BRILLIANT SUMMER 2014

Croatia

It's been a long break from the last blog I posted in April.   In just a few months the weather has changed from soggy to brilliant sunshine, a veritable reward for our patience over the blustery wet Spring.  Flowers on the terrace had been more vivid and colourful and lasting much longer.

Dubrovnik

We were able to plan many outdoor activities with friends here and abroad, including our fabulous trip to Dubrovnik with Pam and John from Perth in Australia.
We managed to celebrate two birthdays on this trip, and also visited a couple of Croatia's neighbouring States, lapping up the sunshine and warm sea air of the Dalmatian Coast, that was part of Yugoslavia before its break-up into several independent States in 1990.

BBQ at Jenny & Keith's home

Back in England we attended BBQs and luncheons, entertained friends at home, held coffee mornings, and generally enjoyed a spell of warm, dry weather to catch up with hobbies and outdoor chores around the home that could not be done during the cold wet months.  I also enjoyed a visit to London to see Genevieve, Tom and Gordon, as well as attending the Society for All Artist's annual event entitled "It's All About Art", at the Design Centre in Islington.  More than ten artists demonstrated their techniques and skills throughout three days, with workshops for everyone to participate and try their hand at different media: oil, acrylic, pastel, using new products at the show.

Youzhi painted a cock and 4 geese

This time I was accompanied by Youzhi who took part in a few watercolour workshops and found the SAA lectures and demos interesting enough to become a member too.  It was good to see Youzhi happy and relax again.  Bringing up a child whilst working three days a week starting at 8 a.m. is not
easy. Her enthusiasm for watercolour painting looks promising for a future hobby, that can help to calm and de-stress the busiest mum.  I hope she will be able to find time to paint on her days off work.

Amelie in the pink with Dad & Mum

Last weekend we celebrated Amelie's second birthday with wonderful food and children's games in the garden. Everybody enjoyed a piece of birthday cake, baked and prettily decorated by Amelie's parents, Jerome and Youzhi. What a talented couple, cheerfully coping well with today's busy and demanding  life.

We loved picnics

Looking back on life in India in the 1950s, our colonial home had a decorative blue and white mosaic floor, which was washed everyday to keep the house cool.  Our Zamadar must have had a hard time navigating around dozens of dining chairs around a large teak table, an upright piano and stool, armchairs and settee, as well as various storage cupboards for LP records, music centre, books and many other pieces of furniture that obstructed his daily cleaning.

Outdoor activities

We did help with some housework, like laying the table for dinner and clearing it, and occasionally we learned to make Chinese meat dumplings at weekends; more often we made curried potato chops or chicken sandwiches for parties; Mum and the cook would produce huge platters of Chinese food for dinner and we served tea and meals to Mahjong-player friends, including our parents, who greatly enjoyed playing this game whenever they have the time.

Our daily routine was easy. Walking to school or college was taken for granted, and even attending two French evening classes a week was welcomed exercise. Having lots of energy when young, meant nothing was too much trouble: we helped our parents in the business whenever necessary, we studied and passed exams, we learned to sing popular English songs and nursery rhymes, organised home parties, went to cinemas, met friends, celebrated birthdays, New Year and Christmas and generally had a seamless childhood, enjoying family outings, community projects like honouring the dead and grave-cleaning, paying respect to ancestors and burning incense and joss-sticks in our Clan temple and at home, especially over the Chinese New Year Spring Festival.

May and Dennis cutting cake

Peachy was a bridesmaid

In 1957 big sister May got married to Dennis, and she didn't have to perform some of the traditional customs which our second sister Yolande did the previous year. For this beautiful wedding May wore a lovely lace dress, long gloves and a pretty tiara, cutting the tallest wedding cake I had ever seen.  Fifth sister Olive and Dennis' youngest sister Peachy were bridesmaids, and five-year old Katy was flower girl, and the whole ensemble was stunning.  It was indeed a modern wedding at that time, and most memorable even for the Chinese community in Calcutta.

Carolyn Mark Ian Clifford Gilbert

Soon our second sister Yolande gave birth to her first born, Gilbert, followed by his brother Mark, and by the time Katy was ten years old, our parents had five grandchildren including May's three, Clifford, Ian and Carolyn,   It was amazing to see how children grow and learn so quickly, absorbing everything they see, hear or encounter.  I was lucky to be free to help May look after Clifford and Ian when she gave birth to her daughter Carolyn. I really love children, and see how quickly and cleverly they imitate and copy their parents and everyone around them.

The next wedding in the family was in 1961, my eldest brother Yee Leong married Yvonne, who came from an even larger family than ours. I was thrilled to be bridesmaids with close-friend Victoria, and spent some exciting time designing and being fitted with our lovely raw-silk gowns.   Katy and her chum Susan (left), were flowergirls and Dad's godson Eric was pageboy, supported by two bestmen - No.6 brother Yee Sing and our good friend Peter T.C. Leong (far right), who also loved dancing and partying.  Like Vicky TC was in boarding school in the Himalayan resort of Darjeeling.

Close friends and family gather most weeks

Suddenly our Home began to feel much smaller, as most events and celebrations invariably became a house full of bustling chatter, laughter and children running around, with meals being served and the mums looking to feed their kids, who were still playing outside with their cousins: there was never a dull moment!

Graduation Spring 1962

After my B.A. graduation in Spring 1962, I worked for three years, first in Personnel (Human Resources) of the American-owned Union Carbide, then in the Administration department of  the British conglomerate,  Bird & Co. At the same time I went back to evening classes at the Suffee Commercial College, to improve shorthand speed to 120 words per minute and a remarkable 100 wpm in typing, plus all the commercial subjects they taught, including five papers towards the Incorporation of Company Secretary, with the intention of sitting the final paper in Mercantile Law when I got to the UK.  Somehow, that didn't happen as life in London, from the day I arrived on March 25th, 1965, was hectic beyond belief, exciting but full to the brim, leaving no time for further studies.

More about my emigration into the United Kingdom shortly.
Enjoy what's left of the summer.