104 – Platinum Jubilee

Monday 30th May 2022

Dear Lucy,

A couple of weeks ago me and Lottie left the Naldera to return home after receiving a frantic telegram from Millie.

MORRIS • HELP! • NATIONAL DISASTER • GERTRUDE USUAL SELF •  

NEED YOU AND LOTTIE BACK ASAP • SENDING WINSTON IN TIME POD 1 • 

BE READY AT USUAL TABLE 0500 HOURS TOMORROW!!! = LOVE MILLIE

Not withstanding the presence of three exclamation marks I knew that for our ‘usually calm under pressure’ Millie to be this flustered something must be terribly wrong.

Over a cup of tea in the office Millie explained that the up coming Platinum Jubilee had unexpectedly doubled the usual amount of personal mail being pushed through the six post boxes we serve around the Little Clearing Depot (as people from all walks of life had been posting congratulatory messages to the Queen) and that as a result Gertrude had had a rather unpleasant run-in with the new postman.   On opening box 471 and finding us mice (not gone as usual but) still clearing the personal mail, he’d complained at how rubbish we were and didn’t know why the Royal Mail had employed us in the first place. An aggrieved, hot and overworked Gertrude retorted with a “get stuffed” to which he replied that “maybe the local rats would do a better job!”.  As he turned away Gertrude bit her bottom lip, wrinkled her nose and gave him the finger, only he turned back and caught her doing it which resulted in a caution coming down from head office.  Lottie couldn’t help but giggle as Millie retold the story and Gertrude sat rolling her eyes not showing the merest hint of remorse.

Sorting hasn’t been too much of a problem as most mail is either addressed to Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle but the sheer volume of letters and cards has meant we’ve had to put on extra underground trains and staffing shifts to clear the deluge.  On top of all this a typically short noticed directive arrived from Head Office last Thursday instructing us to decorate all six post boxes in time for the week of the jubilee, so in between sorting we’ve all been busy making cardboard crowns and paper flowers.  Gertrude’s weekly sewing circle gathered for an emergency meeting down at the church hall to knock up some bunting and the Cub Scout Mouselings (who happened to be using the hall on the same evening) willingly gave up working on the washing up component of their ‘household chores’ badge to thread the fabric triangles onto lengths of red, white and blue ribbon.  Dave saved us some work after finding, buried at the back of his garage, a box of old Union Jacks left in storage since the 1945 VE day celebrations, they were a bit grubby in places but fortunately devoid of any moth holes or nasty modern plastics.

Although we’ve all been super busy we’re really looking forward to the jubilee celebrations.  Mouse Town will be closing late Wednesday evening to give everyone a chance to panic buy before the big two day bank holiday and then it’s all systems go on Thursday morning to set up for an enormous two day street party. Me and Lottie have decided to stay on for the Summer.  Lottie’s managed to find time to unpack her trunk of new stuff that she sent on in advance and is really feeling at home in Millie’s spare room.  And me, well over a relaxing glass of Sherry last night I got to thinking about Dave’s old flags and wondered how those who lived through war, loss and devastation found the strength to rebuild their lives and seven years on celebrate the coronation of a new Queen.  Maybe those flags are a reminder to us all, that even though we may go through some dark days we should always find time to get together with friends and party!

Hope you have a lovely jubilee,

Love M.M.

Morris hopes that everyone has a lovely jubilee bank holiday.  Are you old enough to remember the 1977 silver jubilee or even the 1952 coronation?  Morris would love to hear from you, just drop him a line here or under his Instagram, Facebook or Twitter shares. Ⓒ All images and story content copyright of lynncf