53) A Sewing Machine

Have you arrived at that time in your life when some of the items displayed in your local museum are things that you remember from you youth? Is this a sign of old age or are museum curators just very young these days. One thing I often see on display is old Singer sewing machines. We had one at home. It was set in a wooden cabinet and was powered by a treadle. I remember there was some sort of lever that joined the footplate to a large wheel that drove the machine. At the top of the lever there was a hole with a piece of bent metal through it. The piece of bent metal reminded me of a pair of arms and I when I was very little I used to imagine that the long lever was an angel and when the treadle was in motion I thought that the angel was waving her arms around and ‘flying’ I can’t really remember why I should have thought that as I don’t really remember what it looked like but I just remember, to me it was an angel.

I once asked my mother how old her machine was. Maybe seeing similar ones in museums I thought it might be worth a lot of money. Mom told me that she did not know the exact age, as she had never bought it. In fact it was not hers as she was just looking after it until someone came to collect it.

When my mother’s parents had started a business in Swansea many years before the premises that they rented had a flat above it. The lady who was moving out as they moved in asked if she could leave the sewing machine in their keeping as it was going to be collected by someone. She did not explain if she had sold it to someone else, if it had only been on loan or if it was being repossessed She just said that she had arranged for its collection and someone should be there in a day or two. My Grandmother agreed and off went the lady without telling them where she was going or who was supposed to collect the machine. The days stretched into months and years and no one ever came to claim the machine.

I thought about this story a little while ago when one of my clients told me that that was how she came to own her tumble dryer. She said that if you ask someone to collect an item and they do not do so within a prescribed time they lose their right to it and you are entitled to keep it. She told me that she had contacted the store where she bought the dryer a number of times saying that the machine had a fault and that she did not want it and that she had stopped the payment of it. They agreed to cancel the transaction but never came to collect the dryer. So eventually her husband had the fault repaired and they have been using the machine ever since.

I remember when I was young seeing a film about the American Wild West in which one of the characters on the wagon train was taking her sewing machine with her as she trekked across the country to start her new life. In the story although the wagon train was ambushed by Indians, lost without water and subjected to all sorts of hardship the lady would not leave her sewing machine behind. I could not understand why anyone would go to such great lengths to carry such a heavy item across deserts, rivers and mountains. In these days of mass production it is easy to forget how hard it would have been for those pioneer women. She would have had to make all the family’s clothes, all the curtains and soft furnishings for her new home. She would have had to mend and re-mend all their work clothes to make them last as long as possible, without her sewing machine it would have been a monumental task.


Does anyone remember the old song sung by Betty Hutton?

Ohhh the sewing machine, the sewing machine
A girl's best friend
If I didn't having my sewing machine
I'd a come to no good end
But a bobbin a bobbin and peddle a peddle
And wheel the wheel by day
So by night I feel so weary that I never get out to play

52) The Lovely Lisa

Not long before his 40th birthday our youngest son Dominic met a lovely girl called Lisa. We were beginning to think that maybe he would never find a wife but when he introduced Lisa to the family we immediately felt that maybe at long last he had found the one for him. As usual while adults are careful what they say children don’t have the same reluctance. After our first meeting with Lisa Claudia and Lauren spoke out what we were all thinking, they said, “We hope Uncle Dom marries Lisa”

Lisa works as a nursery school teacher for part of the week and as a nanny for a family the other days. She has been working for her family since the children were very young. They are now all in their teens, in fact the oldest is at University this year but they love Lisa so much they do not want her to leave them. She is still part of that family, going each week to do the shopping and other house keeping chores that the parents employ her for.

I don’t think there was ever much doubt that Dominic and Lisa were made for each other and it was not very long before they announced their engagement and started to plan their wedding. Dominic was keen to show Lisa a little bit of Africa before they settled down so they decided to go to South Africa on their honeymoon.

The wedding was planned for 20th September 2008 and the minister, Bil Ghali, married them in the Berowra Baptist church. Bil has been a good friend to Dominic since they both arrived at Berowra Baptist church about the same time in 2002. The reception was held at the Asquith Golf Club where approximately 100 guests helped them celebrate their special day.

Dominic and Lisa had worked hard to plan the event and everything went off very well. The dresses, the men’s suits, the flowers, the photographs, the decorations, the food, the music were all just right and we all had a great time.

Our eldest son Jonathan was Dominic’s best man and as such was entrusted with the ring. In the car on the way to the church Jonathan realised that he did not have the ring in his pocket and they had to turn around and go back to the house to find it. I think that was the only thing that went wrong the whole day.

We were a little concerned about the trip to Africa as we had heard of tourists being targeted by thieves and highjackers but Dominic and Lisa said that they received nothing but kindness and good service the whole time they were there. When they arrived at Johannesburg airport he asked a young local man where he could find the telephone so that he could inform the hotel that they had arrived and a car could be sent for them. The young man whipped out his mobile phone asked which hotel they were booked into and made the call for them. He organised where the driver should meet them and showed them where to wait. Dominic and Lisa said that this was the kind of service they got everywhere they went.

When the newly-weds came back from three weeks in Africa they settled into the little house that Dominic rents in Berowra and lead busy and happy lives, dividing their time between work, church and friends. Now fourteen months later they are looking forward to the birth on their first child in February.

In my job I meet many elderly ladies who do not have good relationships with their daughters-in-law. I think that this can be a very hard relationship so I am very blessed to have two lovely daughters-in-law. Siân and Lisa are very different but then Jonathan and Dominic are very different too so it is only to be expected. I love them both and am very grateful that they are good wives to my sons. What more could a mother want?