I had my parents over for a fortnight and acquainted them with a few of our friends, if they didn\u2019t know them already. Aldous and his wife came to see us briefly within twenty-four hours of their arrival after having tried in vain to entice us into visiting a local bird-farm. They were going with two of their grandchildren. \u201c A very interesting place, a lovely place, good fun even for adults.\u201d They recommended it strongly and I felt bored by the very idea. I asked them to see us after having visited that place without us, which they did.<\/p>\n
Aldous\u2019 wife complained that Aldous went to sleep at one point when they were sitting down somewhere at the bird-farm. Their grandchildren were also tired and sat on the grass next to us – this was in our garden. We were exchanging compliments about the merits of our respective countries, except that the weather in England\u2026but we all knew that\u2026when our dog suddenly growled and made a jerk towards the child who was next to him. I saw that this child had almost been creeping into the dog and seemed to have his hand somewhere under the animal\u2019s body. We all started and the child cried. Aldous\u2019 wife took him onto her knees and I felt most uncomfortable, something must have gone wrong. For Aldous\u2019 wife the situation was clear: \u201cHe is such a nice dog normally. What has he done to you?\u201d The boy had a mark on his cheek, a kind of imprint which could indeed have come from a dog\u2019s tooth. She pointed it out to me. \u201cGood job he hasn\u2019t drawn blood,\u201d she said when I showed my concern. \u201cNever mind,\u201d she then added turning to her grandson, \u201cOur dog has been on to Steve (my husband)!\u201d Tit for tat. Aldous\u2019 wife insisted that her grandson was particularly good with animals. I didn\u2019t know whether to believe her, just looking at the little rascal who soon forgot his tears and was made to stroke our friendly animal. When they were gone my mother told me spontaneously that she hadn\u2019t liked the look of that little rogue. I certainly don\u2019t believe that our dog snaps without a reason. However, you can\u2019t tell people that.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I know now why they don\u2019t like their neighbour\u2019s dog. Aldous himself told me. He had had an encounter with a dog of the same breed \u2013 the most nervous breed you can imagine, I gather \u2013 in a different country. As soon as he, Aldous, entered the room, the wretched animal fled into the furthest corner. How absurd. Aldous tried to befriend it, but the effect was even worse: the animal started trembling and showed signs of real terror. A ridiculous breed, Aldous concluded. He had tried in vain to talk his neighbour out of having one like that. His neighbour wouldn\u2019t listen to reason and Aldous had had to give up. He sighed, frustrated.<\/p>\n
Not like our next-door neighbour who told us on which occasion he had heard a rabbit scream. When he was a young boy living in the countryside, he once noticed a stoat chasing a rabbit. The fleeing animal was in great danger, and as a last resort made straight for our neighbour at whose feet it collapsed with a mighty scream. The stoat left off and ran away, whereas the boy picked up the rabbit and took it home with him. Soon after, it had recovered and was able to join its mates.<\/p>\n
Aldous and his wife asked my parents to tea, together with some \u201cvery elderly cousins\u201d of theirs and Yan\u2019s wife. The cousins were presumably in their seventies; She fat, richly made up, especially her mouth, plenty of rings on her fingers \u2013 one of these admirable talkers about nothing, useful company with any party; he big, fat, bald, gaps in his teeth, jolly, inquiring about Yan\u2019s wife\u2019s address on hearing that she was without her husband for a few days. His joke was received with a polite smile. Tea was poured and it turned out that I was the only one who hadn\u2019t been served. Totally unintentionally, of course. Aldous\u2019 wife said she was sorry and I helped myself \u2013 after all we are on easy terms. The usual jokes were cracked \u2013 people seemed to appreciate them, judging by their laughter. After a while my children came in to return the key of the barn where they had been playing ping-pong, and we all went home. Next day as we were having tea Aldous was on the phone. I had my mouth full of food which I had to push into either cheek in order to be able to speak. He inquired whether we still had the key to their barn. Our children protested that he had taken it from them with the words \u201cThank you very much\u201d. \u201cOf course I would say that,\u201d he said. I suggested he looked in his trouser pockets, and he said he had not yet searched properly. I hope the key has turned up in the meantime\u2026.<\/p>\n
One evening we had Jeremy and his wife round. They are my language pupils and welcomed the opportunity of meeting my parents whose English is not bad by English standards, just a little weak. They brought me a pretty plant and greeted me with kisses \u2013 I didn\u2019t know she was that kind \u2013 and we spent a pleasant evening with them without touching controversial subjects.
\nNext evening Yan and his wife came to see us. They apologized about the English weather. We discussed the last war \u2013 it\u2019s difficult to find subjects of common interest for people who are strangers \u2013 and the masses of rosebay willow herb which had sprung up on ruins in London, a plant hitherto unknown. I told them that certainly it can be found everywhere in the countryside. Yan\u2019s wife thought it must have been present in England before the war. Yan reminded us, it had been \u201cpontificated\u201d \u2013 a new word for me \u2013 in Aldous\u2019 house that the plant was now in this country and that was it. We laughed. Yan\u2019s wife had brought us a cake as a present. Without any additives, Yan pointed out to me. Maybe he wanted to please me or pull my leg or both. I answered I didn\u2019t ask about these things any more and he informed me that indeed somebody in Aldous\u2019 house had noticed I had changed. I was interested to hear this. When they left us, Yan said to my father that on their return home the sun would no doubt be shining. A few days later I could give Yan the sickening news that the first thing my parents did on their arrival was to put up\u2026the sunshade! Apparently it was very warm\u2026It had been raining non-stop in Southern England on that day and we had the electric fire on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I had my parents over for a fortnight and acquainted them with a few of our friends, if they didn\u2019t know them already. Aldous and his wife came to see us briefly within twenty-four hours of their arrival after having tried in vain to entice us into visiting a local bird-farm. They were going with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reading-aloud"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/Readingaloud1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/Readingaloud1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/Readingaloud1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/Readingaloud1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/Readingaloud1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/Readingaloud1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/Readingaloud1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/Readingaloud1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/Readingaloud1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}