RICHARD ALLEN SCOTT - Through the Years

RICHARD ALLEN SCOTT
THROUGH THE YEARS
35 Lavender Gardens
1999
I have no idea when it happened, but I must
have been young when we moved into 35
Lavender Gardens where we lived until
November 1957. This 3-bedroom row-house
was a ‘council house’ or what would now be
known as ‘city housing’. Mum didn’t work, as
Mums didn’t in those days, and Dad’s income
level precluded a house purchase. We didn’t
own a car or a TV.
The breezeway shown in the photo led to our
back garden and to the coal bin…where
sacks of coal were delivered and which we
used in the fireplace for home heating. We didn’t own a fridge but had a ‘larder’ in the kitchen
under the stairs. Our jars of milk we stored in buckets of cold water.
I remember roller-skating in the kitchen with Christine…floors were linoleum over cement, and
the skate wheels were rubber. Skates simply attached to your shoes. I was all over the
neighbourhood with those. Other entertainment was sitting around the radio in the living room
listening to kids’ programs.
Our Christmas trees were decorated with paper ring garlands, tinsel, and REAL candles clipped
to the ends of the branches….no fire hazard there, no sir! On Christmas morning, we found on
the foot of our beds, a stocking full of toys which we could open and play with. Couldn’t get up
before Mum and Dad, and definitely could not go into the living room with the tree and gifts, until
breakfast and dishes were finished.
We were about 3 miles from the grandparents in Grange Park and always took the train there
(see map on page 24).
Shopping in Enfield was about a 1 mile walk, or the train from Gordon Hill station to Enfield
Chase. I became lost one day (don’t remember my age), and was returned home in a police
car...don’t remember where they found me or Mum’s panic level! Perhaps that was the signal
for my career choice.
I remember that regularly along Lavender Gardens came a man
riding a horse-drawn cart calling out “Any old rags and bones?”.
A rag-and-bone man (or totter) collects unwanted household
items (which included rags, bones and various metals) and sells
them to merchants. White rag could fetch 2–3 pence per pound,
depending on condition (all rag had to be dry before it could be
sold). Coloured rag was worth about two pence per pound.
Bones, worth about the same, could be used as knife handles,
toys and ornaments, and when treated, for chemistry. The
grease extracted from them was also useful for soap-making.
Metal was more valuable
June 2017
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