I’m feeling rather under fire in this matter of the Mother Christmases doing deliveries. Nick was quite enthusiastic about it when he got back from the Southern Hemisphere Training School and saw what they had been doing there, but there has been such a lot of opposition from the FCs. They really do feel that it is necessary to have a beard in order to deliver Christmas presents – have you ever heard anything so illogical and silly! Nick won’t push it because he always tries to keep the peace. He says it will happen in the end and a few more years won’t make any difference. But of course, what he doesn’t or won’t see is that it does make a difference to the MCs themselves. They feel that over the years they have been treated as second class citizens, relegated to housework and cleaning and suchlike. From their perspective the FCs are having all the fun driving about in the sky, while they are just dogsbodies. Well, I can see it, though of course the reality is that the MCs jobs are just as important and demanding as those of the FCs, but that isn’t the point. There isn’t any reason why the MCs shouldn’t do deliveries or, for that matter, why FCs shouldn’t cook and clean. All roles should be open to all of them – it’s common sense, but Tingle and Grumbo are very old school when it comes to their roles. Grumbo won’t even use the new chimney liners and he makes a terrible mess with all that soot everywhere, though now so many houses no longer have chimneys it isn’t so much of a problem as it was.
I am determined to find a way of changing their minds. I’ve enlisted Miss MacGrammar to help and I’ve sent a note to Alice at the SHTS to see if she has any ideas. – I expect they had the same problem there, so perhaps she’ll be able to tell me how they managed.
I am determined to find a way of changing their minds. I’ve enlisted Miss MacGrammar to help and I’ve sent a note to Alice at the SHTS to see if she has any ideas. – I expect they had the same problem there, so perhaps she’ll be able to tell me how they managed.