Chapter 1 Chapter One ...............................Married Life. Well my friends as promised here is the starting tale of my married life which takes you right back to the 1950s. It has to be remembered that life was entirely different then to what it is now and some of my stories may seem a bit odd to everyday thinking but I just hope whoever reads them will enjoy their trip back in time. ............................................................ Married Life. When hubby and I went back to Loughborough the day after our wedding in London in September 1949 we went straight to the house where hubby had rented two rooms. I wasn't over thrilled with the place and we had not been there three months when hubby's mother told us that half a house was being let out just down the road from her. The only problem was she lived in a sleepy little village about 5 miles from Loughborough and if we did take it hubby would have to bike to and from work each day. We were hoping that it would not be too long before the firm hubby worked for had one or two houses to let in Loughborough that they rented to their employees. I fully intended to look for a job to help out with everyday life and its problems but my hubby asked me not to rush into getting a job just in case we got a house and would have to start packing stuff to move again. Anyway we decided to take the offer of the half house just along from where hubby's parents lived. It was in January 1950 when my hubby and I moved to his home village where we went to share a home with an elderly gentleman who I will refer to as Kerry. It was an Olde Worlde village with one red phone box in the Bull Ring for emergencies, Gawd knows what folks did if they had an accident in their home because no way could they get to the Bull Ring, but to have even one phone box was progress at that time. Houses to rent were not in abundance then so the next best thing was to go in rooms until you were allocated a house from the council OR as I said through the firm the person worked for. The house we moved into was a very large double fronted house that at some time during its 250/300 year reign had housed gentry. Kerry owned the house through an inheritance and he had one side of it and we rented the other side. He had been there many years It still had some boarded up windows from years on Kerry's side from when there was a tax on windows. I believe it was something to do with the expense of glass as well. The tax was repealed until 1851 and council tax took over. Kerry was oblivious to the boarded up windows and as it was not any windows that I had to use I deemed it not my place to say anything about them. It also had a pan lavatory outside in the large back garden-cum-jungle. The house was also separated from the old building next door by having roughly an 8 inch gap between the two buildings as though segregated. I will never forget the first night we moved there because hubby and I were settled down in bed after being absolutely shattered with getting the furniture, what bit was there was all settled in to our liking. I was just dropping off to sleep when I heard what I thought was a clip clopping and a whinny from a horse. I had the bedroom window open a fraction but an awful stench was pervading the bedroom so I thought it better to shut the window. I never looked out of the window because I wanted to get it shut quickly because of the smell. The clip clopping started again and I dug hubby in the ribs and asked him if he could hear it too. I was, putting it crudely, absolutely gobsmacked when hubby said dont worry about it because its the 9 o'clock horses come to empty the pans. I had been through poor times myself plus a war but this was the first time I had ever heard of this. To make matters more complicated it was then 11-30pm and hubby had to be up early to go to work. I had not been to view the outside loo when hubby and I had called to see if we could rent it or I would have known it was one that had to be emptied. Oh Boy! So this was how country folk lived.!!!!!!! Mind you many of us still had to have a "po" as they were called under the bed in case they had a call of nature during the night and it had to be emptied the next morning into the outside toilets but this was the first time I had ever heard of it being collected to take it to the sewer by horses. Quite an experience. We settled in and got on extremely well with Kerry and one Sunday morning after living there for about a month there was a banging on the front door and some religious fanatic shouting "There is only room for 3 thousand more in heaven!" I was none too pleased with this because I was not feeling too good and I just opened the window and yelled down at him " If you dont sod off there will only be room for 2999 !!!!!!!!!!". More to come tomorrow, if you want to carry on that is. The picture is of Cliff and I at our Cockney wedding reception in my parents front room in Peckham nearly 69 years ago.
Oh great story Maisie...and stunning wedding photo.. I remember the potty's under the bed, my grandparents had them, although I'm not sure if they ever used them because both had inside Lavs even in the 30's and 40's... but please do carry on...you made me laugh shouting out the window at the religious nut...