A Coventry Kid's Tale

Chapter 5: Holidays in Wales

Because of the child's father selling the car, they now had to go on holiday by "buzz". The buzz always left Pool Meadow (still no fields) at midnight. On and on the buzz would go for eight hours, finally arriving at Tenby. There they were met by the father's brother, Uncle Roy. Off they would speed to Pembroke dock to Uncle Roy's house and be shown their rooms.
The first thing the child would do would be nice to uncle Roy, for he would give the child half a crown. Off he would go to Woolworth's to buy his girlfriend a present, his girlfriend being Sheila Hartop who lived down Lower Ford Street. The next thing the child would do was be nice to uncle Roy who would give him another half a crown, now he had pocket money. His sister meanwhile would be wandering the streets trying to get lost (this was not hard for her), she only had to walk out of the door, turn around, and she was lost. The hue and cry would go up, to look for her, two days after first finding she was gone. The sister always managed to be found. The sister and something always travelled in the trailer when going on a picnic, the poor child had to ride in the car for he was fond of falling out of the trailer. The picnics always being at Freshwater West.
On the beach the child would build himself a car made of sand. The something would also build a car made of sand with the help of a friend. The child would attach a tow rope made of sand to the something's car, only to be broken by the something because he did not want to tow the child. Because the poor child had no tow the car was washed away by the sea. Saddened, the child would walk back to where they were staying, to be gladdened by the cake on the table. Food, oh how he loved food. The chalet they stayed in used to be an old ship's cabin, this was in Freshwater East.

The following day playing in a field with his sister and something they came across a grass snake. His sister, upon seeing the snake, screamed and ran 100 yards across a field in record time, leaping an 8ft hedge and then landing 16ft down into the road, for the road was lower than the field. My sister was never very practical, off up the road she ran still screaming into the distance (no wonder she always got lost). The child testing the wind direction swung his pocket watch around his head (he was not too brainy), the chain not liking the extra weight snapped. The poor pocket watch to this day has never been found. This was his porter's watch.
Coming near to the end of the holiday the child would be nice to his Uncle Roy and he would get another half a crown. The child had never had so much money since he had given up the rag and bone trade.
Back to Tenby they would all go, to catch the buzz back home. Now this one left in the morning so you could watch the countryside go by. It was boring, except for the food. The something always got travel sickness, so it was double helpings for the child. When the buzz arrived back in Coventry it would be night time. The child who always walked with his head down (looking for anything he could find), would walk into lamp posts. The poor child never learned to look where he was going.