Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 71]
buy it"? Nanna said "I am". So he took us down Moore Street, and took us in to look at it. Well it was old alright but sure there was plenty of room, also with a little bit of hard work and Albert was a good help now and so were the girls, not so much John. So alright we decided well Nanna did anyway and their father never knew that Nanna paid for it outright and that I had the £100.00 and she paid for it in her name. Well the £100.00 (hundred pounds) that had to be given to the man for key money. We had to go to Sydney and Nanna Wood came with me and she waited on the other side of the street where the museum station is today. I had to sit on a seat in the park by myself and had to say what I had on. Nanna watched everyone going by, she reckoned she was as nervous as me. suddenly this man sits on the seat next to me and he said "are you Mrs Wood"? I said "Yes", he said "have you got the envelope"? I said "yes" and with that he held his hand out and put it in his hand and I was as nervous as a kitten. I had visions of him grabbing my hand but he did not and he did not count it, he just got up and left. I sat for a moment and turned to see if I could see Nanna and yes I could so I got up and went to her. She said lets go straight home and have a cup of tea. So we went to her place and she told me what to do and what not to do and not was don't you tell my colonial boy what I have done just let him think you have a loan and that I have gone guarantor for you so this I did and I bought a little black notebook and every time I gave her some money I would put in that. It was hard but I managed to pay her back some of it over the years.
Well now this meant no sewing for me for a while and with Ray on the council and he was working on the bridge between Croydon and Campsie walking distance. Well when I told the family that night at tea they were all sorry but as they could still go to the same school as Albert they did not mind. Ray had to put his dogs out to board somewhere till he got things fixed up and he was real good at his stage. It was like heaven again. He was truly a Jekyll & Hyde. Well when the family left that morning they knew they all had to come home to Campsie and not Earlwood. Well that all worked out and I wondered where I would start! Well there was lino all through the place. It was not real good but alright so I washed all the floors with disinfectant water and we put the beds up and made the beds first, and then I got myself into the kitchen and cooked the tea and once we got that over then we could move some of the furniture into different places, and I got the girls to put there clothes away and the boys helped their father move some of the heavy stuff and all the boxes had to be unpacked and put away. Then everyone had to go to bed and it was on again next day. I have an idea it was a Saturday and we all helped with curtains windows to be cleaned. In the back bedroom there was an old fuel stove, it used to be the kitchen but it was a good boys room with a curtain up to hide the stove and they used to put shoes etc on that and it was tidy.
Merle, Betty and Beryl were in one bedroom and Margaret and Yvonne slept in our room. Well the dogs kennel had to be built so Ray and the boys got that done. When finished I wanted the old fuel stove taken out and the chimney knocked down so as we could put another room on the back, this was done then we had plenty of room. The kitchen was long but plenty of room for our big table, we had a gas stove and a I/- (one shilling) in the slot and it was in the lounge room the bathroom, went off the kitchen and the toilet next to it then the laundry which had a fuel copper. It was all there only had to be sorted out well we got quite a lot done on the Saturday and also Sunday as no Sunday School. Everything had to be got ready for