(diaryland) December 25, 2000 - 18:32:57

My pants are undone right now.

This is what my Great Aunt Judy told me today at the family Christmas party after someone mentioned that my sister got really good marks in finishing high school this year. It sure as hell put a dampener on my afternoon. Imagine a thick German accent.

"That's good Lisa finished school. Your Grandfather wasn't allowed to finish school. He was just one year from matriculating, but the Nazis wouldn't let him. Silly, isn't it? He was kicked out of school but I was a clerical worker at the time. I worked three days a week, but it wasn't quite enough to provide for everyone but I lost my job too.

"So I left the country before your Grandfather did, and of course it was hard for me to get a job in Britain because I couldn't speak the language, so I got a job looking after a lady's second child. She had another baby, you see. But the people there weren't very nice. They didn't like the refugees very much, so I went to Northern Ireland and I worked there as a housekeeper. There was a cook and a gardener as well. The people there in Ireland were much nicer and frendlier. I went to work in a factory after that but I was making hardly any money at all. I didn't even have enough to pay the rent so by the end of the month I'd be out in the street.

"But then your Grandfather told me that in Manchester there was work in a factory so I went there and was a machine worker and - is that present for me? Ooh, thanks."

I might tell you a bit more about her some other day.