‘The very first thing I had to do in London,’ Minnie continued, ‘was to get my hair cut short and wash it in hot water with washing soda. Strong stuff, even to be putting on the clothes!
No fancy shampoos and conditioners in those days!
They wouldn’t have anybody about the house with long hair. Bugs, I suppose.
The wages were fifteen shillings a week and every morning I had to rise at a quarter to five o’clock and scrub the twenty stone steps from the street up to the front door, and then start scrubbing the kitchen.
Begod! London wakened me up!
On my day off I went into Kensington Gardens opposite my work and listened to the band to raise my heart. I was very homesick.
There was a man without legs used to beg in the High Street. He reminded me of my father so I never passed him without dropping a copper or even a sixpence into his cap.
I sent half my wages home and put the rest, after living expenses, into the Post Office.
… more later …