All this is background to the daughter, Jess, in my novel Hunger, though she doesn't have a stint in London. Well, she may in another book - but I digress. I was 18 or 19, anorexic and desperate to find a job in London to pay the rent so I went to an employment agency called Brook Street Bureau, where I was attended to by a bored girl who had little interest in me. She was pregnant, I remember, and wouldn't let me smoke. (This is so dated it makes me laugh, thinking of it.)
She got me a job as a filing clerk at Saatchi & Saatchi Garland Compton, as it was in those days, and I can't even remember what we filed but i know it was boring. I made friends with a girl a bit older than me, called Donna, and she was a good friend. She was engaged and later married her fiance and I was invited to the wedding, which took place the other side of London where I was living - out near Crystal Palace, I think. I know it was the other end of the Number 12 bus route, and seemed to take forever to get there.
When I got to the huge hall where the wedding and party afterwards took place, it was frantically busy, and I knew no one. However, everyone was so friendly, and made me welcome, made sure I had somewhere to sit and something to eat and I remember feeling very at home there. This was unusual as being anorexic makes you feel like a stranger on a different planet, but I remember their kindness and warmth, 40+ years on.
As I trundled back on the bus that evening, I can remember reflecting on what a lovely bunch of people they were, welcoming me into their gathering as if I were part of the family, and I hope that Donna, who will doubtless be a grandmother by now, is living happily with her large family by now.
The only thing I was aware of was being stared at for a minute when I arrived. I was used to that. It's like when someone dies - no one knows what to say. 'Why are you so thin?' isn't the greatest conversation opener. But no one mentioned my size. (Though they did ply me with food.)
Looking back over the event that is still the best wedding I've ever been to, I thought, 'Oh, come to think of it, I was the only white person there. Was that it? But no, surely not.
4 comments:
Racism is a funny thing. I used to have a Jamaican neighbour and she used to say that she was looked down on by Africans as she was not pure black. Like you, I have never seen the race thing. As a small child my friend was Joy, whose parents had come over with the Windrush. We played in one another's houses and the colour of our skin never came into the equation. we simply liked being in one another's company.
It is astonishing that even to this day there is still racism and segregation, all those years after the civil rights movement. How kind of Donna's family to make you feel so welcomed. Sounds like it was a lovely wedding Sue. Lulu xXx
Addy - how lovely to hear of your friend Joy. Surely children aren't racist? It depends on their parents and how they're brought up. They like some people and don't like others. It's as simple as that. It's just other people's beliefs and comments that cause sway.
Lulu - yes, it was the happiest wedding I've ever been to! xx
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