I heard a lovely C & W song on the radio yesterday, it was called 'We Were Rich'. I guess when one is far away from home and family and covid stats are soaring, one gets a bit maudlin
I started to think about my childhood, single Mom, post war in Rhodesia, and a grand little old racing green 'Morry' that took us everywhere. Indeed We Were Rich!!
Mom worked at J.Mann and Company for most of her working life when we were kids, she took classes at night and became the Accountant! A remarkable woman, honest to a fault, a 'no nonsense' Mom who gave us a wonderful life in spite of the hardships of life in Rhodesia in the fifties.
Mom made all my dresses, sweet little floral 'frocks' with a nipped in waist and gathers with petticoats underneath!! We didn't have wardrobes stuffed with jeans and tee shirts, shoes were limited to a pair of school shoes and maybe a pair of day shoes!! Clothes were two sets of school uniforms (one on and one in the wash) and a couple of frocks, Gavin wore khaki shirts and shorts with one set of grey long trousers for special!!
Saturday mornings were treasured. One shilling would buy entry to the Saturday Morning Movies at the Palace Cinema where we would watch exciting movies like 'Tarzan' , 'Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea' and 'The Lady and the Tramp'and swop comics like Ritchie Rich, Tom and Jerry and Little Dot. A tickey would provide a coke and a packet of popcorn!!
Television No. Computers no. iPhones No. Our social media was playing with friends in the garden. I still remember friends from those days - Janine Emmet, Glynnis Day, Virginia Crouch, Rosemary Drayton!! Our entertainment ended at weekend trips to the Matopos in the old Morry (that we often had to push start.) We would most often go to Outspan where there was a Bilharzia riddled weir that we would walk across, climb rocks and picnic on egg sandwiches and a flask of tea.
We boarded for some time with the McAllisters in Leander Avenue. Mrs McAllister would mind us after school and there were plenty of McAllister kids to play with. The best thing about that spacious garden was an old warplane that had crashed, it was our favourite stamping ground!! She had a giant kitchen with a vast wooden table where we would all do our homework. My most prized possession was a giant three layer box of Staedtler coloured pencils.
Oh yes...... 'We Were Rich'.......