Continuing my real life toddler story, I did enjoy doing Morris Dancing at school.
I know we used large white cotton handkerchiefs, but I don’t think we had any bells on our socks!
I did make several friends, see photo of us at one of my birthday parties.
There used to be a man selling sweets from a barrow outside the school, and I used to look enviously at some of the children who were allowed to purchase the Sherbet Dips, Liquorice Whirls and boiled sweets (all unwrapped).
Aunt Mary occasionally went home with me, and she used to play with me.
Favourite games were with the blackboard, easel and chalks (not much of a change for her!), and a shop made out of wood, and complete with tiny jars of sweets and packets of dried goods.
My favourite doll was one that Aunts Nellie and Mary bought me from Liberty’s store in Regent Street, London, complete with several changes of clothes.
She was a “girl” doll, but I also had a large “baby” doll, my beloved Teddy Bear and a three-wheeled scooter.
At my Grandmother Whitehead’s house in South Woodford, where we often went on a Sunday to dinner, I had a lovely farm with buildings, fences, and many animals.
These were made from a metal and quite strong.
My Aunt Joyce lived there with her mother, and she used to play with me.
My father worked in the City of London as a shipping clerk at Furness Withy & Co. in Leadenhall Street, and he was also a member of the Baltic Exchange, and travelled by train to Liverpool Street station each day.
Furness, Withy started with 18 vessels and over the subsequent years it owned in excess of a thousand ships.
‘Furness Withy’ Wikipedia 1
It bought the Prince line in 1916.
In 1917 the Furness Shipbuilding Co Ltd was established, at Haverton Hill, River Tees, initially for war production… in 1919, Furness, Withy bought from Canada Steamship Lines the Quebec Steam Ship Company, which ran scheduled services between New York and Bermuda.
Furness, Withy renamed its acquisition the Furness Bermuda Line.
In 1928 Furness, Withy acquired the Red Cross Line…”
One Saturday morning, my Father took me up to his office, and I was allowed to ‘type’ on one of the large Remington typewriters.
When I needed to go to the Ladies Room, he asked one of the female typists to take me down, and the walls made of marble seemed to go on forever!
After something to eat, he took me to the London Zoo, which was supposed to be THE treat of the day, and although I thoroughly enjoyed the time spent there, when asked what I had enjoyed doing the most, I replied “Daddy’s office”!
Another day out in London was when my parents and I visited Madame Tussaud’s famous Waxworks Exhibition.
I remember that a hot spark from the train engine (I expect that I had been told not to hang out of the window!) caused me discomfort all day, but no lasting damage.
More of Christine Reason true life story in these articles:
[1] 1922 to 1930
[4] 1936 to 1938 pre-war story
[5] 1939 my story – war declared
[6] 1939 to 1940 evacuated to south coast
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