ne of the things I remember about being 16 is that we never washed our hair more than once a week. There was one shampoo called Amami and the ad said, “Friday night is Amami night.” I also remember craving open toed sling-back sandals, but I didn’t ever get them because I couldn’t afford them. In those days there was no credit. If you didn’t have money, you didn’t have it. My mum was a bus conductor. She earned four pounds a week, and that was to look after two kids and herself. Some things were hard on us, but I do remember the freedom of it as well. My sister and I were able to go up the road and over the stile into the fields for days and days, totally unworried about anything at all, just enjoying the lovely countryside. So we were poor but we had a lovely freedom and lived enjoyable lives.
