Suzy Says

My father retired to his native England in early 1991, moving in with his beloved Margaret (who still survives at 79, in the same house). I promised him that I’d visit every year, and I did, sometimes twice. In the letter he left me to be read after his death, he wrote, “Your visits were always the highlight of the year.” This entry is the first one after his move.

London, March 16, 1991

Greeted most affectionately by Dad and Margaret at Heathrow at the ungodly hour of 7 am. After picking up fresh bread and croissants, we went to their house for coffee and one of Dad’s special omelettes. The house is beautiful, full of soft Oriental carpets and fresh flowers. I couldn’t help but notice that pictures of Beth, Megan, Jonathan & me are in silver frames in the living room alongside [pictures of] Margaret’s children and grandchildren.

My room [I always called it that, even though all guests stayed there] is a peach bower, with floral trim which is echoed in the bath towels and curtains. I have my own bath with parquet floors and a Jacuzzi with brass taps.

It seemed best to try & keep going, so we went to Chartwell [Winston Churchill’s former home; now a museum]. Margaret had never been there before & she was charmed. We encountered a fox hunt in full cry en route to Hever Castle. Unfortunately, it was closed, so we looked around Hever Church. It was built on the site of a Norman church, & therefore has been a place of prayer for 750 years. The church is the burial place of Anne Boleyn’s father, and his grave has been rubbed so many times that the church now provides copies and forbids the public from copying it, lest it disappear forever.

We had lunch at Ye Old Crown, an ancient pub [since 1327!] which used to house smugglers but which now houses noisy fruit machines. This was in a little town called Edenbridge. We went on to visit Coulsdon. [This is the village where my father grew up, and where his parents lived their entire married lives – 50 years.] It has, of course, changed, but it is still recognizable. I was delighted that the Lincoln sisters’ greengrocers was still a greengrocers [the four unmarried Lincoln sisters inherited it from their father and ran it until their deaths].

Grammie’s front door is still green, but her garden has changed, and not for the better. We took pictures of 88 [my grandparents’ house] & the street, as well as the cricket grounds where Dad played and his former public school.

Dad & I made lemon herb chicken for dinner, with New Zealand cabernet sauvignon. Tomorrow is Dad’s 60th birthday!