my aunts Hazel
Hazel is not an especially common name. There were 3 Hazels in my family; my mother’s sister and her brother’s wife, Hazel and then me.
I was intended to be called Ruth Margo, but the story goes that my dad changed his mind at the registry office.
Both Hazels seemed impossibly glamourous to me. Derek’s Hazel had worked as a nail technician and Jack’s Hazel worked in insurance first, the retail. They both lived in the south of England when I was a child and we would travel down to visit them.
Hazel Rogers died last year. She had a stroke and I went to visit her in the nursing home.
Hazel Nash is still going at 91. I went to visit her the other Saturday. She lives on her own in a village outside Chichester and still looks absolutely amazing with the tan, the dangly ear rings and the ram rod posture. Her house is immaculate and she has only just got a gardener in to help.
G2 who visited with me said that women like her inspired him to keep fit. I will never look like that in 30 years. I won’t even make the next 30 years.
It was good to see her though. I asked her what she remembered about my dad. She said he was typical Yorkshire and didn’t say much. Maybe that’s where my introversion comes from!
