The next few years were hard but we managed.  I grew most of our food, made most of our clothes, and the precious money I made from sewing kept us in shoes and other necessities.  My parents took the children with them to Southsea every summer for holidays, and they came back brown and happy from their seaside trips.  I never told them about Len’s infidelities, only that he was working in London and came home when he could.

         Leonard did come home every once in a while, to see Eileen and little Len.  One year he won the award for his sales, and sent home a huge hamper, just in time for Christmas.  We feasted on ham, fruit, cheese and a huge goose that year, and had our neighbours in for a festive dinner.  My husband was not with us, and although nobody mentioned his absence, the children especially made it clear they missed their Dad.

         As Len got older he became a handful.  Perhaps if he had a normal home life he would have turned out differently, but by the time he was ten he started missing school and hanging around with some wild older boys.  They nicked sweets and cigarettes from the shops, got into fights and threw rocks at windows. 

         Eileen, bless her heart, was my angel.  She kept me company, cleaned the cottage for me when I was busy sewing, and tried to set an example to her brother, although he never listened to her.  When she was fourteen she left school to go into service for one of the families who had a villa outside of Farnham. When she was done for the day she would bicycle home, and I would walk down the lane to meet her.  She only ever kept a few shillings for herself, and I must say her salary helped us out tremendously.  Sometimes she would come home with a handful of flowers for me that she bought at a stand on her way home.  She knew I loved growing beautiful flowers but hated picking them, only to watch them die. 

         The years went by, quietly in our village, but in Britain and Europe things were changing, and not for the better.  In fact, the skies were becoming very dark indeed.