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 Post subject: Headlong into danger.
PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 10:43 pm 
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Joined: Thu Apr 27, 2006 5:46 pm
Posts: 236
Location: Leicestershire
While going through my files I came across this story which has gone into my main book that I have written for my family.
NO its not a paranormal one just one that I thought might interest some of you.

Please tell me to get lost if its too boring for you. I just thought it would be a change from every day things.
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When Cliff and I first got married in 1949 we had to go and live in rooms because there was no housing accommodation like there is today.
The war had messed up a lot of everyday life and with SO many buildings and houses being bombed it was taking the authorities a heck of a long time to get the manpower and materials to rebuld.

I moved from London to Loughborough when we got married and at first we went to live in two rooms on the outskirts of the town. We had a bedroom suite and a dining room suite both with the utility mark stamped on them and not much place to put them.
The utility mark -----CC41---- was put on everything including clothing during those years.
We also had to have a docket to purchase the furniture and prove that we were getting married so no way were we going to get them spoilt by having to squeeze round them to move about.

After a while Cliff's mother said that there was a double fronted house opposite the Queens Head at Shepshed just along from where she lived. The old chap who we got to know as “Kerry” owned the house was letting one side of it to any couple who would like to live there.
It consisted of the use of all three bedrooms upstairs a large front lounge overlooking the old inn and use of the kitchen. That was just on the side that we went to live.
The other side of the house must have been the same size with the same amount of bedrooms at some time in the past.
"Kerry" told us that the night his wife died the part of the house where he was living was struck with lightning and destroyed.

There was also a bathroom but if you wanted a bath you had to cart the water upstairs to the bath and scoop it out to empty it afterwards.
I have the impression that it was a house for gentry in its time where maidservants did all the humping of water upstairs and down for their master/mistress when he/she wanted a bath.
Some windows were still boarded up from when all windows were taxed and I should imagine no one had told “Kerry” that tax concerning windows had long been finished with. He was oblivious to this.
Mind you being in his 80s with a double hernia and not being able to climb the stairs I don’t suppose he was much bothered about a couple of boarded up windows especially with one being the bathroom because he had never been upstairs for years.

I noticed that between the house we were going to live and the cottage next door there was a gap of about 6 to 8 inches. It struck me at the time that if it had heavy rainfalls it could trap the dampness in.
However it was but a passing thought because it was just temporary accommodation for us.

Cliff and I moved in and when I found out I was pregnant I asked “Kerry” if he minded. He was over the moon because a “babbie” as he called a baby had not been born to anyone in that house since he went to live there.
When “Kerry” married they found out that his wife could not have children so the only relatives “Kerry” had were his nephews and nieces on his wife’s side of the family.

“Kerry”adored my son and came every morning to see the babbie and he always brought firewood for the fire to keep the babbie warm. He was one of the nicest old gentleman I have ever had the pleasure to get to know.
The house had a massive library that held every kind of book from Dickens to murder mysteries. I loved to read when I had done my chores for the day while knitting for my offspring and waiting for my hubby to come home.

When my baby was about 9 months old I used to put him outside in his pram underneath my window so that he was getting fresh air and I could keep my eye on him.

We were still on rations at that time and I always went for my rations on a Friday morning. This particular Friday I had put my food away and got myself a cup of tea when I heard a whimpering coming from outside my window. It wasn’t my baby because I had brought him in and put him in his chair when I had returned with my rations.
I looked out of my window but could see nothing there and put it down to my imagination.
Suddenly I heard it again and curiosity got the better of me and I went outside to see what it was.

I nearly had a fit when I saw that a young boy of about five years of age had got his head trapped between the two buildings.
WHY he had been looking there I have never found out. I was by this time panicking because the pub was shut across the road and there were no such things as phones for poor folk in those days. It would have been impossible for me to run to the nearest telephone booth.

I told him to stop wriggling and I would be straight back.
I went and got some of the lard and butter ration that I had just been to the shop for and went back to lather his ears and his hair with it to ease him out.
To say he looked a ruddy sight would be putting it mildly. I managed to get him out without cutting his ears off but he looked so funny. He looked as though he had been plugged into the electric with the way his hair was standing to attention. He was crying and I asked him where he lived.
I shot in and just wiped my hands on a damp towel and put my baby back in his pram and told the little boy to take me to his mother.
I gave him a flannel and the towel to wipe his face and hair with.

Fortunately he lived just round the corner but I wasn’t prepared for the way his mother greeted him.

As she came to the door so did two other children. One was a girl aged about 12 and another lad who would be about 9 years old.
They both looked like scared rabbits but having seen how the mother came ranting at the child I took home I was not a bit surprised.
She started shouting at him when I tried to explain what had happened and why he had grease on his head.
She just seemed to want to vent her anger out on the child and went back to get a thick buckled belt to strap him with.
I caught it as she went to lash him and I yanked it out of her hands at the same time telling her that IF ever I see any marks on the children I would have her guts for garters.
She went like a deflated balloon and said she did not know what had come over her. She then asked me in for a cup of tea.
I went in but not because I felt sorry for her it was the children that I was worried about.
This was the start of a relationship with someone I could not take to but I felt I had to be there for the children.

The laws then were nothing like they are today where children are concerned. The year was 1951.


If anyone reading this is interested in what happened to the children I will write it in my next story.

_________________
For every thing that stands out in life two things stand alone.
That is kindness in another’s strife and courage in your own.


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 Post subject: Re: Headlong into danger.
PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 10:55 pm 
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Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 11:42 pm
Posts: 2311
Location: Devon, England
looking forward to the next instalment :D


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 Post subject: Re: Headlong into danger.
PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 12:27 am 
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Joined: Sat Jul 16, 2005 8:15 pm
Posts: 3106
Can't wait either!!! I can "see" the stories....and yes we want to hear about the children....
love,
linnyx


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