Many thanks Sandie for the message left in my poetry website guest book.
I am glad you enjoyed it.
Sorry for putting this message in this section but as there is no general chat section this seemed to be the nearest thing to one.
I like your forum and will ask around to see if others would like to join.
God Bless
Maywalk.
Sandie Seward
Thank you, Maywalk, I have just finished reading your book telling the story of your early years. I really found it amazing, I am not quite old enough to remember the war, (I was born in 1945), but I do remember Ration Books and coupons, also how 'grey' everything seemed to be in those days.
In fact, I don't think it was until the early 60's that colour appeared in the world.
Many thanks for sharing your memories with us, I enjoyed reading them.
Maywalk
Glad you enjoyed it Sandie.
Who would have a mother like mine.
I put the book on my website because I was getting SO many requests from abroad from folks I am in touch with who wanted to read it.
I thought that it would work out too expensive for them to send for so that was the next best thing.
Sandie Seward
Your Mother sounds a really fiesty lady, Maywalk, one that wouldn't let anyone walk all over her, a lady after my own heart in fact.
I just don't know how people survived the blitz, it must have been truly terrifying.
I was living in London during the height of the bombing campaign by the IRA, and that was scary enough.
I was living in Fulham not far from South Kensington, and one day we'd just sat down for dinner when there was a rumble and the house shook, a car bomb had exploded less than half a mile away. It spoilt our dinner, to say the very least.
I'm not sure if as a result of that explosion, but two days afterwards, I was relaxing during the afternoon, reading, when there was an almighty crash, and at first I thought it was another bomb. I opened the door and rushed out onto the landing, (it was a first floor flat), and saw what at first I thought was smoke rising up from downstairs. Then I realised it wasn't smoke at all, and there was no smell of burning. I glanced up to the stairwell, and then i noticed that a large amount of plaster had detached itself from the ceiling, and had crashed down onto the stairs. If anyone had been on the stairs when it happened it would have probably badly injured or even killed them.
There was still more plaster that looked deciedly unsafe, and I went back inside and shut my door. Sure enough, about half an hour later the remaining plaster fell, and as you can imagine, the landlord wasn't too happy when he saw it. (He even tried to blame me saying that as I was the only one in the house at the time it must have been my fault).
Anyway, the builders had to come in and sort out the mess, luckily he was covered by insurance.
Maywalk
Sorry Sandie but I had to laugh at the idea of it being your fault.
Did your landlord think you made a habit of swinging from the ceiling.
Glad that it was fixed but God knows what would have happened if someone had been killed.
Sandie Seward
Maywalk, my Landlord was a Pole who could hardly speak English, and anything that went wrong in that house was always my fault. It was a real slum. The place consisted of a shop and two floors above it, as well as a basement.
He had 'divided' the house into 'flats'. I lived on the top floor, and in the top floor front room lived another couple who were both alcoholics.
Underneath me lived a strange old chap who didn't speak to anyone and who could often be spotted picking up dog ends from the pavements, and rummaging through dustbins.
Then there was the Landlords flat, and in the two basement rooms lived four men. These rooms had no windows and were very damp and musty.
An outside toilet served us all.
On the landing was a gas cooker that was supposed to do service for all the tenants. After that ceiling fall, I contacted the local council who sent people around to inspect the property. They discovered that the basement area had been declared as "unfit for human habitation" back in 1944!
They gave the Landlord notice to this effect and informed him to clean up his act.
As he was renting the property from a company in the City, I contacted the Property Company myself, and they also sent a rep around to look at the place. They were amazed that they even 'owned' the property, and somehow that house was supposed to have been destroyed during the war.
After this, all hell broke loose as you can imagine, and we were all evicted except the Landlord who had his rent raised by an enourmous amount to help to pay for all the repairs. The Landlord apparently had a heart attack and died soon afterwards.
Thank you, Maywalk, I have just finished reading your book telling the story of your early years. I really found it amazing, I am not quite old enough to remember the war, (I was born in 1945), but I do remember Ration Books and coupons, also how 'grey' everything seemed to be in those days.
