"She said that she felt like the Queen Mother, riding along, waving to everybody."
I am almost 70 years old but still work part time. I have 2 hobbies. I like writing short stories all the year round and am working on a novel. During the summer months I like to attend public events with my classic car, wagon and collection of invalid vehicles. Of all the stories that I could tell, this is the most sincere one that I could compress into the two minutes. Inside Lives was excellent - first class- fun, instructional and rewarding.
Alice was my mother in law. Awkward, stubborn as a mule, yet surprisingly enough, she was also my best friend. But...this day belonged to her. It was her One Hundredth birthday. With ten decades of candles...presents...cards...even a telegram from the Queen. A horse and carriage had been booked to take Alice to her little party, doing a tour of Nantwich en-route. Alice's daughter Audrey would ride alongside her in the carriage, whilst I rode on top by the driver. By coincidence, we were followed along Millstone Lane by a Police motorcyclist so Alice thought she had her own Police escort. She said that she felt like the Queen Mother, riding along, waving to everybody. Then of course there was me on the top shouting down: 'Yes, she's a hundred today!' She even had a visit from the local Mayor and Mayoress and...as a complete surprise, the Mayor offered Alice, Audrey, and myself a chauffeur driven ride in the civic Rolls Royce, which was brand new that day... The Roller purred through villages where Alice had lived during her lifetime - never had she experienced such luxury. From the horse drawn carriage to the Rolls - in the space of a few hours, it symbolised the changes in modes of transport over the hundred years she had lived. Later, I took a very happy Alice home. It was the end of her special day. And what did she say? 'That ride in the Rolls Royce was lovely, but nothing beats the comfort of my own bed'. She was content...happy...and knackered! But then...she was a hundred. | 
