Banket Street in Hillbrow.

My earliest memories were of the house in Banket Street, Hillbrow. (Yeah it was great then!) It was a huge double storey house with a tiny attic at the top. The attic had a window that looked out onto the street. There was an alley way either next to the house or next to our neighbours.

I must have lived there for about three years and we stayed there for our first 2 or 3 Christmas Holidays when we had left the Lynch household. So basically my most impressionable years gained memories from that house.

This section will have no particular structure I am just regurgitating the memories as they arrive!

One Christmas eve my parents were battling to get me in to bed – trying to convince me that I needed to get to sleep before Father Christmas arrived. I was too busy playing outside to bother! When suddenly I heard bells and an open car pulled up at the Hospital at the end of the street and I SAW HIM! I think I broke all speed records to get inside and get to bed!

We loved to hide in the attic. I think Ken had bought a toy snake. We attached some thread to it and one of us would stay downstairs to catch it as it was flung from the attic, hide it by the tree and run inside up to the attic and wait for unsuspecting people to walk past. We would yank the thread and hopefully the snake would slither across the pavement!

I can remember the first phone that we had. It was mounted on the wall outside the lounge. I have an idea it looked something like this (but in black).

With such a large family everyone had their chores. I remember Uncle Bill got up very early to catch a train to work. His job was to stoke up and light the coal stove. It supplied the geyser so the rest of us would have hot water and the stove would be ready to make breakfast.

I think it was Uncle Len who perfected the art of polishing the floors. Armed with a book (or maybe a comic) he would strap the brush to his foot and sit in style, moving as needed, while his foot rotated on the floor.

I was the smallest one in the household so my job was to dust anything that was on a level with me.

The kitchen was the warmest place in the house both in heat and comfort. Ma would reign supreme in her seat at the table at the end furthest end from the stove. It was the family room, anything that was important happened there. As far as I can remember the stove looked likethe one alongside

One day Aunty Joyce and Joan were sitting chatting about shampoos. There was a new one on the market that boasted egg as one of its ingredients. In no time the older boys grabbed some eggs (we kept chickens in the back garden), descended on the girls and gave them an egg shampoo to remember.

The older boys loved to take me for walks when I was little. They did have ulterior motives. I was an immediate attraction for girls who would flock around them to make googly eyes at me and surreptitiously at them! I don't think Ma minded. It was one less child to watch for a time.

Ma and I used to take a tram from Banket Street to the centre of Johannesburg for my dancing lesson with Poppy Frames. Before I went to dancing, Ma made sure that I had a bath and I was nice and clean. The soap of choice was Cuticura. Apparently Poppy Frames would grab me and hug me and say how beautiful I smelt. I loved these outings. I loved dancing and often after dancing we would pop in to my mom's work and watch all the seamstresses at work. Sometimes as well Ma would treat me (and the rest of the young ones) to some Dicks Sweets. Sublime! 

During school holidays we would go to Joubert Park. A whole gang of us would walk there, lose ourselves for a day, lunch on our packed lunches, drink water from the water fountian and walk back home at the end of the day. I loved the park and can remember telling everyone that I wanted to marry a Parkee (Park keeper) so that I could play on the swings all day!

One year I was unfortunate enough to have measles just before Guy Fawkes day. I had to stay in a dark room and keep my itching to myself. I was allowed to peek out of the curtains to see the beautiful fireworks. Isn't it strange, I don't remember the bangs as much as the beauty. We did have big bangs but they were not deafing. Jumping Jacks chased you with little thumps of sound. Catherine Wheels sparked from the tree as the rotated and the rockets were great – not like we have now but still great. Sparklers were always a favourite. Some-one (not sure who) sneaked a sparkler up to my room and let me have fun with it out of the window. Thank you dear uncle (I'm sure it was one of the boys).

There was a huge landing on the top floor with my mom's sewing machine and dummy. There were I think 4 rooms that lead off from the attic. My parents an I shared a room, Aunty Maureen and Uncle Theo had a room and the other two belonged to the kids. This was the scene of my first lesson with roller skates. Bob and Colleen strapped pillows around my middle to protect my butt when I fell. They took it in turns to steer me (not gently as I recall) from one to the other. The girls room was on one side of the landing and the boy's room was on the opposite side and I was supposed to skate on the rollers from one to the other. I have fond memories of butt skating though!

One last memory: all of us being stood in a line in the passage. The doctor had come to visit. He was stationed in the lounge and we were escorted in by the grown up children to receive our inoculations. I can remember standing and waiting with my little sleeve held up - shivering with fright!

Ma always used to make necklaces of a little bag containing a clove of garlic and a block of camphor to ward off the nasties! I can't remember being troubled much with Bronchitis and asthma in those days so maybe there was something in it! I did have eczema though.