Aunt Katinka was always a staunch advocate of petticoating and claimed that it was commonplace in ‘the old country. It’s not at all common here in Blighty, apart from at Aunt Katinka’s house. My mother used to send me to stay with her a few times a year as a child and spent every moment having to abide by her unusual house rules.
From the moment I arrived, I’d be buttoned into a dress and if I showed even the slightest hint of objection, she’d swap my knickers for a nappy which wouldn’t be changed until bedtime. She didn’t make me wear girls’ clothes every day. Some days I wore my own clothes but always over my knickers, or if I’d been disobedient, over a nappy. To begin with, I suffered terrible nappy rash but I soon learned to shut up and put up as I’d rather spend my days wearing a pair of knickers than a nappy.