Sunday

My 20^th birthday!

Yesterday we spent the morning cleaning paint from the windows and washing the newly tiled floors.  The table and chairs were delivered as I was cooking lunch, which was very convenient as we didn’t have to eat it standing up!

In the afternoon Alan had to go into Rayleigh to get a bag of coal.  The heater that Vic had given to us wouldn’t work so we didn’t have any form of heating.  Alan couldn’t get any coal and came back with an electric fire he had paid a guinea for.  The man in the shop had shown him how to wire up a plug and that explained why Vic’s heater didn’t work.  Alan had attached the wires back to front!  The man said it was a wonder he hadn’t blown himself up!

We had always planned to go to see Mum and Dad today as it is my birthday.  We intended to be there early but we didn’t leave the house until 11 am and it was 1 o’clock before we arrived.  Public transport and a reduced Sunday timetable isn’t an easy journey.

We were down to our last £1 and Alan tried to get ‘cheap day returns’ at Leigh Station but was told they were only available for the journey to Fenchurch Street.  We only had enough money for singles so that is what we had to buy.  We still had a £5 cheque, a wedding present from Dad’s boss and we were hoping Dad would be able to cash it for us but he said he couldn’t change it and put it back through the boss’s bank.  When I told him we couldn’t get home, he loaned us £5.  Good ole Dad!

My birthday present from Mum and Dad was a carrier bag full of tins of food.  A strange but very, very useful present.  It was intended for our store cupboard but we will have to use them before the end of the month and pay-day.

Mum was near to tears when we left and I cried when we got out of sight.  It still was home to me.

We arrived at Leigh Station at 11pm, to find the last bus to Hullbridge had left at 10.40.  We do need to check the local Sunday timetables.  We didn’t know what to do.  No buses came along that might have got us nearer to home, so Alan had to find a taxi.  When asked how much the fare would be the driver said 30/-.  Alan told him he couldn’t afford that and started to walk away.  The driver reduced it to 22/6d.  There was nothing else we could do.  We had to get home.  The remaining £3.17s.6d, minus the train fare, had to last us until the end of the month and payday.

April 2023

Those early years of marriage were blighted by lack of money.  Each pay-day was greeted with relief.  But we survived and survived without credit cards.  When our sons were 5 and 3 years old a job was created when a branch of Essex libraries was opened in the village.

My interest as a volunteer at the temporary book lending arrangement in the village hall stood me in good stead.  I applied, was appointed as library assistant and 35 years later retired as library manager.

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