I’ve really enjoyed taking part in Pensitivity101  ” Share Your World ” prompts because they’ve served as happy memory joggers- here are my responses to October 2nd’s Share Your World

Photographer Unknown

1.  When you were a child, did you have your friends round for tea even if it wasn’t your birthday? Were you invited to stay to tea at a friend’s house?

I used to take tea  alone with my Nan  on Thursdays  starting when I was five years old.

I got to wear a nice dress and  my parents sent me along with some petit fours or little sandwiches to take with our tea. I think they were cucumber sandwhiches. My dad made them for us and the Petit Fours came from our trips to Victoria ( at that time there were french bakeries on every street  and boy were those pastries DELICIOUS )

My Nan had this rule. I had to carry on a conversation like ‘a young lady’ and I had to have the manners of a ‘ young lady’ too.

That might sound like a tall order for someone who had just started kindergarten, but I got to choose the topic- which usually involved my love of dogs, ghosts, and if there was really a body buried in her basement.

The manners part was actually easy because my Nan and Great Aunt were patient teachers so I had those down pat.

The plus to the conversation part was that  Nan  didn’t care how far afield my topics went as long as I sat up straight, spoke clearly and seriously and didn’t chew with my mouth open like ‘an untrained beast’.

When I think about it, those teas were great schooling for a kid who was determined to be a writer before she could read- and to take myself seriously.

2.  What was your first job in adult life?

I managed a warehouse where most of the staff were my parent’s age and I was the only woman on staff. That set me on a path where I went into what were then considered ‘non-traditional’ fields and I became a musician too.

3.  Do you enjoy shopping (food, clothes, gifts etc)

Not anymore.  I hate “stuff”. I give out gift cards because I am one of those people that buys presents that suck.

4.  What was the best bargain you ever got?

I bought a used purse from the Goodwill for  two dollars and I found a ten dollar bill stuck in the lining. The next Summer I sold it my Mom’s yard sale for three dollars.

That’s the best deal I ever got.