>NEW YEAR / NEW HOUSE & THE D-TRAIN

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Christmas 1981, cant really Remember too much about it, but what I can remember was we were Looking forward to moving into the New House!

As I said in Previous Post, during the Christmas Period we had a walk round to the New House, to look through the Window, we saw a nice Fireplace and what looked like a Gas Fire, we could’nt wait!

It was’nt until February 1982, that we Finally got the Keys to our New House,  after about 2 Years of Living in a Flat, that was pretty cramped as it had only 2 Bedrooms, and we had 2 Kids!

I cant remember How we Moved or who Helped us, Move in,  but the First Thing I Remember upon getting in the Front Room of the House, the Fireplace was Gone, along with the Gas Fire!!!!!

What a Disaster we were Really Looking forward to that Gas Fire heating the Downstairs up, all that was left was the Mains Gas Pipe, ready to have a New Fire Attached to it!

I found out Later, anything left by the Previous Tenants was Ripped Out for Safety Reasons, by the Local Council, this kind of thing is Common place Today, what with Health and Safety, but back 30 Years ago was Really Stupid, Annoying and Cost us Money!

The Area we moved to was’nt that Bad back in the Early 80’s, but lets say I’m Glad we dont live there now, although I am not Ashamed of where we lived , its all part of Growing up and Life!

Although Susan Hates the Area, and to this Day she never Talks about it or Passes the Old House,and its only about 10 Minutes from where we Live Now, but its a World away, in some aspects!

On the Music Front in Early ’82, was the Debut Album from D-Train “You’re The One For Me”, he had already had the Title Track Released as the  first Single release, and it was a Hit, both sides of the Atlantic!  

Another Great Track on the Album, was D-Train’s Version of “Walk On By”

D-Train were a Duo, comprising of James “D Train” Williams and Hubet Eaves. They only ever Released a further 2 Albums!  

CHRISTMAS 1981 and MASS PRODUCTION

 By Christmas 1981, we had been in the flat nearly 2 Years, can’t say I remember too much actually about the Christmas Period, but the 2 things that stands out the Most around this Time are, First of all we were going to be Moving to a 3 Bedroomed House (Rented from the Local Council) and Secondly, after 9 Months of  Working at a Place I Hated, I was Leaving!

First Moving, I cant remember all the Circumstances, but what I do remember is , our 2 Kids were a Boy (aged nearly 3) and a Girl (aged nearly 2), and we lived in a 2 Bed Flat, so we Needed a Bigger Place!

Just before that Christmas, we had recieved a Letter from the Council, saying we were being Considered (along with others!)  for a Move,  and would we like to be Considered , but we knew this Meant, the House was probably ours!

We actually knew where the New House was, and during the Christmas Period we took the Kids in their Pushchair / Pram, to have a Look through the Window, it Looked Great through the Window, I can Remember a Lovely Fireplace, and I believe it was fitted with a Gas Fire!

As for Losing my Job, now Most people would have been Miserable, Losing your Job right on top of Christmas, but I was the opposite, I was Happy!

I Hated the place, what had happened was they decided to lay off Several Worker’s, on the Last Come/ First Out Basis, and that was me, Sacked! (Thank God), but  I knew knew I would soon get another job!

One thing I do remember about the Last Day working (that was Christmas Week) we were all called into the Factory Manager’s Office, one by one, to get our Last Wages, an explanation and some Goods!

Now the Manager’s name was Fred, I can’t remember his last Name, but he was a Right Tw*t, he thought he was something Higher than any of the Worker’s!

Anyway to my Surprise he was Really Nice and Really Sorry about Laying me off! in fact he gave me More Wages than I should have had, plus he gave me (and the others) a Food Hamper, it had loads of different Meats , Drink etc etc!

And to Top it all off, he said I’ll give you a Lift Home with all your Stuff, but I had a Bike at that time, and when I told him this, he said that’s alright and put the the Bike in the Boot of his Car!

 What a Shock that all was, so we ended up have a Decent Christmas after all !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Checkout the photos of Natalie, one on the Settee in the Flat (above) and the one to the Left is Natalie with Susan (at Susan’s Mothers House) as I have said Previously these are the Earliest/First Photos we have, read my Earlier Blog Entry!

Music around this time, I remember the Album “Turn Up The Music” by Mass Production That was a Great Album as were all of their 8 Releases between the Years of 1976 and 1983, plus at a “Best Of”  Album in  1996.

The Best Track on the Album was the Title Track, Have a Listen! “Turn Up The Music”

NEW JOB, NEW HOUSE!!!

I have tried hard to think of the correct dates and times around this period, but I cannot remember, firstly did we move House first or was it my new Job first! and what month did this happen!

I guessing this, but I think I changed Jobs first, which would have been around September / October of 1979, and we moved around middle to late October 1979!

But whatever the facts were, it was a busy time, not forgetting as well Susan was Pregnant!

I was working as a Butcher for Dewhurst’s, which included getting meat ready to sell and serving Customer’s!

I say “getting meat ready to sell” in my case as I was the new chap in the Shop, a couple of my main jobs were getting the Mince ready and cutting up Chicken’s into portion’s, not too taxing, as specially as I had been a Chef for about 5 years, so cutting up Meat and the Cuts of meat were quite easy!

Cutting up Steak and the better cuts of meat was down to the ” more experienced Butcher’s”, who worked in the Shop, I always found this a bit ridiculous, as I had probably cut and cooked more Meat/Joints/Steaks than most of the other workers put together!

I got on with most of the worker’s and actually eventually lived next door to one of them, about a year or to later!

I didnt like the Manager that much, a Chap called “Ernie” cant remember his last name though, I dont think he liked it because I did’nt need too much Teaching, because of my previous Job!

When we eventually moved from our One Room Accomodation to our rented Three Bedroomed House, It was Great, all that space!

We had permission to Decorate anywhere we liked, which eventually we did, from top to bottom!

Every Friday night I had to go to the Landlord’s House (it was only 5 minutes away) and pay the Rent, a grand total of £7.00 per week, but over 30 year’s ago, that was quite alot out of my wages!

See picture above, I went back to our first House (pictures are of front & back of house), it still looks the same, we actually past it at least 4 times a week, its about 2 miles from where we live now!