THE POSTIE’S BAG

Evening Star, Issue 21992, 30 March 1935, Page 5

THE POSTIE’S BAG

AT HOME AT ST. HILDA Dear Big Brother Bill,—-How did you enjoy your holidays? It is quite a long time since I last wrote to you. I saw the competition of ‘ How I Spent My Holidays at Home,’ so I decided to enter. I have four brothers and two sisters- My two sisters spent an enjoyable five weeks at Central. Two of my brothers went to Kelso for their holidays. I stayed at home, so 1 will describe my holidays to you. I spent my holidays helping mother, but I will describe to you the interludes. Luckily there is the lovely St. Kilda beach very near where 1 live. After Christmas, when everyone had gone away, I wished to be back at school again. However, most of my friends did not go away. The first rule wo made was to go for a swim at 6 every morning. -That is the best time to bathe. Then we would come homo very hungry, as the sea air and salt water, gave us very sharp appetites. My cousin from the country came to stay with me for two weeks. First I took her to the beach and for walks in the vicinity. The .next day we left at 1.30 p.m., and went to the pictures. After that we took our tea to the Oval. We were on our way to have an enjoyable evening at the baths when wo discovered to our dismay we had lost our money to get in. We were just going to board a tram and come home when I remembered my father worked near the Oval so we ran to him and got the money. You see, wo were determined to enjoy ourselves. We walked to the Municipal Baths, and on the way I showed my cousin all the big shops. It was 9 p.m. when we finally reached home, very fired, and glad to get into our beds.

The next day we had our morning swim as usual, and after breakfast I did the usual daily work and served in our shop, while mother went to town. Dinner over, my cousin and I went to Lawyer’s Head and splashed about in the pools there. For the next three days we practised diving under and over the waves to see who was better at it. We had a lot of tiny chicks, twenty there were. It is nice to watch how the mother hen gathered them together when she saw Gip, our dog, come to have a friendly talk. I fed them nearly every morning. My bantam, whose name is Pat, was quite friendly and would let me pick her up and stroke her. The following afternoon I took my cousin to the pictures again, as they were new to her. They ended at 4.30 p.m., and we rushed down to see Prince Henry laying the wreath on the Cenotaph. We could not see, as it was so crowded. We went up to the Grand Hotel to wait for him there. We were standing straight in front of the door and had a splendid view. Sometimes the days were too hot to do anything or go anywhere, so we lay sunbathing on the lawn. If it was too hot to go anywhere in the afternoon it was lovely in the evening and we could have a cool bathe. Can you swim? My cousin was going away in a day or two, and she wanted to go shopping to get some necessities to take home. We spent that day going all over the city and every possible shop. It is quite surprising what we find in our own city if we look. The next day we went for four swims—before breakfast, before dinner, and before and after tea. My cousin caught the early train home to Waipiata next morning. The following morning we left (my six-year-old brother and I) to go to a picnic held at Tahuna Park. We had a great time. There were races for young and old. One race for girls was the wheelbarrow race. The younger children were placed in front and the older behind. The whistle blew, everybody went tumbling over the front ones, and what a merry mix-up! I won a book for running. At 12.30 we had a party under the grandstand. We also had tea there, and we arrived home very tired but very happy. There remained only one more week of the holidays, and everybody was arriving home to begin primary or high schools again. Two days later my brother and I went to meet my two sisters. What a lot of chattering there was! However, we managed to board the right tram which would take us 20yds from our gate. I really think I enjoyed myself as much as if I had been away. Well, I will close with love to everybody.— I remain, yours truly, Margaret Tait.