The Baby Laundry for Unmarried Mothers by Angela Patrick

Author:Angela Patrick [Patrick, Angela and Barrett-Lee, Lynne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781849834919
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK

PART TWO

Chapter Twelve

‘You know what I think we should do?’ said Pauline. ‘I think we should go to Blackpool for a holiday.’

It was the beginning of May 1964, a Saturday, and she’d travelled up to London so we could spend the day shopping and doing a bit of sightseeing. We’d been spending a lot of time together lately, and had a really close friendship. We both found comfort in the fact that, for the two of us, Paul and Alexander were able to exist. And though we consciously tried not to dwell on our losses, it was such a relief to be able to talk about our babies instead of pretending they’d never been born. We were in Regent’s Park today, wandering among the throng of weekend crowds, many of whom flocked here to meet Guy the gorilla, one of London Zoo’s most popular attractions.

‘Blackpool?’ I said. ‘Really?’ The thought of going somewhere like Blackpool would never have entered my head. I’d spent most of my childhood going on caravanning trips to the quiet spots my parents preferred, such as St Osyth and Clacton and Jaywick Sands, but after my father had died, there’d been no further family holidays. Bar the trip to Italy, in recent years the only place I’d been was Ireland, to stay with my mother’s relatives. And right now the thought of going away anywhere hadn’t occurred to me. I was just living day to day, getting through.

‘Yes, Blackpool,’ Pauline said, grinning at me. ‘And don’t look so shocked. It’s brilliant there, such fun. And it would be such a tonic for us both. I can probably find a good place we could stay, as well – nothing too expensive, obviously. My parents will know somewhere, I’m sure.’

Pauline’s parents ran a bed and breakfast in Cromer, and apparently knew lots of other people in the trade. ‘Wakes Week, I was thinking,’ Pauline went on. ‘Because it will be really lively then, won’t it? What d’you say? Do you think you could get the time off from work?’

Wakes weeks were still quite common in the 1960s. They were designated weeks during which all the mills and factories in an area would close so the workers could go on holiday. The late May one was common in the north-west of England, particularly Lancashire, and crowds would flood to the coast, mostly to Blackpool, because of the beach and the famous funfair.

I thought for a moment. Why not go to Blackpool? No, it had never occurred to me before, but at the same time I couldn’t think of a reason to say no.

‘I could try,’ I said. ‘As long as I’m quick, I expect I can. It’s not a particularly busy time at work, I think.’

‘That’s settled then.’ She squeezed my forearm. ‘Oooh, how exciting! Trust me,’ she added, ‘you will love it.’

I don’t know what I expected to find in Blackpool. I had only the usual stereotypical ideas about what it might be like: fish and chips, stripey rock, donkey rides, ‘Kiss me quick’ hats and so on.

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