Cultureshock

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Video transcript

Grandma’s Cabinet

It’s in my sitting room now and reminds me of my childhood. In 1937, when I was five years old, I visited my grandma travelling on the tram car along Scotswood Road and crossing the Old Redheugh Bridge which was then a toll bridge. This was the first time I really noticed the cabinet. I went into the front room and heard it rattle – it always rattled when the trains went by. The main line from London to Newcastle ran in front of her house causing a lot of steam and soot to billow into the air. This was very exciting and as a child I loved it!

The war came along and I was evacuated. During this time, the cabinet suffered some damage. When I returned home from Longtown, where I had been evacuated to, I used to visit my grandma who seemed a very old lady to me. She was always darning socks or knitting them and listened every evening to the news on the wireless – no television then.

I was always fascinated by the nic-nacs in the cabinet – some are still in there today – a colourful parrot and two lions. I sometimes look at them and think “you’re older than me!”…. We’re both on our way out, when I go the cabinet will probably follow shortly after.