A DAY WITH BROTHER MARTIN AND LINDA
At 10 we were driven to brother Martin’s house in the nearby village of Nettelham where Kathe’s sister, Linde, had lived after her husband, Ali Miechowski died in the late 90’s. Ali, grew up in German occupied Poland as a boy, where his family were nobility with large estates which Ali was to inherit. But he was conscripted into the German army before the Second World War at 17, became a prisoner of war, lost his inheritance in Poland when it was occupied by Russia and ended up in England where he became a worker at the Riseholme Farm Institute where he married Kathe’s sister, Linde, who had come to England for nurses training and where Tina, Martin and Chrissie, their children and our hosts on this trip, grew up. Tina still lives with her husband Martin on Riseholme lane near where she grew up.
Brother Martin and Linda drove us through the English countryside to a small antique fair where I bought a bronze seal of the town of Colchester which Martin suspected was worth much more than the four pounds I paid for it. I also bought a coin, a large crown, with an image os Winston Churchill on one side and an image of young Queen Elizabeth on the other.
After a great meal at the Mall restaurant where I had “juicy, rolled, pork belly” with honey covered parsnips and “lashes” (loads) of onion gravy, a delicious meal. After that we drove to Martin and Linda’s house where we sat for two hours and were introduced through photos to their two children, Holly and Max. Max has become a prominent British photographer, traveling all over the world on assignment, mostly from Airbnb, and Holly is a film producer. Both live an adventure filled life.
And then, exhausted we were driven back to Riseholme for another delicious dinner and bed.
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 