Write Your Life Story by Michael Oke

Author:Michael Oke [Michael Oke]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781848034679
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Published: 2011-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Sayings passed into family folklore – Mary Wallwork

My grandfather was the postmaster of Great Barrington and had to deliver telegrams. This was particularly distressing during the war when he had to deliver news of the death of a son or husband. Poor Mrs Soul received five such telegrams during the First World War, each relating to a different son.

Fortunately, there were many lighter moments, and one has passed into our family folklore. A lady in the village, whose daughter Kate was due to visit an aunt in a neighbouring village, needed to pass on the news that Kate would be arriving by bus and not cycling as usual, due to the inclement weather. As telegrams were charged by the word, in an effort to be as concise as possible, my grandfather suggested the wording, ‘Kate arriving by bus.’ This was unsatisfactory to the lady who wanted to explain why Kate was arriving by bus, even though the neighbouring village would have been experiencing similar weather. The final wording was, ‘Simply pouring. Sending Kate by bus.’ For years afterwards, whenever it rained, my father would glance out of the window and say, ‘My word, Kate will have to go on the bus today!’

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