Our Grandmother’s Very Ordinary Tuesday

For her grandmother's eightieth birthday, Rosa wanted to record an interview about major events. She prepared questions about marriage, moving house and raising children. Her grandmother listened politely, then asked whether they could talk about an ordinary Tuesday from the time she was twenty instead.

Rosa was puzzled but switched on the recorder. Her grandmother described catching an early bus, eating an apple behind a shop counter and meeting a friend to exchange library books. She remembered the friend's gloves, which were always a different colour from her coat. There was no dramatic event anywhere in the story.

At first, Rosa worried that the recording would be dull. Then her grandmother described saving the last coin in her purse to phone that friend after an argument. She had walked past three telephone boxes before finding the courage to stop. Rosa leaned closer and asked what she had said.

Her grandmother could not remember the exact words, only that they had met for lunch the next day. Rosa left the question about major events unanswered. When she played the recording for the family, everyone listened to the ordinary Tuesday with unexpected interest. Her grandmother asked for a copy. She said it was nice to hear about a day when she had been a young woman, not yet anybody's grandmother.