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24 September 2010

Moving on

Sooo... I decided to re-write this blog and edit out some boring bits in an attempt to make it more interesting for people to read but - how to keep it interesting and original? Not a clue, sorry! I'll do my best so here we go.

I'll start with 1974 when I left 'the shelter of a mother' and father to give and receive 'a band of gold' (unlike the Freda Payne song, this has worked out well as we recently celebrated our ruby wedding anniversary). We bought our first home in the outer North London suburbs, a 2-up/2-down Victorian terraced house which had been lived in for years by a pair of spinster sisters.

Thankfully, they had extended the downstairs to include a modern bathroom. When some friends moved into a similar house a few doors down the road, there was just an outside loo and no bathroom! We saw a lot of those friends for a few months, as they popped in frequently with their soap, towels and rubber ducks until their extension was completed.

One weekend, we invited half a dozen friends round for a demolition party and took down the wall between the small lounge and even smaller dining room (properly, with a supported RSJ and everything) and started to strip the wallpaper off the walls - there were thirteen layers, some coated with emulsion and even a layer of gloss paint. The result was appalling and we couldn't afford a plasterer so - typical '70s - we painted the walls with Polytex, a polyurethane mix with lumpy bits in, a liquid anaglypta designed to cover cracks and imperfections, a sort-of instant artex. I know!! Dreadful idea and it gets better... we then painted the walls chocolate brown and bought a chocolate, coffee and cream coloured long shag-pile carpet, true 70s style. Wow!


Believe it or not, a couple of years later, someone actually bought the house and we moved on and up to a '30s style s'emi-detached suburban' home. This had a hideous plain royal blue carpet that showed every piece of dust, dirt, fluff and crumb in the universe. The house had a long, south-facing garden and the sun streamed through the patio doors. We stayed there until, towards the end of the decade, we moved on again.


To be continued...