SIXTEEN
BOLTON
BOLTON
Florence rose late the following morning,
partially due to the long journey home by train from the West Country, but also
from the mental fatigue she had endured during the couple of weeks prior to
leaving Devonport. When she did eventually wake, grace of her mother, she was
surprised to find the house empty apart from her mother. She threw off the bed
clothes and went downstairs to find her mother in her usual place in the
kitchen, sat at the table in front of the range, drinking from a cup of tea. The
teapot rested on the iron stand on the range keeping warm.
'Morning love,' she said. 'Cup of tea?'
'Please Ma' Florence replied and eased
herself past the stout woman to go out into the privy in the yard. Harriet
reached behind her and took the teapot from the range and poured a mug full for
her daughter, then placed it across from where she sat and settled back to wait
for Florence to come back into the kitchen. After a couple of minutes Florence
bustled back into the kitchen hugging her dress around her and pushing the back
door closed behind her with her foot. She walked quickly to the fire and
rubbing her hands together pushed them in towards the flames of the fire.
'You know, it's like Pa used to say. It's
an overcoat warmer in the south than up here' she said. Harriet grinned and
indicated the mug of tea set by the chair opposite her.
'Sit yourself down and warm yourself up
with that then,' she said.
'Ooo! Ma. I'd forgotten how cold it could
be even in summer up here.' Florence shivered, cupping the mug between her hands
and sipping gently from it. She replaced the cup on the table and drew in a
deep breath. 'That's better. There's something about the water down south
that's not right, not the same as good old Bolton Corporation Pop,' she said
smiling across the table at her mother. Harriet smiled warmly at her daughter,
glad to have her home again, but knowing also that the time was limited before
her girl would disappear across the ocean for who knows how long, wondering if
it would be for ever. She looked down and picked up her own mug from the table
lifting it to her lips.
'Do you know when you are going love?' she
asked quietly. Florence lifted her head and glanced first at the fire then at
her mother.
'Not certain Ma, could be a few weeks or it
might be a month or so. I need to do a lot of things before I go, like making
sure I've enough money, then buying the tickets, and most importantly, I need
to try and make sure that Tommy is going to be in port when I arrive.' Her mother
nodded her head silently 'It will make
things a lot easier for me if he is waiting there in Sydney for me when the
ship arrives. Otherwise I'm going to be a bit lost all by myself. He might even
have been able to find me somewhere to live by the time I get there.'
'I suppose you're right there love,' her
mother replied, unable to visualise the place called Sydney or the country
called Australia. What little she knew of the country had come from the
occasional article in the newspapers about the various countries which made up
the British Empire. Since gaining a connection through their daughter with
Australia both she and William Henry had sought out books and newspaper
articles about the country, and had devoured everything there was to know. She
had heard on the radio that Australia and Canada were both very keen to get
people to go out there to live, to fill the vast open spaces of each country.
The radio programme had said that both countries were offering reductions in
the fare to get out there, for certain types of people. Housemaids and servants
were in particular demand and had been offered free or subsidised passages. For
her life though she was unable to see that her Florence would come under that
particular category. It was more than likely, she thought, that Florence would
have to pay the full price of the ticket, and would she buy a return ticket or
a one way one? She kept her thoughts to herself for the time being. The right
time to ask the questions would present itself in due course.
'So, my lass, what are your plans for today
then?' she finally asked. Florence picked up the mug and sipped from it once
more then replaced it on the table, looking directly across at her mother.
'Well Ma, I want to go to the library and
try and get as much information as I can about Australia and Sydney. I only
know a bit, and most of that is from the letters I've had from Tommy. So I need
to see if there is anything in the newspapers more up to date than his last
letter. He told me in one of them a couple of months ago that this Ned Kelly
thing was all over and done with years ago, and would not trouble us in Sydney
anyway. Kelly were hung over twenty years ago, and it were in a place called
Melbourne, which is a long way from Sydney. It were worrying me a bit I can
tell you.' She grinned at her mother who said nothing. 'Anyway, once I've been
to the library, I'll have a look round the shops to see if there's anything new
that I haven't seen since I were last home. I need to keep up with what's going
on here don't I?'
She smiled at her mother and for a couple
of minutes there was a short silence between them as they sat in the quiet of
the kitchen, happy with each other's company and content to sit quietly and
simply watch the cold embers of the fire in the range. The only sounds came
from the occasional tram rattling its way up Waterloo Street, and the
occasional woman clipping along on steel tipped clogs as they returned home
from shopping.
'What's the matter Ma?' Florence eventually
asked softly, breaking the silence. Harriet flicked her eyes up from the table
towards her and then back to the table top, tapping the side of the mug with
her short fingernails.
'Well I'm worried love. It's understandable
isn't it? Here you are going off to the end of the world all by yourself. Do
you wonder that I'm worried?' Florence smiled across the table.
'Ma, I'll be fine. People do the trip all
the time. Nobody is going to kill me or anything. Tommy will be waiting for me
when I arrive in Australia. Everything will be fine, honest.' She replied, with
rather more confidence than she felt. Having said that, she was really excited
at the prospect of travelling all that way, seeing all the different countries
the ship would stop at before finally docking in Sydney. The voyage itself was
a major adventure; going to Liverpool to find a ship which was going there,
buying a ticket, making certain she and her luggage boarded the ship on the day
it sailed. All of these things were exciting in themselves without the thought
of starting a new life by herself in a completely new country. She bubbled over
with excitement at the thoughts, and found it difficult to be sympathetic to
the fears her mother voiced, and which she knew her father would repeat later
that evening, and probably several more times before she eventually left. Nothing
was going to stop her now though. She had broken from the Naval presence at
Devonport, and might never see the place again, and was now intent on ensuring
that all her preparations went to plan and to her own timetable. Ships sailing
times notwithstanding.
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