It all started in 1937 in Salisbury Wiltshire United Kingdom when I was born in a small hospital just around the corner to Salisbury Cathedral.
I was born to a civil servant working for the war office and who checked the ammunition supply at the army stations and as there was a large army base stationed on Salisbury Plain, hence why we were there.
Then 1939 – WAR.
This meant we had to move nearer to London, head office.
We moved to a small town called Sutton, but we were nearer Cheam, a smaller type of village and much nicer. This was in Surrey and about 12 miles out of London.
My eldest brother, Roy, was in the navy and my other brother ken was in the army. After the war neither brother spoke about the war as both had been badly affected by it.
The naval brother, being in the fleet air arm and an aircraft carrier, was stationed in North Scotland at a place called Scapa Flow in the Orkney Isles.
This was a large naval base and enroute to Norway. They were not allowed to pick up any survivors from bombed ships. This played on Roy’s mind a great deal. This route was called the Russian Convoy and a very busy route.
The army brother, Ken, was wounded in France with a bullet through his leg. He was sent to a hospital in Wales. Both brothers had their nerves shattered.
Meanwhile as for me, 2 years old, brothers gone, my sister Rita, was sent to North Wales with the school, rationing, no toys, I really thought that this was what life was all about.
I do remember when the bombs started though. I was mad about cats, even then and when the bombs really got going on their way to Croydon, where there was an aerodrome and we didn’t have the shelter at that point, mother would throw me into the clothes cupboard under the stairs. I would say, “Where’s the cat?” my mother would say, “Bugger the cat, get in the cupboard”.
So, my sister was in Ryle, North Wales, I was too young to go anywhere when the bombing got a lot worse.
The government said every household around London had to have a shelter, either in the garden or indoors. Father chose the dining room because of two reasons.
1-We had French doors into the garden. 2 – As we were in a semidetached house, we had a joining wall, so the shelter went against the joining wall.
The bombing got so bad that mum and I were sent to mum’s cousin in Wales, a place called. Myfyrddwal.
I started school in 1942, the classes were held in shelters and we came out when the bombing eased up.
I was born with eczema and had to be taken to the Children’s Hospital, Great-Ormand St. When we got to London to go to the hospital, we had to walk through the bombed areas.
I was 17 when I left school and went to Comptomeler School in London working for the war office. I was there 2 years.
I started to go to dances and aged 18 met Brian. We dated for 2 years and married in 1957; I was aged 20. We lived in North Cheam and worked in London.
A friend of mine went to New Zealand and said how good it was, so we decided to go and off we went. 1966 when England won the Football World Cup against Germany.
We went by ship, New Zealand’s shipping line the Ruahine, and it took us 4 weeks going over the Atlantic through the Panema Canal, which was just magic, then on to Hawaii.
We arrived in Auckland where we stayed with my friend until we bought a house just outside Auckland. We were there 4 years. We left there in 1970.
I had been keen to do a trip back home so we went to a travel agent specialising in trips to the UK for small groups. One of the agents asked me to meet these people off the plane. Which was a nice little job as we were going to live near Gatwick.
We went via Hong Kong, Singapore then Athens. This took 6 days. Brian was a diabetic and had 2 injections a day, this made him weak against germs and on this journey, he caught a flu germ, this was 1970.
He was very sick when we reached London and was put into hospital straight away. He died the next day. I had to then change my plans.
My sister took me in and I got a job straight away so I was okay for the next few months. During that time the travel agent contacted me to say he was going to be in London so could we meet up.
So, I went to see him, (Henry), and after a few get togethers we fell in love. After 2 years he said they were going to open up in Sydney so would I help in their travel agency in Sydney. Of course, I said yes, so booked my flight on the new plane, a 747. It took 36 hours to get to Sydney but I thought, no worries as thought Henry would be here to meet me.
But no one was there. I had £50 on me, which was about $100. I went to the hotel counter where they said there was a very nice hotel at Elizabeth Bay called the Beauregard and was only $4.50 per B&B. So off I went to Elizabeth Bay.
I asked the receptionist, Mrs Francis, how to get to the city to go to an employment agency. I got a job straight away and could start in 3 weeks.
Back to the Beauregard where Mrs Francis said she was going on a holiday the next day and the replacement had rung to say she was sick so couldn’t help out. So, Mrs Francis asked me to take her place for the next 3 weeks earning $35 a week and have a bedroom near the reception area.
I met a lady in the local park who was looking for a lady to share her unit, again in Elizabeth Bay in 3 weeks’ time. This suited me as I finished Beauregard in 3 weeks. I then moved in with Julia and was there for 4 years.
I decided I was going to live in Australia so I looked for somewhere to buy and found this small, very run down unit in a block of 12 in Kirribilli north of the bridge.
My friends in the eastern area said are you mad going over the bridge?
My unit was, yes awful and needed a lot done to it but the view was spectacular, the harbour with the bridge just to the rights. The Opera House was just out of view because of another small block of units.
I was on the ground floor with the garden at my door. My cat, Harris, loved this and was out every day. Life was then settled as I travelled all over the place.
Forty-seven years later the developers took over the block of units so buying me out. I had decided to go to a retirement village in any case but this just pushed me into just that.
So here I am at Bougainvillea.