Wednesday 10th December 2020

Joycelin's Diary

-7.37am

"So you and Daddy are going to work today, Mummy?"

"Yep, unfortunately so. The roads around here are more or less clear now but Grandma and Granddad still can't get off their estate too well because the snow's all frozen over, so Daddy and I are going to go in today and hold the fort."

"At least, that's what they told us."

Hmmm? "What do you mean, Daddy?"

"I mean we don't actually know Grandma and Granddad can't get off of their estate, that's just what Granddad told us on the phone this morning."

"Ohhhh, you mean they're making it up so they can have an extra day off work?" That's not very fair, if they're pretending that they can't get their car out and so Mummy and Daddy have to go into work all day to cover for them. "Isn't that illegal?"

"Illegal?! No, no Josi, it's not illegal."

"But they're cheating the system! They're pretending to be stuck at home and getting out of having to work but getting paid anyway, that's… that's… that's benefit fraud!"

"Benefit fraud? No Josi, that's not benefit fraud, benefit fraud is when people get given money from the government because they've told them they can't work or they can't find a job, when in fact there's nothing wrong with them to stop them working and they don't really need the money."

"Exactly, that's what Grandma and Granddad are doing! They're telling the government that they can't work because they can't get there because of all the ice, but actually they can work and they just fancy the day off!"

"Who's committing benefit fraud?" Auntie Sara just appeared in kitchen, can't remember her being up this early in the whole week she's been staying with Mummy and Daddy and me. Hmmm, maybe that means she's feeling better? I hope so. I don't like it when she's feeling sad and crying all the time.

"Grandma and Granddad are, they're…"

"Not they're not, Nikki and I were just telling Josi how we're both going into work all day today because Leo and Janet are still snowed in- well, iced in."

"But my school's still closed Auntie Sara, so I get to stay at home with you!"

"And luckily for Joycelin, her teacher has decided that her class can't possibly afford to miss a whole three days of school in a row, so he's emailed some work sheets home for her to hand in tomorrow when hopefully school will be open again."

"What?!" Nobody told me about this! Was planning on spending the day reading Harry Potter again, playing archaeologists and asking Auntie Sara about when she was an anthropologist in Pompeii, she always tells me brilliant stories, which are extra exciting because they all actually happened.

"You heard me, you've got work to do today, Josi!"

"What sort?!"

"No idea, I haven't looked at the email yet. But I have looked at one your dance teacher sent me and today's dress rehearsal is postponed until tomorrow when hopefully most of the ice will have melted and everyone will be able to get there safely, so at least we don't have to worry about getting you there."

"Oh, OK. So that means you and Auntie Sara didn't have to stay up until after midnight finishing off my Bellatrix costume after all?"

"Pretty much. Now, you're going to be good for Auntie Sara today, aren't you? Promise me you'll do all your homework before you start throwing snowballs at each other?"

"Do I have to?" Urgh bet it's French homework, HATE French homework. This is so unfair.

"Yep. Josi?" she's whispering now, can see Daddy talking to Auntie Sara about something with long, complicated sciencey names on the other side of the kitchen. "Look after Auntie Sara for me today, won't you?"

"Of course I will. Why? Is she still heartbroken?"

"Heartbroken?" Mummy's smiling, don't know what she seems to be finding so funny.

"Yes, isn't that the condition you're suffering from when your husband's…?"

"No, not exactly a condition, Josi, it's just a saying… look, just be sensitive, won't you darling? And if there are any problems you'll give me or Daddy a call? The number's on the fridge."

"I know."

"Good girl. I'll see you later, OK? I love you."

-9.01am

"Josi?"

"Yes?"

"Are you going to come and do these homework sheets now?"

"Do I have to?"

"Well… no, I suppose not. But if you don't then your mummy and daddy are going to slaughter me, and you don't want that, do you?"

Grrrr fine. "No, I suppose not. What do I have to do?"

"Ummm… Christmas-based maths questions by the looks of it… if Santa has 143 carrots to share equally between his 7 reindeer, how many carrots will be left over?"

"Is that long division?"

"Not telling you, you're going to have to work it out yourself. And then you've got to do a French vocabulary word search, it seems to be on a snow theme, and then you're writing some sentences about what you like doing in the snow..."

"In French?"

"No, in Italian. Of course in French, what else would it be in?"

"But I hate French!"

"No you don't, we've had this discussion, remember?"

"We have, but I still don't like it! It's not that I don't try to, it's my teacher's fault, the lessons are always so boring!" Ohhhh just had a rather brilliant idea…

"Auntie Sara?"

"Hmmm?"

"Will you teach me some Italian?" Know Auntie Sara can speak some Italian, because she mentioned it when she first started telling me about when she was an anthropologist in Pompeii.

"After you've done your French homework, I will."

"Please? How about I do the word search, and then we can do the sentences together in Italian?"

"Isn't that going to confuse the hell out of your teacher?"

"Oh no, Mr Roberts won't mind. I doubt Italian will be any more of a challenge for him than French is, the longest he's ever managed to go without looking up words in his English-French dictionary in one of our French lessons is three minutes and seven seconds. Jasper and I timed it."

"Did you now? God, you remind me of your mother Joycelin Cunningham. And you promise you'll cooperate if we do them together in Italian?"

"I promise, Italian is much more exciting than French! It sounds a bit like French but it's prettier than French, don't you think?"

"Well, that's a matter of personal preference, I think Josi."

"True. So… so you can speak Afrikaans, English, French and Italian?"

"Yep, that's right."

"But Congo French, because you learnt it when you were helping treat people who were hurt when there was a war there?" Sometimes Auntie Sara tells me stories about the Congo too, though Mummy tends to give her dagger looks halfway through those stories so I never hear the whole thing.

"Umm Hmm."

"Which is your favourite?"

"Afrikaans, definitely."

"Why?"

"I don't know… because it's South African, I guess, because it's unique to South Africa and no one else speaks it in the world."

"Oh, OK. Auntie Sara?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you ever going to go back to South Africa?"

"I… I don't know Josi, I think so. I think I will… it all depends, I guess."

"On whether you and Uncle Pieter get back together?"

"Mmm. Josi? Promise me something, will you darling? Don't ever get too attached to boys, will you? Not the ones who say they love you and want to date you or whatever you call it in England, that is. They're lying fucking bastards, the lot of them."

Day 10, I'm catching up :) Hope you enjoyed this one, I fancied a Sara/Josi heart to heart before the upcoming tube trip... :P Let me know what you think and there's more coming soon,

Flossie xxx