Around 1974, my dad wrote to the local council to request a 4 bedroom property in exchange for our 3 bedroom one, he was told he had no chance, so he had to resort to writing a stronger letter explaining that I was now becoming a drug addict and suicidal amongst other things, it had a dramatic effect because we were moving.
A four bedroom flat on the ground floor at 48 Sulivan Court, Fulham SW6. It was the first time I had had my own room, I was 18 years old no longer a drug addict or suicidal. Amazing what a move can do.
For my mum, being back in Fulham was like coming home, my dad was from the Old Kent Rd, SE1, so I doubt he really minded where he was, I felt more of a Fulham boy than my two brothers who were both definitely Bush boys. By now my brother Colin was an apprentice with North Thames Gas and my brother Andrew was still at Christopher Wren school, so he had near enough the same journey in reverse to the one I had had at Elliott. For me, it was closer to the pub and my pals in Putney, bizarrely though, I now travelled to White City Underground station, W12 for training with London Transport.
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The perks of working for LT were terrific, a free pass for use on both the Buses and the Underground and a pass entitling you to only having to pay one quarter of the fare anywhere on British Rail, to be a guard was a lot more difficult than you would imagine, along with opening and closing the doors you were responsible for the train and in fact in charge. You also acted as the emergency driver (Motor Man), you had to memorise the workings of two separate braking systems and be able to diagnose any problems with it, and the most exciting part, actually driving a train. I have driven a train to every stop on the District and Circle lines and am proud to say that. To this day I am really jealous of the guys who drive trains.
At first I worked as a member of station staff at Earls Court, basic thing like sweeping up and directing people and the bit announcing the trains over the loudspeaker system. Now anyone that knows me will tell you that I can be a bit of a joker, most people would announce where the train was going and a number of stops on route, to me this was boring, I would tell people the colour of the train, how many carriages it had, a brief summary of the weather and I just could not help myself announcing Parsons Green as Parsons Nose, and you know what, no one ever noticed.
