An Old Friend is Back

     When I first moved to Freeport I rented a small room from an elderly lady. No TV (unless I wanted to sit in the living room and watch what she watched). Fortunately I was "adopted" by Jeanne and Paul Potter, who invited me to come to their home some evenings. It was the Potters who got me hooked on the British series "Upstairs, Downstairs" which ran on PBS' Masterpiece Theatre.
     I just became enamoured of the series, delighting in each episode and the unfolding lives of the characters. One reason why the series appealed to me was that it gave me an insight into my father's parents. They were born into and raised to adulthood in the British class system that is depicted in the series. I came to better understand their attitudes toward many things.
     When the series came out on DVD I bought the complete set and have spent days on end watching one episode after another--much to the dismay of my wife, who has never been a fan.
    And now, o joy of joys, on the 40th anniversary of the start of the series, they have produced a three episode sequel. Last Sunday was the first installment and it lived up to every expectation. Only one cast member from the original series is in the new one (Jean Marsh who played the parlor maid Rose and now returns as the head housekeeper), which takes place many years after the first series ended, but in the same house (165 Eaton Place--pronounced One-Six-Five Eaton Place), and it follows the lives of both the servants and the masters of the house.
     When I went to the UK in 1976 I forced my companions to accompany me to find 165 Eaton Place. Sadly there is no house number 165 on Eaton Place--which was probably a fortunate thing as whoever would have lived there would have had to suffer constant visitors looking for Lord and Lady Bellamy, or Mr. Hudson the butler or Miss Georgina (Lord Bellamy's ward)--can you say crush? And I was not the only one, even Snoopy in one of the Peanuts cartoon strips at the time was infatuated with her.
     Welcome back my old friend, it's so nice to see you again. You've aged better than I.