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Accommodation
"In
1947, students stayed in digs, not flats. Digs were my
greatest expense and an ongoing problem during my year in Leith."
"Through
a friend of my father, I spent the first
two nights with Mr and Mrs Buchanan in Rosslyn Street.
They refused any payment and even gave me a row when I
went out for a meal!"
"I
soon found accommodation in Mrs
Emslie's terraced house in
Cambridge Gardens,
but didn't stay long there."
"I
spent a fortnight with Jim and Margaret Johnston who lived in a
tenement in Dalmenny Street. They were ardent members of
South Leith Baptist Church and through them I met others who
became friends."
"At
the end of August, I moved to the
tenement home of Mr and Mrs Brown at 19 Constitution Street which
was just below the foot of Leith Walk and much nearer the College.
Although it was a poor area, the digs were comfortable and I was
treated like a member of the family. The room that I stayed
in had belonged to their young son, David. The wall over my
bed was decorated with pictures of railway engines, secured by 1"
nails.
I
couldn't care less about the decoration. I had a small table
to work on and a small electric fire to keep me warm, all
for about 30 bob (£1.50) a week.
Almost
everybody
listened to 'Forces Favourites'
at dinner/ lunch time on Sundays.
My room looked out towards the
back of tenements in Great Junction Street.
I have a memory of hearing the recording of Frank Sinatra
singing 'Time After Time' issuing from the open window of a house.
Towards the end of the
year, it came as a blow to learn from Mrs Brown that she was
pregnant and had to dispense with boarders. It was again a case of
searching for new digs.
"When I was absolutely
stuck for a place to spend a night in January 1948, Mrs Lord put
me up on the settee in her living room at Wellington Place. I was
absolutely freezing, but for supper, (bed) and breakfast, she
charged me only 2/6d."
"It was early January
before I got fixed up with another Mrs Brown, in Admiralty
Street. But the winter was a
severe one. It was
so cold that I invested in heavy underwear.
In the house, I had to
study in the kitchen/living room, as my room, even after I
obtained a small electric fire on paying an extra five bob, was
perishing.
I
slept on the bed settee in the
sitting room with more clothes on than I wore during the day.
I also piled everything I could on
the bed, chair backs and even a rug,
but still froze.
Another problem was
the social life which went on in the kitchen and which made study
almost impossible. On my very first evening, they had visitors in
and I went to the Sailors' Home to study.
There was another boarder
called Charlie Thompson and, on my second night, he, the Browns
and another woman, played cards with the radio on. It was an
impossible situation so I gave Mrs Brown £2 and
told her I was leaving because of the cold."
"My last move was to the
centrally heated Sailors' Home in Tower Place where I got one of
the rooms in the officers’ section. There were about twenty-four
rooms in the section and all but one were occupied by students at
the College studying radio.
The rooms, separated only
by partitions, were narrow and spartan and without washhand
basins. But they were adequate and
there was an officers' dining room and a lounge, both overlooking
the dock.
The dining room was
spacious and pleasant while the lounge, where we studied, was
palatial with tables, leather-bound easy chairs and pictures of
sailing ships on the walls. The name 'Sailors' Home' may sound
ominous, but it was comfortable, warm
and friendly. Dances were held there on
Wednesday evenings
As food rationing was
still in operation, we gave our coupons to Mr MacDonald, a former
Chief Steward, who was the officer-in-charge. But as the amount of
food served was inadequate and we did not get the number of eggs
to which we were entitled. I
decided to do something about it. After
consulting the others, I wrote a letter of complaint to the
British Sailors' Society in Glasgow and got the others to append
their signatures below mine.
The letter had been sent
on a Wednesday and when we went in for lunch on Friday, all our
plates were so piled up that the boys were looking across to me
and smiling. Nothing had been said, but what a difference!
The crisis was over."
"I
left with a great affection for Leith where I had met much
kindness and where, on the very day I left the College with my
brand new 1st Class PMG in my pocket, I got a friendly wave from
Mr Brown who happened to be passing with his horse and cart."
Leith, however, is a
changed place today. Luxury flats now occupy The Shore and the
Sailors' Home, at the dock gate in Tower Place, is now the
Malmaison Hotel. Above its
entrance the words Sailors’ Home are still faintly
discernible.
The Kirkgate (pronounced
Kirgit by the locals) has all but disappeared as have the
consulates in Bernard Street which once signified a lively port
trading with the Continent. And it makes me angry that, with the
port now privately owned, the public are no longer permitted to
stroll in the docks as they once did."
Ian M Malcolm: St Andrews,
Fife, Scotland: January 24, 2010
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