Read Online Jellied Eels and Zeppelins by Sue Taylor - Free Book Online
Authors: Sue Taylor
Tags: History, War, Memoirs
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it was too expensive. Very high it was. My chap Joe, took me on it once, ‘cos I said I hadn’t been on it before, but he didn’t want to sit in the front. When our turn came, he had to sit in the front seat ‘cos it was the only one left. Joe was terrified and turned really green. When he got off, he couldn’t stand. The ride was terrific and I really enjoyed it, but I wouldn’t go on it now!
We never ‘ad much money, so we couldn’t go on a lot. Once, as we went out of the Kursaal, Doris and I got on the weighing machine together and broke it, so we ran out!
We used to travel by train on our days out. We’d pick the tram up at the top of the turning, where the market was in Walthamstow, and travelled to Stratford to board the train. That was when we were going to Walton-on-the-Naze. But when we went to Southend, I used to walk to the Blackhorse Road to catch the train. London, Midland and Scottish (LMS) was the name of the railway company, and it took you right into Southend.
Anyway, when we travelled to Walton, I crocheted hats for all of us and sewed a white feather on the top. Then, when we were riding on the top of the tram to Stratford, we would be able to see the members of our crowd. I used to say ‘There’s another one - she’s got a white feather in her hat!’ If we lost someone coming home, I’d know because there’d be a white feather missing when I’d counted them all. There were usually 24 of us, you see. And, do you know - I remember every one. One used to do the bookwork for the convent school for the poor kids. She was a good person, she was.
Coming back once from a trip to the seaside, Doris was saying how hungry she felt. We got in a carriage that had a little side toilet to it. As there was no light in the main carriage, we put the light on in the cubicle and left the door open. Our manager’s secretary - I’ll never forget her, she was so la-di-da - wanted to come with us. None of us liked her very much, especially Doris, ‘cos she was so stuck up. Well, as Doris was hungry, she decided to eat this hard-boiled egg she had with her, but just as she was about to put it into her mouth, this girl yawned. Doris saw her opportunity and, in the dim light of the carriage, threw the egg at her. ‘How disgusting!’ the girl said. That started us all off and we had this amazing food fight with everything we had in our bags! Then, just before we got to Stratford, we cleared up the carriage - the windows, everything. We never did no damage, we just used to have some good fun, you know!
In the winter, when we couldn’t go to the seaside, we used to go up to London, to the theatre. My friend, Joan, who was the manager of a nice shop in London (I’ve still got a nice pair of scissors from there) said that if ever we wanted to go to the theatre, we were to inform her and she would book us our tickets for sixpence… We used to go to work on a Friday and our foreman used to say ‘Where you goin’ tonight girls?’ After work, we’d walk up Wood Street, near Forest Road, all of us together, and catch the train to go to the theatre. We’d make sure that our seats were booked, then go to the large Lyons Corner House to have something to eat like fish ‘n’ chips.
We saw some lovely shows. I remember there being one show with nude people in it, but we wouldn’t go to that one! We did see Dulcie Gray and her husband (Michael Denison) once and we did go to the White Horse theatre a couple of times too. As there were a lot of us, we got in a bit cheaper. We was artful then, but we didn’t ‘ave much pocket money, see. I didn’t earn my full wages of 28 shillings a week ‘til I was 21. I started on eight shillings a week and, until I came of age, I received tuppence an hour more each birthday. I worked from eight o’clock until half past five, Saturdays ‘til half past 12, and you weren’t allowed to leave until you’d made sure that your desk was all clean and tidy ready for Monday.
We
We never ‘ad much money, so we couldn’t go on a lot. Once, as we went out of the Kursaal, Doris and I got on the weighing machine together and broke it, so we ran out!
We used to travel by train on our days out. We’d pick the tram up at the top of the turning, where the market was in Walthamstow, and travelled to Stratford to board the train. That was when we were going to Walton-on-the-Naze. But when we went to Southend, I used to walk to the Blackhorse Road to catch the train. London, Midland and Scottish (LMS) was the name of the railway company, and it took you right into Southend.
Anyway, when we travelled to Walton, I crocheted hats for all of us and sewed a white feather on the top. Then, when we were riding on the top of the tram to Stratford, we would be able to see the members of our crowd. I used to say ‘There’s another one - she’s got a white feather in her hat!’ If we lost someone coming home, I’d know because there’d be a white feather missing when I’d counted them all. There were usually 24 of us, you see. And, do you know - I remember every one. One used to do the bookwork for the convent school for the poor kids. She was a good person, she was.
Coming back once from a trip to the seaside, Doris was saying how hungry she felt. We got in a carriage that had a little side toilet to it. As there was no light in the main carriage, we put the light on in the cubicle and left the door open. Our manager’s secretary - I’ll never forget her, she was so la-di-da - wanted to come with us. None of us liked her very much, especially Doris, ‘cos she was so stuck up. Well, as Doris was hungry, she decided to eat this hard-boiled egg she had with her, but just as she was about to put it into her mouth, this girl yawned. Doris saw her opportunity and, in the dim light of the carriage, threw the egg at her. ‘How disgusting!’ the girl said. That started us all off and we had this amazing food fight with everything we had in our bags! Then, just before we got to Stratford, we cleared up the carriage - the windows, everything. We never did no damage, we just used to have some good fun, you know!
In the winter, when we couldn’t go to the seaside, we used to go up to London, to the theatre. My friend, Joan, who was the manager of a nice shop in London (I’ve still got a nice pair of scissors from there) said that if ever we wanted to go to the theatre, we were to inform her and she would book us our tickets for sixpence… We used to go to work on a Friday and our foreman used to say ‘Where you goin’ tonight girls?’ After work, we’d walk up Wood Street, near Forest Road, all of us together, and catch the train to go to the theatre. We’d make sure that our seats were booked, then go to the large Lyons Corner House to have something to eat like fish ‘n’ chips.
We saw some lovely shows. I remember there being one show with nude people in it, but we wouldn’t go to that one! We did see Dulcie Gray and her husband (Michael Denison) once and we did go to the White Horse theatre a couple of times too. As there were a lot of us, we got in a bit cheaper. We was artful then, but we didn’t ‘ave much pocket money, see. I didn’t earn my full wages of 28 shillings a week ‘til I was 21. I started on eight shillings a week and, until I came of age, I received tuppence an hour more each birthday. I worked from eight o’clock until half past five, Saturdays ‘til half past 12, and you weren’t allowed to leave until you’d made sure that your desk was all clean and tidy ready for Monday.
We
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