Auntie and my grandmother were great friends who lived in the midlands. Grandfather to be and Auntie’s boyfriend went off to WW1. Grandfather to be returned and later married my grandmother, Auntie’s boyfriend did not and to the best of my knowledge she never married and never had another boyfriend. However, Auntie did retain contact with her boyfriend’s family for some years, even after they moved to the mid west of America.
After WW1 my grandparents along with Auntie bought the boarding house and moved to the east coast. All three of them doing their part in the running of the establishment. Grandmother cooking, grandfather looking after the kitchen and food preparation and Auntie general house work. Auntie was the thin fit one and for years was able to almost run up and down the five stories doing here various tasks, no lifts! Peak periods required the hiring of part time staff but it soon reverted back to the 3 of them running the show. My mum was born in the very early thirties and she was soon Auntie’s favourite distraction. That was of course until at the end of WW2 when my mum was distracted by a merchant seaman who was to become my birth father and the family were in receipt of a new bundle of joy the following year. That of course was me and all of Auntie’s attention was directed to me. There were some harrowing times following my birth but more about that later.
Auntie just about became my surrogate mother as she was totally devoted and I became somewhat of a spoiled brat for a few years. Then mother met by stepfather, married, and we moved to the midlands. Auntie resumed her duties in the Guest House.
Auntie simply ministered to my every whim and want so I was perhaps a somewhat spoiled infant. She washed/ironed all my clothes, bathed me, fed me whilst mother drained her energies catering to the “guests”, as mentioned, a 24 hour a day job. Auntie took me to school met me from school. Bought me toys when I asked. I was definitely a huge apple in her eye and stayed that way all her life.
