´Dear Paddy,
Your father has a new job, with 2,000 people under him. He´s a gardener at the local cemetery.
Since I last wrote I have had all my teeth out and a new cooker put in.
I was going to send you a turkey but it got better.
I sent you a coat in the post. When the post office weighed it they said I´d have to pay extra for the buttons because they were so heavy. So I cut the buttons off. You´ll find them in the top pocket.
We´ve had a threatening letter from the undertaker. Unless we pay the outstanding money for your grandma´s funeral by Wednesday - up she comes.
I must close now. I would have enclosed some money, but I´d already sealed the envelope.
A team of council workers were drilling nearby and accidentally cut through the drains to the house. Since then there´s been a terrible smell from your loving mother, Nancy.´
