Open Writing

We moved to London in 1961. It had been exciting living abroad in Malaysia and Germany. Now Alison and Richard would discover what living in Britain, the land of their birth, was like.

First of all we had to find somewhere to live and accommodation in London was expensive. We finally settled in Tottenham, not far from Finsbury Park underground station, where Hugh commenced his week-day journey to the War Office, where he now worked.

The flat we found was on the top floor of number 47 Kitchener Road – a good old Army name, perhaps a good omen, but not one of the reasons why we chose it. Because the house was Victorian, the rooms were large. There were three good sized bedrooms and an enormous living room at the front. The kitchen was tiny but adequate, as were the bathroom and loo.

Mr and Mrs Bosley, a very pleasant elderly couple, lived on the ground floor. We were their tenants and couldn’t have had a more congenial pair of landlords for the two years we lived there. Alison and Richard quickly settled into the school, which was near our new home.

We enjoyed the lively atmosphere in Tottenham. There were many shops and an excellent Saturday market in the vicinity, which was a great novelty to us. We soon realised that we were going to enjoy living in London.

After a few weeks I found that once I’d finished the housework I had quite a lot of time on my hands. Living overseas I never had the opportunity of working – the children were very young and the Army didn’t approve of wives working abroad. However, no such restrictions applied in Britain.

The bright-faced lady in the Labour Exchange eyed me up and down then said: “Mr Cohen, who owns the jeweller's shop on the Tottenham Highroad, has just been in. He’s looking for a part-time assistant sales lady, why don’t you go and see him?

I’d never worked in a jeweller's shop before, and I’d never been a sales lady, but this pleasant person seemed to think I’d be a dab hand at the job, so off I went. The hours were ten-fifteen to three-thirty Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Wednesday was early closing day when I would finish at one. As Mr Cohen was a fan of Tottenham Hotspurs, and enjoyed watching his team play their Saturday home matches, I came into work for a couple of hours when required.

I liked working in a jeweller's shop, finding it interesting, and became particularly adept at selling engagement rings. I really enjoyed that part of my job – matching the ring to the girl. When Mr Cohen noticed this, I rose in his estimation.

On Wednesdays, sports afternoon at the War Office, Hugh would call for me at one o’clock and off we would go exploring London. I loved our Wednesday afternoon jaunts. We would have a quick snack and then take the tube into the city. Sometimes we’d go to Harrods to see how many well-known personalities we could spot. It was surprising the number of famous people who went there on a Wednesday afternoon.

Also there was so much that one could find to do in London, such as visiting the latest exhibitions. There were art galleries and museums galore, all tremendously exciting. London became a wonderland of discovery with unusual places and bookshops waiting to be explored. Foyle’s was a tremendous find. Even the cinemas were better in London and the theatres too, but we had to ration ourselves as theatre seats were pretty expensive, even then.

One of the many trips I took with Alison and Richard during the school holidays was to Southend. We started off in sunshine but when we reached our destination, the rain was pouring down. Sitting in a shelter on the pier we scoffed fish and chips wrapped in a newspaper. Recalling my own mis-spent childhood, I changed all the silver I had in my purse for pennies and let the pair of them loose on the slot machines. They had a wonderful time and we went home stony broke but happy.

Weekends were even better, because we could go around as a family. A great find was Kew Gardens. The Zoological Gardens was another terrific place for a family without a great deal of money to spend on treats. However, London was always an interesting place for observing people of all kinds. All shapes and shades of interesting humans visiting the capital of Britain for the first time in their lives.