"We had
a strict routine at home – when we got
back from school, which would have been about
half past one, my mother always had a delicious
cooked dinner waiting for us. The table was
always set when we got there and sometimes
the meal was already dished on our plates
– it was quite important that we arrived
on time, otherwise the food would have got
cold.
After the meal we all had an hours lie down
– this was a strictly adhered to afternoon
nap, none of our friends were allowed to call
during this time, which was actually a good
thing, as all three of us had quite a nervous
disposition and we wouldn’t have coped
with it at all well – anyway it meant
that we all started reading quite early on
and quickly became proper little bookworms.
At three afternoon tea was already waiting
for us in the kitchen, that usually went until
quarter past, half past three, when Susanne,
a girl fom my class, came around. Susanne
had even more problems at school than I did.
Apparently I used to sit there and daydream
– at least that’s what my religious
education teacher once told my mother. He
said that he didn’t dare speak to me
because I always seemed to be absorbed in
my day dreams. Well and then we distributed
ourselves around the various desks around
the house. Quite often a friend of one of
my sisters with problems at school would come
too and my mother would always try to get
things under control. It usually took until
about five or half past five afte which I
was free to do what I wanted. I often went
and played in the garden.
At half past six we came back in for dinner
which my mother once again lovingly prepared
for us. My mother was very good at organising
things and is something that all three of
us children really profited from. Then my
father got home and we all sat down together,
that often went on for longer, until about
quarter past, half past seven and we told
our father about the adventures of the day
– it was always a nice time. After that
I went into the practise room to practise
my cello for half an hour, I usually liked
my mother to be there, I was a very dependent
child, much more dependent than my sisters
and I would never have coped if my mother
had had a job.
At eight o’clock I had to go to bed,
for a while that was a real problem for me
– being the youngest and to be the first
to go to bed, so my middle sister often went
with me. She was allowed to read but I had
to go to sleep, but it was easier for me to
accept then. My mother then came up to tuck
me in and we talked about the day and prayed
together. At half past eight it was lights
out in my room.
Now Sunday is our family day, we always have
a coffee together and then go out and clean.
I work now so I simply have lot less time
than I used to, that’s why I somehow
think it is OK to clean on sundays now. You
really shouldn’t work on Sundays but
as I said I quite often like to do things
with friends on Saturdays so to make it a
regular thing Sunday had to be the day.
We usually manage four or five signs each
Sunday, the actual cleaning doesn’t take
long at all, about 5 minutes maybe. What takes
the most time is setting up the ladder and
walking backwards and forwards, so depending
how far apart the signs are it simply takes
time because we have to walk a long way.
My father has marked in the signs on a the
street map and always notes down exactly when
we clean each one. It’s a new task for
him in his retirement and he really enjoys
it. We only use PRIL, that does the job, for
the toughest stains we occasionally have to
use a brush and we always have ATA with us,
but on the whole it’s not necessary to
use such a harsh cleaner, it works as well
with PRIL. A little bit of PRIL in some water
and a soft cloth.
The neighbour from across the road helped
us out once when my father was sick and he
enjoyed it so much that he would do almost
everything to help out regularly. He really
loved it and it’s all that we can do
to stop him from coming along each weekend.
We do like to keep it a family thing and it’s
good that we still can – that my parents
are still able to come along too. I think
it’s really important that a family has
something that holds it together – something
that we can all do together. I am happy that
it all just fell into place for us and that
we didn’t have to spend too much time
thinking about what it was that we could do
together.
Well, we meet every Sunday now at three we
sit down and have a cup of coffee together
and eat some cake – after all it is Sunday,
a special day – and usually we have a
chat on the phone to both my sisters. There
is almost always something new that has happened
in the week and we always share this over
a nice cup of coffee."
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