CoveyOfCockneys

So, to begin our trip down memory lane I might as well start with the event in my own life that has done more to mold my character than any other.  One I like to call:

My Run-in with a Car

It was a summer day.  The sun was for once shining down on London town.  I was 5 years of age.  Life was good.  Then it happened!  Everything became unstuck!

At the time we lived in the upstairs flat of a typical London Row house. The drawing shown is certainly more "gusified" than our little abode but is depicts the style perfectly.

Mum was very heavily pregnant with LS. And, from what I’ve been told, I had spied the Ice Cream man on his trolley bike and was very politely screaming for an ice cream cone.  Mum, tired, exhausted with the heat, uncomfortable with the extra weight, wishing that I’d shut-up, wishing that the baby she was carrying would make an early entrance to this world, gave in.  

She couldn’t manage the stairs but said she would look from the front window as I crossed the road to reach “Mr. Stop Me and Buy One”.

In 1938 there were very few cars on the street where we lived.  You were more likely to see a horse and cart than a fast moving car.  But that day there was one and I didn’t see it and I presume it didn’t see me!

They tell me that the skid marks from the car marked the road for all of that summer.

I don’t have memories of that day.  Most of what I relate comes second hand from family tales. However, to this day I have very strong memories of the smell of the ether that was placed over my face in the hospital.

Well, since I’m writing this story it’s pretty obvious I survived, but what I learned from that survival and how it has influenced my entire life – stay tuned. I’ll have more to say on this – but not now.  To be continued . . .