Page 34

It got so warm we even went for a paddle, we had such an amazing time, I dont think I have ever had such a laugh at almost no cost. we had a slap up dinner, bacon, sausage and eggs also fried bread, it was a meal fit for a king, well almost. That night ,our last, we all sat in the larger tent and played cards for ages. Then we went for a walk along the beach, we played leap frog, I have never laughed so much and we all got on so well ,they new each other I was the newcomer.

Another freezing night, I couldnt wait to get home and have a bath I thought that would be the only way to get warm again. In spite of the cold nights I was so glad I had been with them, it certainly was an experience. The food the tents and the company. We all said we would do it again, maybe in warmer times. It was soon time to pack up and make our way home, at least it wasnt raining.

It took us half the time to get home , I asked Vic if he wanted to come in and have a cup of tea but he declined, said he would see me at work in the morning, he said thankyou for being a good sport and helping to make the weekend a good laugh.

Back to work, although we had such a laugh you could hardly call it work. June , myself and a couple of butchers were in the preparation area below the shop floor, where we took the butter out of the packaging and cut it into manageable pieces. Many a time we dropped the butter on the floor which had sawdust on it, we would pick up the butter and scrape off the sawdust and whatever else was stuck to it. I think the worse thing I saw was whole sides of bacon taken out of the coldstore covered in maggots, they would wash them off under the taps and continue to bone and slice it for the shop, same thing with the fresh meat, if the customers had known half of what happened down there no-one would buy anything but what the eye doesnt see the heart doesnt grieve about.

It was christmas time we had a few relatives from Rotherham coming to our house for christmas, it would be really nice seeing them. We had a lovely christmas, plenty of food, my Mum was an amazing cook, loads of booze.

My Dad had done loads of work to the house he had decorated it from top to bottom, built a really nice fireplace in the living room, every room was now carpeted, it really did look good. Everything paid for by Mr Press the landlord. It was improving his property, my Dad also did all the minor repairs even major ones if he could, I dont think Mr Press could believe his luck.It was soon time to go back to work. I was still going out with Vic now and again but it was nothing serious, it suited us both the way it was.

June was all excited her brother was due to be demobbed from the Royal Airforce on January 19th 1960 he had been in Germany for the last two years, she said she would introduce us sometime, he was a year older than me. Every tuesday night I used to go to Junes flat, have tea and she would do my hair, it was blonde then, she would do my roots put it in rollers and I would travel acroos London on the tube looking really glamourous.

It was such a tuesday night, June was in the middle of doing my hair when there was a knock at the door, it was her brother Mike, here was me with bleach on my hair, well just my luck. He was a really goodlooking guy,tall, muscular, blonde with blue eyes. If it hadnt been for the state of me I might have stood a chance, thats life. He stayed about 15 mins. and then went to see his Mum who lived next door to June. June and I cracked up , our timing was really off, evidently he wasnt due until 10pm and it was only 7pm.