The Boy From Rod Alley

The Boy From Rod Alley is a account of a childhood of the 1930s.

Author John Loveday was born in 1926. And this is his story.

It's not long since the Great War (which had yet to be renamed as World War 1) and former soldiers are seen riding about on their ex-army bikes, there are many women widowed by the terrible conflict and there are men who, although they returned physically from the Trenches had left something of their psyche behind them. Shell-shocked, they were called.

We learn that a blue bag in a bath of water was the best treatment for a boy who had been stung all over by a swarm of furious wasps, read about a female classmate called Edith who had St Vitus' Dance, plus she who would insist on chewing on her little blackboard until it had all but disappeared and was eventually replaced by the teacher.

There was Mrs Hart who had problems with odoriferous pupils, but Mrs Hart was good for telling her pupils history stories with a local, Norfolk, connection. John remembers her specially as she didn't read these stories from books but recounted them from memory.

He tells us of his family, how angry his father was when the Post Office decided to change the name of their lane from Rod Alley to the "posher" Post Office Terrace. But of course, the residents knew that it was still really called Rod Alley.

The family ere quite well off, as they owned and operated and agricultural engineering workshop and a foundry.

He tells of the local pool, both loved and feared, of the characters of the village, of the houses great and small where the people that he knew lived out their lives.

It's a charming and very well written book. There are no illustrations apart from a charming painting executed by the author on the cover.

The book is published by Matador at £9.99.