Nana # 2

Nana with a penchant for brandy. Her husband, my grandfather, died young and she remained heart broken for the rest of her life. She ended her days penniless with her two sons supporting her, where, once, she was promised this dazzling life, the wife of an international engineer. Any wonder she drank. Quite a lush, if my mother's words, dragged out of her by me, are to be believed. Lottie was quite uncomfortable telling me, like she was betraying an elder, or something. She wouldn't say the words, there were a lot of you know and if you understand my meaning, head nods and looks...

And offers of cups of tea, Lottie's standard distraction technique.

Some say that my non-drinking uncle is a non-drinker as a direct effect of his mother's... as Lottie would do, hand to the mouth, rock the hand backwards and forwards. Knowing look.

Apparently, my old nan favoured my father outrageously, often only able to stagger through the door at night with cream cakes particularly for his dinner, spending most days at the pub while her boys worked. In her defence, both her boys were in their twenties by this stage. It was an eye-opener for Lottie, however, who'd fallen for my father by this stage. What a lonely life Nana must have had in her later years.