Do you like getting unexpected letters and parcels? I do. Well, as long as they are surprising rather than suspicious, of course, but fortunately I’m not nearly important enough to get suspicious parcels. But today I did get something rather curious, not to say mysterious.
The envelope in itself wasn’t that strange, although I wasn’t expecting anything, at least not as Mabel. It felt a bit too heavy and stiff for a letter, but not quite big and solid enough for a book. An obvious thought would have been fabric, folded several times, but it will give you some indication of how long it has been since my latest stash splurge that this possibility never occured to me.
“I wonder what it is”, I said to my husband. “Well, open it”, he quite sensibly suggested. So I did. And found this:
Just in case you don’t immediately realise what “this” is, it’s a 1935 price list of spare parts for Austin Sevens. Now in itself this is not a strange thing to find in the Figworthy household, as Mr Mabel learnt to drive in an Austin Seven when he was about 16 and has owned one (bought in the 50s by his uncle) for decades, and the Figworthy day job is the supply of Austin Seven spare parts to other enthusiastic owners all around the world. Quite an appropriate thing to be pushed through our letterbox, therefore. But not addressed to Mabel’s Fancies.
And there the mystery remains. It was the only thing in the envelope, no note or card, and nothing scribbled on the booklet itself, so I have absolutely no idea who sent me this. It is true that I have mentioned Austin Sevens here on Flights occasionally, but even so it’s unlikely that a Flights reader just happened to have an Austin Seven brochure lying around for which she had no further use. If that is what happened, and the person who sent it to us reads this, then may I say your kind gesture is much appreciated, and I wish I knew who you were so I could say a proper thank you.
For now I leave you with a picture of our 1925 Austin Seven Chummy at a rally some years ago. Yes, that is me under the enormous white hat. It is the only way I could get something approaching needlework into this FoF, as I think it was crocheted or knitted or macraméd. Well, however it was done, I’m very grateful to the person who made it – it’s great for keeping your ears warm, especially with the hood down (the car’s, not mine)!
