I’d already had a paper round for several years before I got a daily one in Sudbury as a teenager. When Dad gave up the village shop in Lavenham and moved to Sudbury, he didn’t give up the Sunday newspaper supply and deliveries. From before I was born, he would get up before first lightContinue reading “The Sunday Papers”
Tag Archives: family
Christmas
Christmas was nothing like the commercial spend-fest that it is now, but it was our biggest holiday of the year, and we always looked forward to it enormously. Mum and Dad went to great lengths to make sure Christmas was very special, even when there was clearly little money to spare. We always had aContinue reading “Christmas”
Outside in the garden
Opposite the kitchen, across a small concrete yard, were two creosote-black shed doors. On the right was the coal shed. The coalman used to come regularly to deliver coal, emptying sacks of it onto the small heap at the back of the shed. Mum or dad would go out to the shed a fill theContinue reading “Outside in the garden”
Monday was Wash-day
With four children under 5 years old, there were always nappies – terry-towelling nappies soaking in buckets, being laundered, hanging on the washing line, and being ironed. How did she keep up with it? Wash day was only once a week, on Mondays, and pretty laborious. Everyone did their laundry on Mondays; it was time-consuming, andContinue reading “Monday was Wash-day”
Another baby sister
Dad went to fight in the Second World War, but can only have been 16 when he joined up. He was stationed somewhere in northern India, close to Burma perhaps. He didn’t talk about the war, but he never wanted to travel abroad again. He had a “war wound”; he’d lost the end of aContinue reading “Another baby sister”
More about Harold
Dad told me once that he never bought anything he couldn’t afford, so he wouldn’t take out HP (a hire-purchase agreement that allowed you to pay in instalments), but instead saved up first for what he wanted then paid in cash. They did have a mortgage on the house, at 1A Newmans Road, and IContinue reading “More about Harold”
Early days
In one of my earliest memories, I’m standing in the living room, carefully placing freshly washed and dried cutlery into the top drawer of the sideboard. The sideboard is teak, and I understand that it was expensive and must be treated with care, as should the dining table and chairs that go with it. AllContinue reading “Early days”
Fading Memories 