After breakfast, I sent the children to school and then I went to market. It was still early
when I returned home. The children were at school, my husband was at work and the house was
quiet. So I decided to make some tarts for tea. In a short time I was busy mixing butter and
flour and my hands were soon covered with sticky pastry. At exactly that moment, the telephone
rang. Nothing could have been more annoying. I picked up the receiver between two sticky
fingers and was dismayed when I recognized the voice of Mrs Bates. It took me ten minutes
to persuade her to ring back later. At last I hung up the receiver. What a mess! There was
pastry on my fingers, on the telephone, and on the door-knobs. I had no sooner got back to
the kitchen than the door-bell rang loud enough to wake the dead. This time it was the postman
and he wanted me to sign for a registered letter !