The Terraced Wedge We finally moved from the awful flat to a house we all called ’76’. My brother could now come home to be educated. 76 was close enough to 88, my grand- mother’s house, for her to help out when Willie had to work late. Unless one has never lived in a terrace… Continue reading Pre WW2, The 30s, The Terraced wedge
Month: November 2010
Pre WW2, The 30s, The era of cycle accidents
I am accident prone and wont to make snap decisions. At fourteen I bought my first bicycle, second-hand, for a pound, and learned to ride it. It was a heavy, characterless brute, with only one gear. A month later I went on my first real journey, to visit an aunt. She was out, so I… Continue reading Pre WW2, The 30s, The era of cycle accidents
Pre WW2, The 30s, Scouting and the bottle of almonds
My mother, Willie, was always inventive and resourceful and was consequently a horder. Unfortunately she passed the latter tendency on to me and I own a choked workshop to prove it. It was my first scout camp, I had only left the Cubs and been promoted to the Scouts in the late Autumn and here… Continue reading Pre WW2, The 30s, Scouting and the bottle of almonds
Pre WW2, Tha 30s, Teenage stress
To some extent, auto suggestion, prompts a lot of the ills of today. With the vast amount of material needed for TV and the media, editors are less critical of material submitted. I suppose I come into the latter category – so be it. Through their lifestyle young people in the 30s, were not open… Continue reading Pre WW2, Tha 30s, Teenage stress
Pre WW2, The 30s, Sex and child abuse
I often wonder if young people, with shiny new degrees lecturing us on TV, in dictatorial terms, with such conviction, have really had any experience of the problems they are allegedly solving. I have met a number of those problems head on, at a time when they were not thought to be so. From the… Continue reading Pre WW2, The 30s, Sex and child abuse
Pre WW2, The 30s, Willy and the suitcase
My mother’s nickname was Willie, and you can imagine the confusion in small minds when my children referred to ‘Granny Willie’ – but that’s our family way. Willie was one of those who constantly find themselves in alien situations, mostly because of a determination to right wrongs – a sort of latter day, female Don… Continue reading Pre WW2, The 30s, Willy and the suitcase