Knock Knock!

I've been thinking a bit about "The Front Door" - the threshold to the Englishman's home & castle.  It's often somewhat overlooked in design terms (but not with the great "design your front door" options that Yale now offers), but as your front door is the first thing that greets guests, surely it should be as attractive and welcoming as possible?  People often put a Christmas wreath on their front door to decorate it during the festive season, but why stop there?  At ours, we ring the changing seasons with pretty wreaths to reflect the time of year.

Of course, we do have some funny issues with our current "front" door, mostly because we have two, neither of which are at the front of the house..... which causes great confusion to delivery drivers!  So when we get a knock at the door, firstly the dogs go mad barking so we're not sure which door the knock came from, and then we have to chase around the house to find out which door they are at, often tripping over the cat, who has been alarmed by the barking, in the process.  Oh the joys of old houses!

When I was small, I drove my Mum mad (I know this now, but obviously didn't realise it then!) by wanting to tell her my Knock Knock jokes.  My proviso for this display of humour was that I actually had to be standing outside the front door and she had to be inside, so I could "knock knock" on the door with my hand.  We must have spent hours there whilst she patiently listened (and laughed, repeatedly....) to my jokes - thanks for your never ending patience Mum  :)  I can still recall my favourites today  (more years ago than I care to remember.....)

Me (excitedly, aged about 6)            Knock Knock          (both said and actioned!)
Mum (somewhat resignedly)            Who's there?

Me                                                              Henrietta

Mum                                                          Henrietta who?

Me  (giggling)                                       Henrietta worm that was in his apple!

Me (even more excitedly,still 6)      Knock Knock          (ditto as above)
Mum (even more resignedly)           Who's there?

Me                                                                 Ash

Mum (reading a book by now)          Ash who?

Me  (giggling even more)                   Bless you! I didn't mean to make you sneeze!

This scenario could go on for some time, depending on how many I could remember.  My Uncle James (Mum's brother), is a great raconteur and joke teller and was my hero when I was a child.  Every time he visited he would tell me new Knock Knock jokes, and those would go into my then current repertoire - I'm quite surprised that Mum continued to allow James to visit!  I now have a toddler of my own and am just hoping that Mum doesn't recount to him how I used to tell my Knock Knock jokes, otherwise I'll be the one sat on the stairs......

Hopefully, next time there's a knock on the front door, you'll be reminded of this rather than worrying about if it's a cold caller, and it may just make you smile too.