The Grand Hotel

Strong images are in my mind

A little girl with ringlets

Sleeping with each thread of hair curled and twisted into a coil

Held together by strips of white linen

An image of my mother holding tightly onto them

So they wouldn't sway

In the morning

All the work and trouble

To reveal a Ringlet

Not one Not two but a whole head of hair with ringlets round my face and a fringe and Ribbon to keep them framed around my face

I suppose it was a fashion round that time

When I was only 6 or 7 staying at the Grand Hotel

Another image fills my mind in the Grand Hotel

A beautiful winding stair case that went very high as I walked the steps each day up and down

To reach the bedroom

Or the entrance

depending where I was going

To School

To Bed

It didn't really worry me

As long as the ringlets stayed in place.

Such a change from life on a farm

And I nearly forgot Jimmy the Head Waiter who greeted me with his shiny white teeth, to show me the way into the huge Dining Room of the Grand Hotel and took me to my seat.

I loved the white starched serviettes which stood up straight and must have been folded with great care.

My favorite was the soft boiled eggs

Which I cracked with a knife to get a straight edge

And sprinkled from the silver salt cellar fine drops of salt into the egg before I used the silver spoon to dig inside and mop it up quickly into my mouth before it drizzled just a little way onto the corner of my mouth and caught it just in time!

Jimmy unfolded the serviette onto my lap

What a waste I thought

They looked much prettier standing up!!

The toast was brought and set upon the table in a silver toast holder.

I always felt like I was a Queen

When I spread the curled butter to melt onto the toast.

It made me feel so tall and strong

As if I could rule the world with all my strength and power

after eating such a lavish meal served with silver dishes and white starched serviettes standing stiffly and so tall

What a treat it was to eat at the Grand Hotel.

I wiped my mouth full of eggy bits ,

Folded the serviette

And laid it down across my plate.

What a waste I thought to do that to a Serviette!!

Yes, there was bright red jam too that I sometimes ate.

And then I was off to School.

Feeling like a Regal Queen.

It was I thought

So very strange to sit on Chamber pots which were such pretty things

To sit on them and pee in them

While I slept on the high bed above them

To find the next morning they'd been whisked away

To find a clean chamber pot under my bed.

I never asked

I never knew where they were taken too.

My last image is of men's shoes that were in pairs outside the bedroom doors.

Black and Brown colors stacked pair by pair outside the bedroom doors.

They were taken away before breakfast

And returned all shinning bright.

I never asked who cleaned the shoes but they were always bright.

It was a long time ago and yet

They remain intact inside my brain

And makes me think

There must be a big large box to keep these memories so tidily intact thinking back to images of when I lived

As a little girl

At a special time

At a special place

Called

The Grand Hotel