Auriol’s Tea Towel Story

What a beautiful name, Auriol. I’ve never heard of it before, but stems from the Roman word meaning ‘gold’ or ‘golden’. I first met Auriol about 25 years ago but have never known what her name was. To me, she has always been ‘Fee’s Mum’, Fee being a very good friend of mine and a wonderful supporter of the Virtual Tea Towel Museum (even though she rarely uses a tea towel herself).

I was WhatsApping Fee on a video call while she was visiting her mother. We had three-way conversation, which as usual led to a discussion about tea towels. “Would you like to be a Guest Tea Towel 2020?” I asked. I’ve never been one to miss an opportunity. Fee was very enthusiastic about this, even though we weren’t taking about her tea towels. Auriol agreed. Did I think she would do it? Not sure. But within 10 minutes of the end of our conversation, I received a picture of Auriol’s favourite tea towel and a recording of her story. Let this be a lesson to everyone. If you want to be a Guest Tea Towel, just record it and I can transcribe it. Here is Auriol’s Tea Towel Story:

“This tea towel came from ‘Les Saveurs de Le Cuisine’ (meaning the flavours of the kitchen) which is a Coffee Shop in Dartmouth where they have the most wonderful French Coffee and a delightful patisserie including all sorts of different coloured meringues. It is an absolute pleasure to go there but you can’t eat all the cakes but you can buy little miniatures and take ten home to enjoy them.

Dartmouth is where Peta lived (Peta was Auriol’s daughter and Fee’s sister). I used to go there quite often and take Peta with me. We would indulge in ‘naughty cakes’. Since Peta died I think I have only been there once. When Lockdown is finished I think that will be one of the first places I’ll go to and have lunch with a big glass of wine”

Thank you Auriol for a picture of a lovely tea towel, with a story. Thanks to Fee for good interviewing skills, maybe you’d like to interview some other people!