Read Jellied Eels and Zeppelins for Free Online

days to clean the windows and tend to the garden there.
    My sister, Cousin Flo and Cousin Charlie were allowed to stay with Gran and Grandad, but I wasn’t - I suppose I was too young. I was about two years old, when Gran had them for about a week. They were all dressed up - I remember my sister walking up these steps to the front door of the house, with this lovely red outfit on: a red hat with white fur on it and a red coat; and Charlie had a new suit. I stood by the gate, holding my Mum’s hand, watching them.
    I did join them once for a few hours when I must have been about four. It must have been on a Sunday and Gran had bought us girls new hats to go to church in. They were like straw panama hats with white ribbons on the front. Gran had a parrot named Dolly and Charlie was tormenting her. Dolly got so flustered that she tipped her seed all over the floor. As I bent down to pick up the seed, the parrot pecked a big hole in my new hat!
    When war broke out, the Baron had to leave the house, though Gran and Grandad stayed on for a while to sort out the family’s belongings. The family gave my sister a doll… a German doll, beautiful it was. It was dressed in a blue crêpe dress and I can see it now - there was a red ring with a red stone on one of the doll’s fingers, red earrings and a red bracelet, beautiful black curls, a little cloak, a hat and shoes. They used to make lovely faces on dolls years ago, the Germans - natural, beautiful, they were. I was really envious, ‘cos I didn’t get one. They also gave us a pram with a long china handle and a green cover. My sister used to put her doll in it and wouldn’t allow me to push it.’
    The doll was eventually passed down to Florrie’s great granddaughter and when Ethel happened to spot it in her bedroom on a visit, she told the little girl the doll’s story:
‘The dress had faded from its original colour to a pale lavender, but its face was still beautiful. They were astounded that I’d remembered it.
    The German Baron didn’t come back to Bramham Gardens, so he said ‘sell the house,’ so the house was sold and Gran and Grandad went and worked at Philbeach Gardens in the same area, Earls Court.’
    Although rationing during World War I was not as extensive as it was during World War II, food shortages were experienced throughout Britain, especially after the bad harvests of 1916.
    ‘I can remember lining up for potatoes for what seemed like hours, my sister and I, outside Giddens, the greengrocer’s, at about eight in the morning. They were brothers and had a shop at either end of the street. Florrie stood at one end and me at the other. When one of us had to go to school, Mum took her place in the queue. Sometimes, she would try to dodge in, so that she would get two lots, one for us and one for Mrs Dawson next door. I think they used to allow us about two pounds each of potatoes. We used to have the old swedes after that.
    There was a family living opposite us. Their name was Vesey. The mother was German and the father, Turkish. They were the nicest people you could ever wish to meet - a lovely, beautiful family. There were six children, two girls and four boys … all teenagers they were. Well, when the war started, those boys went overseas and fought their German cousins. One of the sons got injured and, when he returned home, became a cinema operator.
    After the war, when the old soldiers used to come round the streets singing for a few coppers, the mother would never let them pass without giving them money. And she would take them indoors and give them a cup of tea.’
    During the First World War, rioting occurred in many areas where German families were living. A German pork butcher named Muckenfuss was one of those affected:
    ‘Another German was a butcher in our market. I remember holding my Mum’s hand when I was about six years old. We was going shopping in St. James Street during the First World War. There was a lot of shouting going on in