by annaka » Sun Jan 03, 2010 12:46 am
I just asked my husband if the ladies were outside their houses when he went from the Marseilles port to the train station in 1952, he said he was so seasick that he couldn't take much notice of anything. He'd left on the Apazia which landed in Venice, a trip in a gondola didn't do much to improve his seasickness and then train to Marseilles and then train to the port, ferry boat to Dover. Eventually the train arrived at Charing Cross, but his sister was waiting at Victoria so he was taken to a basement flat and wondered: "My God, is this England?" He was shown the settee and asked if he'd be okay and he didn't realise it opened into a bed, but thought well he'd have to lump it, but felt very strange.
When they took him on the London Underground, he just couldn't get his foot onto the moving escalator and his sister told him: "Ate re, lahkta" - but eventually he got used to it and they lived in Camden Town.
Anna.