Each week I post another fascinating true-life excerpt from my friend & mentor’s journals while she was Housekeeper & Cook at The Flamingo, during the period 1968-1999, titled Cookie’s Diaries. Together we’ve changed a few things around & set Cookies story in a fictional Australian country town so as to protect the innocent & the not so innocent!  We hope you enjoy Cookies journey from such humble & all but penniless beginnings to owning & running the highly successful country guesthouse, ‘The Flamingo’.  To read the last chapter, click HERE.
The Walk Around – Fire Grates & Kitchen Scraps
On that first morning as I followed Frederick & Jamie around, I was shown through the magnificent rooms, stopping to hear stories on how various pieces of furniture were procured, it seemed each rug or each vase had been placed for a reason or effect, I was to learn the name of most of the furniture which was of the Jacobean style, although to my uneducated eyes it just looked old & possibly antique, which didn’t really impress me to tell the truth as I’d always had old or second hand furniture & like many women, dreamed of owning the new streamlined coloured vinyl styles all the rage in the 1960’s. I guessed that many of these old pieces were of great value, although it would be years before I was ready to appreciate that side of Housekeeping & hardly gave the furniture a passing thought.
After a leisurely walk from room to room & then through the gardens, work sheds & laundry, I could hardly believe this grand place would now be my home. Our Walk Around finished, as it would many, many more times over the years in Frederick’s office, where the subject of my employment was discussed for the first time.  I readily agreed to an undetermined settling in period to see how things worked out & that given the ‘issue with the children’ as Frederick so delicately put it in reference to my very young family, & my lack of knowledge in Housekeeping, it would be prudent if I looked upon my position as a Housekeeper-in-Training rather than Housekeeper & Cook.
I had no idea what that involved although I doubted it would be too challenging as I considered myself a very good housekeeper, after all, what else had I been doing with my time all these years but look after children & keep house? I remember feeling very positive indeed after that first morning Walk Around & discussion & I was extremely confident that in a week or two I would be able to take on the role of Housekeeper & Cook easily enough & organise things my own way. I was just glad my situation had finally been discussed & was now out in the open. Continue Reading 
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