Hello, there. As several people have mentioned England, and one Dorset, it has prompted me to post here.
I live in Dorset, England, though I was born in Wales and Welsh is my first language.
In 1949 my best friend and I visited London and stayed with our war-time evacuees. We had a great time even though we had to count our pennies and I still recall some of the "adventures" we had.
I remember being bought coffee by medical students from Guy's Hospital ; bumping into someone I had met only once at the 1948 Festival of Britain when I was at one of the underground stations. (I wouldn't believe that was co-incidence in a TV drama!).
Just outside Hammersmith Underground station my friend was told by a girl that it was her pitch! Amanda took some to realise what the girl meant and she was most indignant. "But I was wearing my Hebe Sports costume" she kept telling me. The suit was an expensive one and looked really classy so I could understand her indignation but I kept laughing all day!
On an underground platform we were arguing , in Welsh, about which way we needed to go. A passing railway chappie overheard us, asked what the problem was, and said we were on the wrong platform. "Follow me", he said, and we did! He led us through a tiny door down some stairs under the rails (!) and we were escorted to the correct side. Can you imagine us doing that these days? God is said to look after fools and drunks. Well we weren't drunk!
We visited Harrods, Fortnum and Mason and other posh places for coffee and afternoon tea. We pinched the sugar lumps to sustain our rambles round London. we visited sumptuous "Ladies" and freshened up with expensive soaps, talcs, and tiny sample bottles of fragrances.
We went to the British Museum, opened doors we probably shouldn't have and found ourselves following two white-haired gentlemen who had two rather large men with them. The latter started to tell us that we should not be there and the former stopped them, so for the rest of our tour we listened to the experts talking about the exhibits. I don't know who they were but they knew their stuff!
We visited Soho, Archer Street where musicians waited for jobs, had a glance at the Windmill Theatre which still boasted that it had never closed during the bombing of London, Club Row where we wanted to buy every puppy and kitten we saw for sale., Petticoat Lane where we eyed merchandise which probably had fallen off the back of a lorry!
We saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, the enormous kitchens at Hampton Court, Henry VIII's massive suit of armour, Kew Gardens, the British Library, as well as some of the London shows., danced to "In the Mood" (Joe Loss) at Hammersmith Palais.
It all seems so unexciting, doesn't it, but we thought it was wonderful after war-time austerity.
