Thank you, everyone, for your support for my writing! My blog this week includes an excerpt from A Thousand Kisses. Hélène had recently been married, was expecting her and Walter’s first child in a few months, and had successfully escaped from Russia just weeks before the 1917 October Revolution – it must have been one of the happiest times in her life. She had finally achieved everything she had hoped for: a father for her daughter, Lili, a new life in England, and a baby on the way.
Read moreThe Intrepid Traveller
Thank you, everyone, for your positive comments and support for my writing! This week I’m posting an article I wrote called The Intrepid Traveller: I love visiting countries with different cultures, but it’s the simple exchanges that enrich the experience. I’d love to know what you think!
‘I think I just paid 5 cents for a banana. I’m not really sure, because the currency in this country has so many zeros after the number that instant calculations are challenging and I’m never certain I have the decimal in the right place. So I could have paid 50 cents. Or $5.00. Half a cent seems ludicrously low, even in this inexpensive country. And who wouldn’t trust the sweet old lady wearing a basket of bananas on her head? I pointed to the selection of my choice and she pulled it off the bunch. She looked happy to have found a customer on this dusty back road, and I was grateful to have procured a quick snack. Not knowing how to ask the price in the local language, I simply held out a handful of currency in my open palm, and she extracted a 100 schilling coin. A trust was immediately formed and the exchange became more than just a trade of goods for money. She flashed me a grin with a few teeth shining pearly-white, and as I smiled back at her and thanked her in Swahili (just about the extent of my limited vocabulary), I realized this simple transaction had enriched my life by far more than a piece of fruit.
Read moreHélène’s 25th Birthday in Saint-Pétersbourg
Thank you, everyone, for your positive comments and support for my writing! This week we will re-connect with Hélène who was working as a governess in Russia in 1914. Having lived in Saint-Pétersbourg for four-and-a-half years, she now spoke fluent Russian, spent her spare time with her friend, Marie, and had settled into the routines of the Stolberg family. Little did she know that her relatively carefree life would soon come to an end, as WW1 loomed just around the corner.
Read moreMarketing's Revenge
Thank you, everyone, for your positive comments and support for my writing! This week I am posting another short essay I wrote called ‘Marketing’s Revenge: It’s creepy how those boots keep stalking me.’ I’d love to know what you think!
‘I think a pair of boots is stalking me. Everywhere I look, often when I least expect it, there they are. It’s a little creepy. They look like the sexy, high-heeled red beauties I checked out online a few days ago. They seem to know I once looked at them fondly, but changed my mind, wisely opting for a more practical, weather-resistant, low-healed pair in black. And yet, the red boots persist. They are clearly not ready to be disappointed, perhaps jealous of the other boots, acting like a rejected lover. Honestly, it’s getting a little sad as they turn up everywhere, perennially hopeful, with pitiful reminders that they’re still available. They brazenly flash “Buy Now!” notices like an exhibitionist demanding attention. When this approach fails, they resort to discounting, trying to tempt me with better and better offers. They tease me by parading their alter ego in brown. In fact, the retailer they are in league with is eager for me to meet the rest of their boot family and friends; surely there is a pair I wouldn’t be able to resist.
Read moreA Thousand Kisses: Hélène’s Daughter, Lili, in France During WW1
Thank you, everyone, for your positive comments and support for my writing! This week we will travel to 1915 France, where Hélène’s daughter, Lili, was living with the Tellier family. Not able to support her daughter on her own, in 1910 Hélène left Lili in Barisis in north-eastern France while she went to Saint-Pétersbourg to work as a governess. As soon as WW1 started, a large area of France around the Belgian border was occupied by the Germans as they marched to Paris. Three years later, Barisis, like many of the villages, was completely destroyed as both sides fought over this territory. Sometimes, only a few metres of ground changed hands after months of trench warfare: The Battle of the Somme, Hill 70, The Battle of the Marne were just some key battles fought here. In 1916, luckily, Lili and the Tellier family managed to escape the area, and walked - actually walked! - to Montargis, where Lili’s grandmother, Charlotte, was now living.
Read moreHélène’s Life in Hull in 1917 in A Thousand Kisses
Thank you, everyone, for your positive comments and support for my writing! This week I am including an excerpt from when Hélène first moved to Hull, having lived in Russia for 8 years. She was staying with her parents-in-law, but spending most of her time with her husband’s sister, Minnie-Annie, and her family. After a few weeks, she was starting to feel at home in Hull, waiting for the war to end so her husband, Walter (who was still with his ship in the Gulf of Finland), and daughter, Lili (who was living with Hélène’s maman and the rest of the family in France) could join her there, and, with their new baby, they could start their lives together as a family.
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A Stitch in Time
For my Mom, it's not the sweater that counts, it's the knitting
My Mom doesn't need to knit her own clothes, Debbie Scoffield writes, but this latest project is a metaphor for her long life
ILLUSTRATION BY WENTING LI
CONTRIBUTED TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL, PUBLISHED MARCH 1, 2018
My mother has finally finished the sweater she spent months knitting – in fact, it had taken so long I was afraid it wouldn't be ready in time. Not that there was exactly a deadline, no event she's planning to wear it to or anything like that. But she's 95, so what I mean is, I was worried that, after all that work, would she have chance to wear it? I have to admit I was also thinking: How much use will she get out if it? Why bother?
Read moreHélène’s son, Albert Walter Scoffield: The Miracle Baby in A Thousand Kisses
Thank you, everyone, for your positive comments and support for my writing! February 27, 1918, exactly 100 years ago today, was an important day in Hélène’s life. It was the day her second child, Albert Walter Scoffield, was born in the most extraordinary circumstances. Conceived in Petrograd, Russia, born in Hull, England, he was a miracle in every way. He was also my father.
Read moreHélène in 1914 Russia in A Thousand Kisses
Thanks, everyone, for your positive comments and support for my writing! This week, I wanted to talk about Hélène’s early years in Russia. She arrived in 1909, when the Romanov family had been ruling the country for almost 300 years, there was relative peace, and Saint-Pétersbourg was at its political and cultural height. The city had been built by Peter the Great and his heirs beginning in the late 1600’s in an Italian architectural style and with its multiple canals was dubbed the “Venice of the North”, and “Russia’s Window on Europe”. Culturally, the sophisticated city boasted world-renowned opera and ballet companies, orchestras, composers, and writers. French was the language of the Imperial family and upper class, and 12,000 French nationals were living in Russia. Even clothing and furnishings were ordered from Paris. At the time, it was very acceptable for a young woman to travel from France to Russia by herself to seek employment and adventure. What a perfect environment and opportunity for Hélène: aside from leaving her family in France, Saint-Pétersbourg must have felt like home with an exotic twist.
Read moreHélène’s Childhood in France in A Thousand Kisses
Thank you, again, everyone, for your interest in my writing and novel, A Thousand Kisses. This week, I wanted to talk about a significant part of Hélène’s childhood, and include an excerpt from the book.
Hélène’s early childhood was happy, with a mother and father she adored, and a younger sister she could baby. When she was 6, her parents divorced and her father moved to another town. She didn’t see him very often after that, and an important early male bond was shattered. For Hélène’s maman, Charlotte, the resulting financial situation would have been dire: it was difficult for a woman with young children to work, and, often, the only option (aside from prostitution) was to find another husband to support her and her children. Hélène’s mother dedicated herself to this task, soon found a Captain in the military, and they quickly married. Captain Gilles Collard was, of course, the man who later molested Hélène, and so the unfortunate situation of a dependent mother, abusive step-father, and vulnerable daughter, was established.
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