ADOPTION NOTICE:CLEMENTS: To Amy, Jenny and Keith — an SC (TTD 88, E4/SO/1026) Jupiter,
to be known as Napoleon. A mate for Josephine Jupiter (NKD 258, E2/SA,841).
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MY FIRST JOWETT ANNUAL WEEKEND . from Amy Elizabeth (aged 8 months)
We were intending to leave home after lunch on the Friday but it didn’t
quite work out that way. Daddy found a leak in Josephine’s radiator and
it took him quite a long time to solder it up. It was late afternoon
before my carry—cot was installed behind the seat and the big case tied
on to the boot rack - my own case took up all the boot. We set off at
about 5pm — just in time for the evening rush hour. .
I had my dinner while we were travelling — an art in itself is getting the
spoon in one’s mouth when going over bumps . . . After that I was allowed .
to sit on the seat, my harness attached to Mummy and Daddy’s seat belts. It was great fun, though I couldn’t quite reach that pretty key fob to play with it. :
We went very well until about 7pm, when a strange noise started under the bonnet. Daddy investigated while Mummy took me over the road to talk to
Some cows. It wasn’t long before we got going again. I eventually got
bored and nodded off to sleep about six miles from Malvern — but woke
again as soon as we reached the hotel. I do so hate to miss anything.
We all washed and changed out of our travelling clothes, then I was loaded
into my carry—cot, this time on wheels, and we set off for the Winter ‘
Gardens.
Goodness me, what an exciting evening I had. I met all sorts of people
I’d never seen before, all of whom spoiled me (Mummy said). I even had a
little piece of cheese, some sandwich, and an extra beaker of blackcurrant
juice - my first drink ever purchased from a real bar. We got back to
the hotel at about midnight. I fell asleep as soon as my head touched
the cot. Well, it had ‘been a long day for a little person.
On Saturday morning I had to be washed and dressed before going down to’
breakfast. Apparently it is not quite the thing for young ladies to be
seen wearing their night attire in a hotel dining room. I even had to
have my usual breakfast of porridge — not, egg, bacon and sausage like
Daddy and Mummy. Imagine the fun I could have had with a fried egg. ..or even toast and marmalade. After breakfast, Josephine was again Ioaded up with all my gear —
case, carry—cot and wheels, and my baby—walker and we all drove to the
Winter Gardens. It was a very nice place, with lovely tarmac paths —
ideal for running around. I wore holes in the chamois leather soles of
my bootees. Mummy says I must apologise to all those people I ran into
I'm not too good at steering, being only a learner, you see. Sorryl
A nice man with fuzz on his face gave me some JCC stickers for my
walker and carry—cot, We kept getting in the way of some men from
the BBC who were trying to take pictures of the prettiest cars, and
nearly ran into a very shiny red one, but one of my Parents was holding me back by my reins, managed to avoid a collision. All that
running around and excitement can be very tiring, so I was taken out
of my walker and put into my cot for a quick sleep. In the afternoon
I ran around some more until it was time to go back to the hotel for
tea.
I knew something exciting must be going to happen when Daddy put on a
frilly shirt and a bow round his neck, like my Panda, and Mummy put on
a dress instead of her jeans and painted her eyes. As if that wasn’t
enough, I was given a wash and dressed up in a pretty blue frock with
lace on it. Eventually we were on our way again, though nobody told
me where we were going.
We arrived at the Pavilion — again — just in time to see some ladies in
pretty, long dresses getting out of a nice car and a man was taking a film
of them. So I tagged on the end in my Jowett carry—cot. We went straight
down to the bar, where there were even more people all dressed up. I was
put in my walker and went round introducing myself to everyone, just
popping back to the table once in a while to make sure Daddy and Mummy
were. Still there. I could go ever so fast on that nice wooden floor, but
after a little while I had to go in my cot because it was time for the
grown —ups to have their dinner and I was to be banished to the crèche.
That didn’t turn out to be bad. There were lots of other children there,
all bigger than me, and lots of things to look at, Mummy stayed to
keep an eye on us all though. I looked into the big room once but a man
was talking and everyone looked serious so I decided to go to sleep.
On Sunday morning we were very busy as everything had to be packed up ready
to go home and we were supposed to be going for a ride to see the nice
countryside around Malvern, with all the other cars. By the time every
thing was ready though it was almost Ii o’clock so Daddy decided that
everyone else would be half way round the route and we would set off straight
from the hotel and try to catch them up. We went very fast and it was
lovely and sunny so we had the roof down. We didn’t catch up with the
other Jowetts — which was hardly surprising because when we reached the car
park where the driving tests were to be held we discovered that everyone
else had set off after us. Never mind, we were supposed to be meeting
some friends from Bridgnorth at noon so at least we were on time for that.
Apart from the fact that the grown-ups were slightly unhappy because the
bar wasn’t open, we passed a pleasant, sunny afternoon watching the
driving tests, our friends gave me a great deal of attention — well, they’d
not met me before and so hadn’t quite realised how lovely I am (Mummy says
I have an awfully big head for my age, but Daddy is round my little finger
and doesn’t comment). They went when the driving tests finished and We
made our way back to the Gardens to say good bye to everyone.
We were supposed to set off for home after that but Daddy and Mummy were
rather hungry and Ruby and Drummond invited us back to their tent to eat,
— we stopped off on the way to get a Chinese take—away; I went to sleep
on the way to the camp site. When I woke, I was given my dinner — then
Ruby bathed me in her washing-up bowl and dressed me ready for bed.
In the meantime, they had apparently persuaded Daddy and Mummy that they
didn’t really want to go home that evening; there was plenty of room in
their tent and car for the three of us — apart from the fact that there
was to be a gathering of the stalwarts at the local Railway. I don’t
think it took very much to convince them, although Mummy went off camping
at Bradford. The site and weather were very much better, she said. So
it was agreed that all the Blacks should sleep in one room, Mummy and I
in the other, and Daddy in Drummond’s Cortina. Ruby also offered to
look after me while the rest went to the meeting. He waved bye bye to
Drummond, Daddy and Mummy, all in Josephine, and I think perhaps Ruby then
began to regret not going with them. I cried and cried. All the people
left on the camp site took turns cuddling me (I loved it really, but was
determined not to let them know that!) and eventually fell asleep shortly
before the others returned. I had hoped that Daddy and Mummy would think
I had been asleep most of the time, like the good girl I usually am, but
somebody told tales on me -and I was put in the tent in disgrace. Mummy
says I must apologise to all those people on the camp site for disturbing
the peace, and say a big Thank You for putting up with my misbehaviour.
I woke up at 8 a.m. the following morning, full of beans and with a huge smile ,
for everyone; trying to make up for the night before ! It took some time
for everyone to get organised, dismantle the tent and load the cars, and
set off for the nearest pub for lunch. We were held up for a short time because someone had left the gate open and a lot of steep wandered onto
the site. It was great fun getting them out again. We all had lunch at a lovely little pub, near a pond. We sat in the garden under an umbrella; because the sun was very hot. At about 3pm we all went
our separate ways for home. . .‘
Before very long, Josephine started coughing and spluttering and finally
stopped. Mummy and I went for a walk leaving Daddy with his head under
the bonnet. Then I went to sleep, to wake a couple of hours later to fine
myself in the same place but apart from Daddy there were two other men
under the bonnet. They were all very pleased because they had located afault in the rotor arm and replaced it with a new one, so within a few minutes we were on our way again.
We carried on gaily for a few miles until we found a nice pub where we
could all have dinner. Daddy cleaned out the petrol pump, because Josephine
still had a bit of a cough and thought perhaps that was what was wrong.
All went well (I thought) so I settled down to sleep for the night.
The next I knew was when Mummy was putting me into my very own cot at home.
Golly, was I pleased! There were all my cuddly toys, just waiting to be played with. What is a girl supposed to do but oblige. After all, they must have missed me as much as I did them. So I played with them for an
hour or so. Daddy and Mummy didn’t seem quite so happy about it though.
They kept telling me that it was 3.30 (or 4.00, or 4.30am) and they wanted to go to sleep. ‘ Funny things, parents. Perhaps Josephine had been playing
them up a little. Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed my first Jowett Weekend, first dinner and dance,
and first experience of camping. I hope to see everyone again next year —
Daddy and Mummy have promised to take me.
Special message for Richard, a blonde, blue_eyed handsome young man who
played with me on the Saturday. I'll see you at the Jowett Weekend next year
— if not before. ‘We might even stay in the same hotel again.
Amy Clements aged 8 months.
I will let you work out how long ago that was.