Right, where to start - I guess I just found it surprising and hugely touching. Twitter is quite toxic, seemingly bringing out the worst in many folk and so many people were brought together in joy at this simple tale.
I think it was when the author simply stated it was his grandmother with such obvious pride and love - I wasn’t expecting something sweet, quirky and interesting to turn into a personal family story. It made me think of Florence as a much more real person.
It’s 1933, she was basically a live in maid it seems, a teenage girl/woman from probably a working class background who still managed to follow her passion and get the chance to be the first to do something quite extraordinary and unusual for a young woman from her background, to be recognised and celebrated with everything that embodies upperclass male privilege towering in the background. That she went on to have a long life surrounded by a loving family is lovely - i do get emotional by old photographs of people when they are young and full of joy and hope, next to photographs of them as old people who will have experienced so much including heartache and tragedy and now are at the end if their lives.
I just thought the photos were marvellous, showing a different time but make the people look so relatable - that researching his beloved grandmother led the author to find the lost/unknown video footage was just brilliant. What a wonderful thing for the family to have to remember her by.