became obvious.
The woman also added that she clearly remembered her mother using a wool protector similar to the one that was for sale when she was a child.
After confirming that she did not want to purchase the item (she said that her house was too full of memories already), I added the wool protector to the items that we were going to buy. I find it hard to tie a knot at times let alone knit so for the time being the wool protector is hanging from a curtain rail in our lounge. Caron, who likes knitting, is proposing to use it when she next plans a garment but that will not be for a while, given our present lifestyle.
You will be happy to know that we are fully recovered from our ills and hope to visit the little ones again in August to see what other viruses they can share with us. We had planned to see my ancient parent this weekend, but for obvious reasons were unable to go. And because of this was able to pay an unscheduled visit to the Arcade.
If Caron and I had stuck to our original plan then we would have enjoyed the wonders of Westbury but this was not to be. Caron picked up her beautiful dolls, Pippi and Poppi (don’t ask) and I discovered something that I had never seen before. I must say, it made us feel a great deal better.
