Post Script
Mrs B and I found ourselves on our own after the war. Mrs B could no longer afford a cook and, in theory, didn't need one. She never really got the hang of cooking anything other than simple dishes. She let me go on living at Beckfoot. We sort of staggered on. I started getting arthritis. Then, Mrs B started forgetting this and that. It got worse. I was looking after her. One day Peggy, as I now called her, came to see us. Peggy took matters in hand. She took her mother to live with her and her family. She put Beckfoot up for sale. She arranged for me to live in this old ladies' home, where I live to this day.
The old ladies' home is not too bad. We have telly in the lounge. We watch the children's programmes from five o'clock to six o'clock, then the grown-ups' programmes till eight o'clock when they make us go to bed. It's convenient for the staff. Some of the old ladies are a bit dotty. We never have homemade cake. Peggy comes to see me sometimes in the winter. In the summer she's too busy. She has her mother and her family to look after and she runs a sailing and adventure school. I don't know much about the sailing and adventure school. I do know that it's not just for children whose parents can afford it. Somehow, she manages to include some children who have not had a good start in life. She gets on with every sort of child. Nancy still seems to be travelling here and there. Sometimes she'll work for a few months teaching sailing at Peggy's school and then she's off again. Of course, if she's in the area, Nancy pops in to see me from time to time. At Christmas time some of my nieces and nephews send me cards and the kids from a local school come and sing carols for us. Their forceful teacher makes us join in, whether we want to or not.
The Blacketts have been a good substitute family. I often think how things might have been different if my Walter had lived and we'd had our own family. Perhaps I'm having difficulty remembering things. It seems that I can't quite see Walter's face in my mind's eye any more.
