This year saw Carole in part-time work at Charles Bayers Courtiers and Foundation garment nunufactureres on the Lower Bristol road in Bath. Working with a bunch of very friemdly women brought her out of herself after being at home looking after the shop and our son Andrew. It meant travelling by bus to Bath after the school run ,and an early finish back to Timsbury. The extra money meant we could afford some luxuries again , like a stock of frozen food from "Panda Frozen Foods" in Paulton in our brand new fridge and freezers that a Electrical Job at a friend's house in Bath had financed. We had no credit rating so cash was the only way forward with items like this.
I was busy wth learning all thigs "Granada" in my second year of employment with them I was away on courses quite a bit , so Carole had some time alone with Andrew. It also meant we could actually have a paid holiday in Exmouth with the Grandparents at "Sandy Bay". Plenty of sand and wind to fly kites with Andrew on the hilltop where Doris & Harold had rented a Caravan We all got in there somehow , and thoroughly enjoyed our new found free time. This was our first holiday as a family , we could not afford the time off otherwise in previous years.
The building at Maggs Hill was slowly being changed back into living accomadation on both floors again , stud walls were removed and the old Studio sound proofing gone at last , it was looking a bit of a mess. We had a bit of money to make some improvements , like refiting a ceiling that the water had killed in the lounge...We stripped the mouldy wall paper off and plastered some of the damageed walls.. There was a long way to go to bringing it back to normal yet. Moving the bedroms back downstairs was a bonus , it gave us privacy for both us and Andrew. Up to that time we had all shared one largeish bedroom , not an ideal situation , but not one we could afford to remedy easily this year.
I don't think that many young couples today would have coped with what we endured in the first years of our marriage. We didn't have it all , we certainly had to "Make do and Mend" like our parents did in the 1950's. But at least we could now buy a few modern conveniences to make life more enjoyable. I was hoping that Malcolm James was going to finish off the shops he had started next door to us soon as the vandals were making off with the wooden beams and generally making a nuisance for us. I think Malcolm was not focusing on building development any more in Bath and the Bank was chasing him for money. It was only a matter of time now.
Christmas that year was to be spent with Gordon & Diana White's flat at no. 9 "The Firs" in Combe Down. Carole had made the cake , we packed it between the back seats along with the presents and clothes for the holiday period. We were on our way through Tunley with a brand new red Vauxhall Viva , (Courtesy of Granada ). Just past the Butchers shop was a parked car hidden by the rain and the glare of the shop lights and also by the headlights from an oncoming car. I had a second or two to decide what to do.
I got out into the middke if the road , as far as I dared , and braked hard in the rain. "Keerrruummpp "", the front nearside stoved into the parked car and turned it into a "Diamond" shape against the lamp post in front of it. , Carole (with Andrew on her lap ) , went through the widscreen and badly cut her face. Andrew was mostly protected by Carole , I went forward into the steering column (not many people wore seat belts then ). The cake shot forward between the seats and was shaved neatly on both sides by the seat belt holders , and stuff from the back seats was everywhere. Car was a write-off and had become very "Wedge" shaped as well.
We ended up at St Martins Hospital , Gordon at The Firs was phoned and he came to the Hospital to pick me up. i was certainly not going to stay for any tests , I had a bit of blood coming down my nose and a chunk out my knee, other than that I was O.K.. Carole and Andrew were detained over night , Carole was stitched up and Andrew had his cuts attended to. In the morning Carolle was allowed home and we went to pick up Andrew , "You're not my Mummy " he said , on seeing his swollen and badly briuised mother ..Nice Christmas this was going to be !!
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