Theresa’s Writing

So who round here believes in ghosts? It’s a tricky one. I definitely believe in something,  though not the  ghoul in a white sheet variety. Which reminds  me of a strange thing that happened when I was at boarding school. Not ghostly but more creepy because it involved  real people , at least I assume…

I never really thought of myself as a cat person, or a dog person for that matter. More a horse person if I’m honest. Back in the 80’s we were living  up Brixton Hill. One day a council workman knocked on the front door holding the upturned back of a telly, in which were a…

Those of you who know me know that I simply hate fish. Even fish that you are convinced does not taste like fish.In fact, especially fish that you are convinced does not taste like fish.  A childhood in Japan was, according to family folklore, responsible for this. Some people simply can’t believe that I have…

Last week I joined a  group  which concentrates on the history of the  Camberwell and Peckham area. Some of the posts are  quite mundane ( school reunion requests/ people looking for family  etc) but mostly its completely riveting. Obviously being extremely nosey gives me an immediate head start, and I have become quite obsessed with…

The Ballad of Dog man In Camberwell there lived a man With fourteen dogs in his backyard His shorts held up with baler twine He liked to keep his bare legs warm By rubbing them with lard Each day he rummaged through the bins His garden full of litter Drank tea from empty dog food…

Well.I am back in Sears St and there is obviously something wrong with the tea trolley as it hasn’t arrived. Its funny how the sounds around me feel so unfamiliar when by tomorrow they will be back in my brain as the most familiar to me. I can hear birdsong ( so there must be…

Another night of banging and crashing, with the added treat of there being none of the right antibiotics until the courier got them from another hospital which meant I finally got hooked up to my drip at 12.30. Again dealt with calmly by the lovely ward nurse, and certainly nobody’s fault here, but this is…

As it is 4am here in hospital world it seems perfectly normal that we are all wide awake and sitting up in bed drinking tea . Now I need to set the record straight, Mr Staples is in fact a Mrs. Nothing is quite as it seems when you have been gulping down morphine with…

Having spent the last couple of days in hospital with a severe ear infection with the right side of my face swollen like a pumpkin ( it is after all Halloween) it’s funny how quickly one loses track of time and place. I have no idea if it is light or dark, sunny, rainy, there…

I cannot imagine what it must be like to have to give your baby away. I remember you told me that they took the babies away on a Tuesday, from the mother and baby home that you were sent to in Putney , far enough away for your father never to find out. A place…