London Docklands
The river was magical, especially when you were only eight years old. You could travel to any place in the world just by looking at the different ships that passed. There were ships of all sizes and nationalities. there were tugs, police launches, sailing barges and, of course, the river buses. In those days the river was alive.The park was the centre of our fun. We never used to have toys - we depended on our imagination. On Monday evening during the summer we often went to see film shows from a travelling van, and sometimes there was a conjuror who pulled rabbits out of hats. My clearest memory is of Saturday evening when we altays went to the park with other families ato see the pleasure boats returning from their trips to the seaside
My father wa a stevedore: he used to lead and unload the ships. Dad often used to come home from the docks without any work. Mum used to cry and poor old dad didn's say a word. A lot of the stevedores paid the foreman to get a day's word. Dad didn't use to pay, so he didn't get work everyday. Money was a always a probleml
We had a bedroom and a living room upstairs in my grandmother's house. Tehre was not hot water or anything. We used to go out to the wahs-house in the back garden to fill up the watering can. That used to be our domestic water, for washing, cooking, even bathing.
