My Grandad …………. 5

Grandad always took his first cup of tea with a spoonful of whiskey in it, very special whiskey; it was in a small bottle and had a couple of Cayenne Pods in it. He used to let me put these pods into the bottle when he started a new on, he swore that this is what kept him alive and active for so long. We thought that maybe the fact that he was a postman, walking everywhere and riding a bike that allowed him to live to such a grand old age (97yrs). Grandad moved downstairs into a single bed in the front room when I was about 14, he was very poorly and couldn’t manage the stairs anymore. I don’t remember seeing him much those days, probably too interested in my school work and going out to meet the boys (known as my Rendezvous years). But I remember him coming through one day and telling Mam that she would have to come with him because his room was full of budgerigars! He had kept a canary for years and when we moved in Mam had a budgie but other than this ……… Mam went in and then came back and when I asked about the ‘budgies’ she laughed and said it was just his way. There were other occasions like this and eventually Dad slept downstairs in his room with him. One Easter Monday morning, when I came downstairs I found Mrs Rhodes from next door there and very solemn parents.
Grandad had died during the night.
I was very upset ...... not my Grandad ..... he was forever. Apparently my Dad had woken up and found Grandad awake so Dad made him a cup of tea and sat with him, helping him to sip his tea and suddenly Grandad looked up at the door and said ‘I’m coming (…….) I’m coming’ then lay back and died. Dad went and woke Mam and she & Mrs Rhodes washed him down and dressed him (they always 'laid out the body' in those days). It was his brother’s name that he called so we thought that maybe his brother came to ‘fetch him’. Any how the funeral happened, I was not allowed to attend so I waited with Mrs Rhodes for them to come home and we all sat around having some sandwiches, cake and tea and then …… the reminiscing began. Soon everyone was laughing as we all remembered that wonderful man Jack French! Grandad had left Mam the house and this was agreed by all her brothers as she had looked after him so well. I don’t’ know what else there was, I was too young to know about those things and I was amazed that Mam had to go and get a mortgage for £100 so that the house did actually become hers. Mam lived there until after Dad died but eventually the upkeep became too much and so she moved into Robin Hood Lane with me.