Joan
Joan
A couple of weeks after I moved to London I was introduced to Joan Williams, a widow lady who lived in a block of flats in our street. We found we got along very well together and soon started going on outings together along with her young son. This, after 2 years, led to 20 years of happy marriage.
My next site was organising some repairs and renovations to a pub at Clapham. The job had been started before I got there and I had to find out about what was to be done very quickly. This seemed to be company policy to have one foreman start a job then part way through send him away and put in somebody else to struggle on. I never thought it was very efficient.
Part of this contract we had to remove and replace a ceramic tile clad parapet wall above the single story part of the building. Where it butted up to the three-story section the tiles were carried on in a band. These tiles we removed and they exposed a large timber beam, which appeared to be rotting. So they wanted that out and replaced with a RSJ encased in concrete. This involved scaffolders erecting shoring to support the floors above. Then get out the timber beam. Company wanted us to cut the beam into 3 or 4 sections with a chisel then split it out, but as the beam was 14 inches from front to back and we could only work from the outside this was going to take a long time. So I ordered a chain saw from the company’s hire section. And had all the cuts through in under half an hour. The hire people were not happy as I touched mortar and bricks occasionally, which blunted the saw chain. But certainly a lot quicker and cheaper than their way. Another problem was the pub had to be open for business so a lot of hassles over noise and mess. The landlord was not very helpful.
My next site was renovating a basement flat near Hyde Park. The owner was a busy lawyer so we didn’t see much of him but his wife was a retired chorus girl with nothing to do and she turned up on site almost every day. She couldn’t visualise anything until it was in place then decided it would be better elsewhere. Every electrical switch and power point was moved and this involved cutting brick and plasterwork with a deep groove for the cables and a square hole for the switch box. Also several sizes of switch box and she often decided to have two or more switches or power points there. Also not a lot of communication. The architect was so fed up with them not knowing what they wanted and changing their minds, he had more or less given up.
One incident to illustrate. She asked if the light switch box in the lounge was big enough for two switches. I understood there was to be one ceiling light. But the owners had decided to put up a chandelier. This had 24 light bulbs and she wanted half on one switch and half on the other. So in with a larger box and replace all the wiring with heavier grade to provide sufficient flow for all those bulbs. Just as well we found out then, rather after everything had been redecorated.
Another point of poor communications was with the site manager. Communications were via the daily report sheets. I wrote these up diligently because of all the changes and extra work involved. He either didn’t both or didn’t have time to read them so very little of communication via them. Part of the job involved an elaborate wood and glass screen to be made. He said they would have to get quotes so I contacted a joinery firm I knew of. Mr Pat Wain came and measured up, then quoted very promptly to head office. He also said there would be a six-week delivery time, which worked out just right for the job. After a couple of weeks, I queried the site manager and he said he hadn’t done anything as he wanted to arrange another quote. This he did but by now 3 weeks had gone by, so Pat Wain couldn’t deliver when I wanted even though he finally obtained the contract. Ahh.
Drainage was another problem. They wanted two bathrooms and toilets in different places from the original ones. These were no drawing or other details about what drains went where and what carried what so for a week we had two blokes there opening up floors and pouring down coloured water trying to find out where it disappeared to. Lots of fun. None of the fittings could be plane ordinary things. The owners went and chose and paid for what they wanted and suppliers promptly delivered most of it far too soon and unannounced. Luckily, there was another empty flat in the lock and we could store most of it there. Bathroom fittings like the basins and pans were ornamental with floral transfer. There was a very ornate and delicate fire front in polished marble and so on. Due to delays and other things, the company decided to put somebody else in charge. They wanted me to go to a job at Cirencester a town near Bath, but I refused, as I wanted to be near Joan so I could help her with her problems.
So I took over a job near Staines, to an outer building, at the weeks end house belonging to Lord Marks, the head of the very large chain store company called Marks and Spencer.
The main building was large, about 10 or 12 bedrooms plus all the other rooms. We didn’t work on that. We were altering and adding to another building. This had two flats for resident staff. Plus a garage area capable of storing five or six cars. We were adding to the ground floor flat occupied by the resident butler. The grounds were several acres with a lot of trees that were colouring up it being autumn. From here, I gave notice to Yeoman and partners with my intention being to return to New Zealand.
We both got on very well with each other. She was a small lady (4ft 91/2″ tall) with a very friendly nature and we both enjoyed traveling about. David her son was nine when we met and we got along fairly well together but I had very little knowledge of being a father, so had to struggle a bit. While in England I built him a canoe with removable ends, so we could carry it in my van. He had a lot of fun in that. He was rather adventurous and tried things his Mum didn’t really approve of, but once he was away in it we just had to let him get on with it. We went out on a lot of day trips and several weekend tours. Including twice to the Farnborough Airshow. I built a special roof box for the van when parked. This gave us sleeping space for two up there, under a pram roof-type tent, plus curtains around the van side doors.
The first summer we had 3 weeks touring Scotland. Then next summer a quick tour to Land’s End and around there.
Joan being a widow had to go to work for her living. She did kitchen work in a school canteen. (In England then schools provided a hot lunch for any children who wanted one).
After school, she did household cleaning for several people until about 5pm. This left David on his own a lot, and then he started getting into trouble with other kids.
Joan and I talked it over and decided we would all be better off in New Zealand. After a bit of working out, we decided the best timing was for us to marry in October and then fly to NZ in November. To help raise extra funds I took on a private job in the weekends.
I also found that if I ceased work within six months from the end of March I could get a good tax concession.
So late September I left Yeoman and Partners. This gave me more time to finish the weekend jobs.
We were married at the end of October in a Registry Office. During the next couple of weeks I packed up a lot of household gear and took it to the docks for shipping to New Zealand. I also did the same with my van, which I wanted to take home. We flew out of England at the end of October. The first hop was by KLM to Amsterdam. Then next day Canadian Pacific Airlines took us on our next stages all the way to NZ.
First stage was the polar route where we crossed Greenland and Northern Canada. Three stops in Canada first two for less than an hour each at Edmonton and Calgary. Then a four-hour stop at Vancouver. Up there, the weather was winter. Been grey and miserable in London and Amsterdam, snow and below freezing at Edmonton, and Calgary, and near freezing in Vancouver. At Vancouver, we were sent to a hotel to wait, but we went for a walk along a snow-verged road.
Next stage was to Honolulu where temperatures were in the middle 20 degree Celsius in the middle of the night. Also humidity about 100%. So quite a contrast. We had a 24-hour stopover after a short hot night and were tired next day. David spent his day at the beach, mostly swimming. Joan and I just walked about sightseeing near our hotel.
That evening we started on an overnight flight across the Pacific. We stopped at Nandi for one hour next morning then on to New Zealand where we landed at Whenuapai by early afternoon.
My Mum, Dad and sisters were there to meet the plane, and to take us back to Papatoetoe which seemed to have hardly changed at all in the 3 ½ had been away.