What’s the story?

Here we all are in lockdown due to coronavirus, doing our best for the NHS, the heroes of our day, by staying at home and not socialising. Last week we watched JULIE AND JULIA with Meryl Streep (Julia) and Amy Adams (Julie) – who decides to blog daily a recipe of the famous 1950s cook, Julia Childs, who bought French cuisine to the USA, in the hope of gaining enough admirers to become a writer and move on from the flat she lives in above a pizzeria.
Inspired by this I have decided to write up the stories which inspired my illustrated letters – my story letters as I call them, as every story ever created starts with a capital letter. Here are the ones posted so far on instagram. I shall henceforth try to blog them as well as instagram. Not because I want to be famous or recognised, but just because we are in lockdown, and I wish to express how incredibly grateful I am for this precious life and all the experiences and relationships I have been given…

For Z, I wrote last Friday, when Boris was still in hospital: ‘Boris, has there ever been another PM whose first name is immediately recognised as his? As my illustrated alphabet set out to be entirely British in character, depicting an animal in action or with an object or a friend, I was thankful to Boris in 2012 for providing me with a theme for letter Z, as we all watched him glide down a zip-wire at the opening of the Olympic Games. Zebras are not native, but they are a part of every British child’s visual vocabulary, always found in zoos or game parks. (The Loch Lomond Bear Park was my first sighting of this exotic, extraordinary, stripy horse!). We wish Boris well and trust he will beat the coronavirus and soon be leaping back onto the political zip-wire.’
For Y:It’s Saturday and in a month’s time all the yachting spots along the West Coast of Scotland will be bustling with races. Not permitted during WW2, they probably won’t be allowed during these strange cover-19 days. So here’s my Y is for yachting Yak, to remind us all of more carefree days.( Nothing british about a yak, but I did meet mine in a Tintin book, reading on deck.)’
For X:’ HAPPY EASTER! What greater story has humanity ever talked of but that of love – here, a child’s love for his dog.(yes, entirely autobiographical, our son, whose early years were spent in France – stripy top – and his beloved french Labrador.)So my letter X is called “blowing kisses xxx to my best friend”. Here’s hoping all have felt loved and cherished today in Lockdown. Happy Easter! ‘

That’s enough for today – all the attached letters are of my placemats- till tomorrow!