https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/09/23/a-hard-working-life/ In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London Sat, 06 Oct 2018 16:18:48 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/09/23/a-hard-working-life/#comment-1229554 Sat, 06 Oct 2018 16:18:48 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=168859#comment-1229554 Wow. So rich. My young life in America pales by comparison.

]]> https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/09/23/a-hard-working-life/#comment-1227529 Sun, 23 Sep 2018 09:32:07 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=168859#comment-1227529 This sense of East End community spirit that Suresh describes is the one I grew up in during the 1950’s and 60’s, everyone helping everyone else and sharing what little they had. Fish and Chips from Kenny Butler’s in Lauriston Road were a treat and a chicken from the nearby Kosher butcher even more so.
Those bottles of Guinness given in local hospitals ‘for strength’ were legendary. My Grandma believed in that notion and drank it regularly every week!
The boiling of washing in Daz or Omo in an old copper boiler made the kitchen feel like a sauna on one day a week, then the soggy washing was moved to the outside yard for ‘wringing’ in the mangle before being proudly displayed for its’ whiteness on a line in the garden. Happy days and happy times.

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