December 1957 School Magazine

Brisbane Girls ' Grammar School Maga%ine

December, 1957

Decembe r, 1957

Brisbane Girls ' Grammar School Maga%ine

a lounge-cum-diningroom-cum kitchen. Other conveniences are community property, to be shared by oneself and all the other conservative flat -dwellers in the building w ith whom one never becomes acquainted. To our uninhib ited aston- ishment there was little or no provision for heating, even in the coldest stony basement flat. At len gth the condition of my mother 's health forced us to find some kind of abode, and out of sheer necessity we took a flat in a street of lovely o ld Georgian houses in North Kensington. Mercifully it had central heating , and we were able to sit in comfort and wa tch the snow falling w ithout even a shiver. It is not enough to have somewhere to Iive and some - thing with which to keep warm ; it is also necessary to eat. After one meal of Scottish steak at 16/- per lb . and Brussels Sprouts we took to consuming vas t quantities of packeted sausages and frozen peas . There are at least a dozen varie- ties of butter, three standards of milk , and o ranges at differ- etlt times of the year came from such places as the West Indies, South Africa , Soain , and Palestine . In order to wa Ik to the bottom of the street to do the s ho;:m ing a major dressi ng operation takes place. To the primary layers of winter clothing miscellaneous extra wool - lies , s now boots, lonq woo llen socks, scarfs , fur gl oves and overcoats are added. - The next difficulty occurs w hen one decides t o was h one's neck-to-knees and so forth At this juncture we realised that in those charming little two - roomers , the c lothes wash ing ritual goes on in the same tub which also serves as bath and si nk 1 At least we had .1 separate room in which to take a bath and inevitably, to was h our lo ng underwear. Now the London Transpo rt Company provides an excel- lent bus and tube service, but even here there are hazards invo lved . At a large station like Piccadilly or Oxford Circus it is extremely difficult t o find one's way on t o the right train, esoecially at peak hours . It is therefore essential l"o know just w hen one is likel y to walk into a seething antheap .1nd be wa fted unwittinaly on to an interminable escalator down which , but fo r a -huma n wedae on either side , one would otherwise fall headlong . Some few minutes after boarding this vehicle one is miraculously turned off at the b:Jttom and is then forced to run at the doub le-or be trampled underfoot-al ong tiled passages to the underground station. If one remembers to look to see where the approach- ina train is bound-and it is a lways the wrong one-o ne allows oneself to be carried along in the outgoing stream and goes u rJ another escalator. Thi s performance is then repeat- ed until the right platform is rea ched . 40

It is hardl y to be wondered at that we travelled by tube r.. s little as possible and kept to bus transpo rt . At least t~e onl y hazard here is the bus queue. If you are ~ver 1r: London walk down Oxford Street at fi ve in the evenmg ana you wil 'l see an astonishing sight. There wi ll be l_ong . lines of people one behind the other , all lookmg more man1mate than you had ever imagined humans could be . These are the bus queues. After you have lived for a short t1me In London, you will find that all these risks beco~e part of your life and you, t oo, will begin to love the old c1ty as I do. -CLACE BIRKBECK. VB IMPRESSIONS The sun was shining . Soft fleec y clouds floated in the sky. The trees gentl y whispered as they waved in the cool breeze and the continuous buzzin