... and nothing but the truth

A Child Of The 1950's - Chapter 8

A Child of the 1950's

Chapter Eight

More About Little Patricia

I had a habit of sucking my thumb and biting my nails. I can remember a neighbour discussing with my mother something called 'Bitter Aloes' which were painted onto finger nails to stop the habit. The thought of it put me off biting my nails from then on (I think aged 9). I am so glad I ditched the habit!

As a small child if I was not happy about anything, or got cross, I would pout my lips. I think there is a picture somewhere of me doing this. It looks really funny.  I think I must have been a grumpy little grouch at times. 'Nothing changes.' Who said that? Ha, ha.

Illnesses

Every summer I would get covered in red itchy spots which my mother bathed in calamine lotion. She called them 'Heat Bumps' I think now that they were hives.

I can remember crying at the school gate when I was 4/5 and my mother had a problem getting me to go in, but I always went and only had time off when I was ill. This was probably due to 'separation anxiety,' because really school was lovely. I did find it a bit difficult mixing with other children and I've never liked being with large groups of people.

I had chicken pox and measles as a child. My mother used to make up a little bed by putting two easy chairs together, so that I could stay down stairs near her. I wouldn't stay upstairs on my own very often. I loved being ill as a child as I had time off of school and my mum took care of me. It is such a nice feeling, being so loved and cared for.

I can remember going for a day out on a coach somewhere outside of Bristol with the school and later feeling very poorly. I was covered with itchy spots and I was sick. I think that was the time I caught measles. The teachers were very kind and took care of me until I got back to my mother.

Whilst I had measles, I had to stay in bed and she had to pull the bedroom curtains over, as the light can damage eyes. When I was better, I can remember sitting on the top of the stairs and then running outside into the street in my nightdress! I can remember trying to eat the bread our neighbour put out for the birds! The neighbour remarked, "Don't you feed this child?" Ha, ha. I was always doing something I shouldn't. (The bread was very stale and not worth bothering with, by the way! Ha, ha.)

Don't say silly things!

When I was three years old, I can remember mum telling me not to touch dad's razor blades are they were sharp. This was a silly thing to say to Little Patricia, as she wanted to know if this was true and she immediately picked one up and deliberately cut her finger (not deeply, thankfully) and found it was sharp after all! Also, I can remember wondering what cat food tasted like, it looked really tasty, so I tried some from the cat's dish. It was really horrible! I felt so sorry for the cat!

When mum and dad papered the hallway, which was quite a big job to do, I was told not to draw on the wallpaper. Well, really, my parents should have known me better than that! It put ideas into my head. I leaned across the very top of the staircase and drew a picture of a little ship on the facing wall of the hallway below. It was a very nice little ship and it was not found out for quite a while. I think they laughed at my ingenuity when they found it! I think I was about 8 by then.

Interests

I always loved animals and being kind to animals was an automatic knowledge which, I suppose, most kind people have. I was allowed pocket money which I used to buy a comic called the Bunty, but more importantly, beautiful glossy nature magazines, in full colour. I loved these magazines and learned lots about wildlife. I wish I had kept some of them.

When I was small I danced all about the house, so much so, that my mother decided I should have dancing lessons. I was taken by my mother to the Daisy Luxton School of Dance, one or two evenings per week. I really enjoyed it. I was crazy about ballet so I had ballet lessons and modern lessons. Later I had tap lessons too, but I was not so fond of it.

I danced in several dancing displays and took several dancing exams. I won a bronze medal for a sailor dance. The judge remarked 'It was a bright, breezy performance.' Well, some things do change! I'm not so bright and breezy now.  Ha, ha!

I have two photographs of me in my dancing costumes, unfortunately, in black and white. One was of a dance called 'Moonlight' when we wore blue satin ballet tutus. It is very funny looking at it now, it makes me laugh! There's me, looking all skinny with thin arms and legs like sticks and some of the others looking a bit plump! And I don't know what's worse! Ha, ha.

When I was about nine years old, someone gave me an old gramophone and lots of the black 78 records. I really loved it! It had a handle which had to be turned and a turntable. A record was placed on the turntable and the needle placed on the edge of the records. Most of the records were of classical music, which has never been of much interest to me and I really hate opera, but some were jazz and more popular music of a past age and I loved it and danced around the room to my heart's content!  I remember one tune was called 'Hot Toddy' and it was an instrumental.

I sang in a girls choir called The Eastonian Girls Choir, which was formed by Miss Ivy Cleeves. She was a small woman with a woven plait around her head, she was very old fashioned, but quite a nice lady. My dad played the piano for the choir.

My sister was in this choir for several years, I think I was in it for three to four years. We wore a white blouse with a red skirt and red tie. We had to stand with our hands across our middles linking our fingers. We sang lots of songs like 'Bless this house, Oh Lord we pray' and 'The Cornish Floral Dance.' Even at the time it was very old fashioned, but we went around to different places singing and we really enjoyed it at the time. This, at a time when the Beatles were becoming very famous and it would have been to lovely to be able to sing their songs instead, but that would have been out of the question I suppose.

I sang in a church choir at St Gabriels C/E church for several years from the age of 14 until about 20. My dad was the church organist there. I can't sing as well now, unfortunately, I've lost my voice (or what voice I had)! I have always loved singing and I think it is a wonderful to sing in a choir. It is proven to be good for general health and well being and this is no surprise to me. I have thought about joining a choir, but I prefer to write and I couldn't find the time to do both and I wouldn't enjoy having to sing for an audience, not one bit!  Writing is something I can do alone, when I have a spare moment. I do sing about the house when I'm alone and just hope I don't frighten the neighbours!