A Proper WI Home

I wrote earlier about wishing for fresh flowers in our house during lockdown. (And regardless of what this government decides about lifting restrictions for the sake of the economy, the fact remains that Bill and I are high risk for a bad outcome if infected and so will continue practising safety measures).

I was amused at reading this month's letter from the "Chairman" (a woman) of our WI Federation in which she wrote:

I recently discovered in a book 69 things that "No English home should be without". I have definitely got 43 of them but in the spirit of being in the WI I thought I would share 6 of them that would possibly be in every WI home: A TEAPOT, STRING, A SET OF PLAYING CARDS, BEST CHINA, SPARE BIRTHDAY CARDS AND FRESH FLOWERS."

We are invited to send suggestions about the other 63 items, which I look forward to reading about next month. I should think it would include a hat of some sort, at least one unfinished craft project, some gardening gloves, a map of the region in which they live, family photos, a pet (or mementos of a previous pet), some wellington type boots. Those are the things that just came to mind now.  I hope she'll also reveal the title of her book, as my searches on Google and Amazon (they make no money off my searches or wishlist) have not revealed it.

We have several tea pots, lots of string (and even more yarn), I have spare birthday cards, but we use our best china most days at breakfast and dinner and my playing cards are almost never used as Bill doesn't care for playing, which is sad; the paper cards are in the motor home but I still have Grandma and Grandpa's Kem cards (plastic, in a nice bakelite box; last time I looked they were worth something like £40).

My peonies have been blooming the past couple of weeks, always a glorious display. On one of our walks I spotted something vaguely like baby's breath that I thought might make a good filler. Turned out there was some on my own street never mind down at the park, so I marched out of my front gate with secateurs. 

The flowers lasted on our dining table for over a week, longer than I expected. And then one morning I came down to breakfast and Bill pointed out that we'd had an 'event', pointing to the floral arrangement. Sure enough one of the peonies had dumped its petals all at once, just like the tree in the Harry Potter film when autumn arrived. 

So I shall have to cast around to figure out something else for the next few days. I know I will get flowers on my birthday this weekend, because I gave Bill a specific list of things I wanted (steak from Nicholson's, a book about a cutting garden and a Lord Peter Wimsey novel we'd overlooked, flowers from a florist who happens to be married to our fruit and veg man and the last bottle of beaujolais wine from the Brexit stash.)

After that, if I can't figure out something from my garden or the wilds around us, I shall be calling on Pansy's in North Shields. 

What do you think are the essential items found in every proper English / Scottish / Irish / Welsh / American / Australian / etc. home?