My Life by Lionel Graves. (Page 33)
Later on we re-decorated as the tide mark was all round the walls. The insurance valuer, bless his cotton socks, said that the suite would have to be replaced because the glue would melt and it would all fall apart, but it didn't and lasted for quite a time afterwards. We had been covered by insurance, it was the first thing I checked when we went upstairs that fateful morning. We had a small sum from the council for compensation and a reasonable amount from the Insurance, enough to get us our first car, a dark blue, 1937, Morris 8 with running boards, outside mudguards and a luggage rack with spare wheel at the back.
Although I had learned to drive in the army I had forgotten to get a civilian license from the company office at BMH Fayid on my demob, so I had to take the motorbike and car tests again. These were in Ludlow, with narrow streets, sharp corners and hills. The bike was OK, I was sailing round when the tester tried to flag me down on a corner by a cross roads, I ignored him and turned down Corve St., for a bit, then stopped and walked back to him – passed with flying colours. The car was a bit different, it was a Standard that Mike had. We hired a taxi to move from Roden Ave.. to Mill St. as we didnt use a van. Diana always remembers driving through Kidderminster with half a chicken on a plate on her knees, remains of a previous dinner. The car also had a loose knob on the gear lever handle which kept coming off. I borrowed it for the test and just as I was starting the knob came off in me hand and nearly hit the tester on the chin. “Oops”, I said, “that happens sometimes”, and I screwed it back on and went on with the test, another pass with flying colours.
Shortly after the flood we moved out to higher ground, a new semi – built by Bridges and Groves, 220 Stourbridge Road on the very outskirts of town and not too far from Alf Tabb who used to ride tiny miniature bikes about 9ins long and 4ins high, why anyone should be interested in that I don't know, but there you are! The site was known as the Heath on the original plans so we called it Birnam Wood, but no on noticed the literary allusion to the Scottish play. There was a small avenue or cul-de-sac, Rozell Ave., with all these new houses and we made some good friends there, especially Maureen and Ken Reed, he worked at Somerfield Rocket Research station and often came home with blinding headaches when something had gone wrong or the rockets backfired with terrific bangs.
Jane was born in 1957 at the Croft Nursing Home, Kidderminster and Richard in 1961 at the same place.
Just before Jane's birth I was cycling home from school about 4pm when I hit a pothole in the road going downhill outside the Wren's Nest, the nut and bolt on my front mudguard came off, the mudguard dug into the front wheel and I flew over the handlebars and landed on my face in the road. A car came along just afterwards and the driver picked me up. “Who hit you?”, he asked, “Where's the other car?” He ran me to hospital bleeding all over his front seat; where a woman doctor cleaned me up a bit then stitched me up, not very well, you can still see the scars, then bandaged up my whole head. I was sitting in the corridor dazed and bewildered when I saw Ken Reed pass.
“Wonder what he's doing here?” I thought. He'd come to collect me but hadn't recognised me looking like the invisible man. A week later I was able to go back to school. I found out my good Samaritan's name and address and called round to see and thank him and take him a thank you present.
Sometime after Jane had been born we were taking her to Leominster to see Nan, Joyce and Betty when the exhaust fell off the car as we reached Bewdley, so Diana had to sit holding Jane nearly out of the open window to avoid getting asphyxiated as the fumes were coming through the floor boards. That was till we got to a bus stop where she could get a bus back with Jane, while I went back with the car.
Email: Lionel Graves (lionel@graf-tek.com).
Copyright ©2000-2008 L. Graves. All Rights Reserved.
