SCOTS Project - www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk Document : 1464 Title : Letter from Frances Gardner 10 - 17/01/90 Author(s): Frances Gardner Copyright holder(s): Dr Sheena Gardner Text [CENSORED: address] Edinburgh [CENSORED: postcode] 17th Jan. 1990 My dear Sheena, A wild and stormy January day to-day, but still no snow!! In fact I think some of the ski resorts in Switzerland are in short supply too and the 'in' place to go for ski-ing this year is America - and Colorado!! Dad has been nursing a cold for a few days now but I think he's on the mend though still looks for his breakfast in bed in the mornings. We had some lovely days at the weekend and had three short afternoon runs in the car - one to Longniddry - we can get there is under half an hour now that the entire city bypass is completed. It makes such a difference. At Longniddry there were at least one dozen wind-surfers out - the tide was high and the sea quite choppy and they made a lovely picture. The following day I wanted veg. from the allotment - we then had a run round the hills by the Marchbank and Balerno and watched some gliders doing their stunt for a while. On Sunday we went to S Queensferry where some lads were out on Jet-skis. I hadn't seem them before. I thought what a leisure orientated corner of Scotland we live in!! Monday was a different experience. I was playing bridge at Corstorphine and had taken 2 others in our car. When coming away I was all set to drive off but had difficulty with the key - only to discover it had snapped in two in the ignition!! We had to come home by taxi and Kevin took Dad and I back in the evening with the spare key and tools but could do nothing so had to call out the AA. - Two hour wait in the car for them to come! Then we were ignominiously towed home!! Whole ignition required to be replaced. However, we might have been stuck miles away from nowhere. Moira had a couple of nights in hospital. She required a further examination following cervical smear test. A precaution hopefully. She will get the results in a few weeks. She was so delighted with your Christmas present. Such a surprise as of course they had not previously seen the photo! No doubt she has already written to you. We all enjoyed 'Cats' so much on Friday. If you get the chance you should see it. John seems to be still looking for a suitable job, determined to go into sales, not teaching, so I hope something turns up for them soon. I thought the enclosed cuttings might be of interest. I am also sending a newspaper with further report on Chomsky's lecture - tho' it is political not linguistic now - but you might still be interested! Hope all is well - Have fun - Much dear love Mum xxx. P.S. we are having fun with the jig-saw. Its not complete yet. This work is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. The SCOTS Project and the University of Glasgow do not necessarily endorse, support or recommend the views expressed in this document. Information about document and author: Text Text audience Adults (18+): Females: Audience size: 1 Writer knew intended audience: Text details Method of composition: Handwritten Year of composition: 1990 Word count: 486 General description: Letter from mother in Scotland to daughter living in Canada Text publication details Part of a longer series of texts: Name of series: Series of letters from mother to daughter Text setting Private/personal: Text type Correspondence/letters: Author Author details Author id: 1059 Forenames: Frances Surname: Gardner Gender: Female Decade of birth: 1920 Educational attainment: College Age left school: 18 Occupation: Retired Social Worker Place of birth: Bridge of Weir Region of birth: Renfrew Birthplace CSD dialect area: Renfr Country of birth: Scotland Place of residence: Edinburgh Region of residence: Edinburgh Residence CSD dialect area: Edb Country of residence: Scotland Father's occupation: Corn Factor Father's place of birth: Montreal Father's region of birth: Quebec Father's country of birth: Canada Mother's occupation: Housewife Mother's place of birth: Edinburgh Mother's region of birth: Edinburgh Mother's birthplace CSD dialect area: Edb Mother's country of birth: Scotland Languages: Language: English Speak: Yes Read: Yes Write: Yes Understand: Yes Circumstances: Language: Scots Speak: Yes Read: Yes Write: Yes Understand: Yes Circumstances: