Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 2:20 am Post subject: A Childhood Christmas.
I was surfing around on the Net as I often do, and came upon this photo, and it brought back so many memories to me that I feel quite emotional.
The photo shows young children playing near some Nissan Huts, and they are dressed in late forties/early fifties clothes. Short, Grey Flannels for the boys, and cardigans and school dresses for the girls.
I was three years old when my parents moved away from our Home Town of Plymouth, and took me with them forty miles away to another town to start a new life.
My father was working in the Civilian Side of the Royal Navy, and we left a perfectly sound, undamaged terraced house, to go and live in one of these Nissan Huts, that had been converted for Civilian Families after the end of World War Two.
I was just coming up to my fourth birthday then, and moving to this strange-looking "house" seemed quite exciting.
Food was still on Ration, and my Mother hated everything about her new home. You see, there were very few proper houses either to rent or to buy in those days. Britain's housing stock had been massively depleted due to wartime damage from the German Air Force.
So, we, like hundreds, perhaps thousands, of other families, had to "make do" with what we could get.
Nissan Huts were very cold in the Winter, and boiling hot in the Summer. When it rained heavily, it was almost impossible to hear anyone speaking, even though they were just a few feet away from you, due to the sound the rain made as it drummed down onto the corrugated iron roof.
Our "Hut" was situated in a semi-circle with many other huts, all looking exactly the same. Ours had the number "130", don't know why, because there were only another twenty or so huts besides ours.
Anyway, we did our best to settle in, and I started school at nearby Private Kintergarden School for the under Sevens.
That first Christmas we spent in the Hut was bitter cold, and we had a lot of snow and ice. I remember that the INSIDE of my bedroom window would be covered in a film of ice when I woke up mornings, and I used to annoy Mum because I would draw funny faces on the ice.
My parents asked me what I would like Father Christmas to bring me, and I said that I either wanted a toy pedal car, or a horse.
That Christmas Morning I rushed out of bed and ran into the sitting-room, and there, standing by the Christmas Tree, was a beautiful horse. He was pure white with a long, silky mane. The only thing was, he wasn't real, just a ride-along toy horse called Mobo-Dick.
Anyway, he was all mine, and imagination comes easily to a young child. I called him "Mobo", and we were almost inseparable until I outgrew him about four years later.
That was the lasting memory of my first real Christmas that I can properly remember.
Of course there were plenty of other Christmases with plenty of other presents, but that one present, in the midst of all the Austerity and Rationing, stands out in my mind to this day.
Lovely memories Sandie, my mother used to talk about the Nissian huts, and I remember the Mobo horse, my first born Simon had an updated model of one it was the same horse but was on a spring chassie,I will see if I can't find a photo of it when I get back, it's him I am visiting over Christmas and he will be 42 in May he was only about 18 months when we got it second hand _________________
I look forward to seeing that photo, JoJo. The actual "horse" I had was a tad more "modern" than the one in the picture, but it was all I could find to use for illustration purposes.
Mine had a "spring" chassis, too, and was all white, not speckled like the one in the picture. _________________ http://sewardchronicles.ning.com/
Hobo horse photos as promised Sandie sorry they arn't any bigger,Simon would have been about two so 1969, don't you just love the romper suit, showing off those lovely little legs, not a pair of denim jeans in sight like the babies of today wear _________________
That's the frame Mobo. Mine was more like the earlier one in my photo, it had wheels set into the hooves and by "riding" it (i.e riding= pushing down on the stirrups), it could be made to move along the floor.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
