94 year old Granny – “I’m the most ungangsta person in all the world”

Housesitting normally means taking care of dogs, cats and a garden, but on this particular housesit in the south west of France we were entrusted with a bonus Granny named Audrey, aged 94. We were engaged for 6 weeks and had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. As soon as we arrived we realised we had quite a character on our hands.  

Audrey has a lot of interesting stories to tell and we had great fun not only interviewing her, but also taking her out and about on our weekend adventures.

Audrey has a fabulous sense of humour and enjoyed herself immensely during the filming process. In fact she was quite the natural in front of the camera, hamming it up and having a great laugh afterwards. The Granny Gangsta segments were gold, but hard to film because I kept laughing and having to ask her to say things again. She got right into “Rock on!”

There were a lot of poignant moments too, as we delved into the life of a woman who has always been vibrant and active and now finds herself needing assistance to do the most basic of tasks, which drives her mad. Her Christmas card list has shrunk dramatically as her friends have died. “If I had my choice I’d die in my sleep,” she says.

We were thrilled that Audrey had a collection of old photographs, and delighted that she allowed us to use them in the video.

Audrey left school when she was 14 years old. World War II broke out on her 16th birthday and she joined the Women’s Auxilary Air Force, known as the WAAF. She was stationed with the Polish squadron of the Royal Air Force.

After the war Audrey joined the civil service and rose to the rank of higher executive officer. She was a smart cookie and had a top secret security clearance.

We really hope you enjoy this video about a woman of great spirit.

Housesitting

We are booked for housesits through the Trusted Housesitters organisation. If you click that link and decide to join Trusted Housesitters you’ll receive a 20% discount on your joining fee, and we’ll receive 2 months of free membership.