Some interesting tales here.
For me, I 'came about' in that there London. Wembley for the first year I think and then Fulham until I was 9. (not far from Craven Cottage)
Then we 'moved to the country', or so it seemed to me at the time. In fact it was Twickenham. While it wasn't the country, it was a tad less busy than Fulham.
My first job was as a book illustrator ( mostly line drawings ) but the company closed after a few years and after a one week spell with a rival company I left and was officially jobless. I worked for an uncle of my then girlfriend (now my wife) in his wood yard but after a few months I found employment with an engineering company. I worked in their London office on Gt. Smith Street, just around the corner from The Houses of Parliament.
Even in the 1970's House prices were too much for me. Mrs Colly was at college and my wages were not exactly stunning and so we looked elsewhere to set up home. After looking at Newcastle, Manchester and Birmingham we settled in Leeds. One reason being my company had an office here and after and interview with the manager I was invited to move north. Something I have never regretted.
So one friday evening I came home and told my mum, 'I'm moving to Leeds' she said that's nice dear, when. 'Monday' I replied. The look on her face !
It's only after having children myself I realise what a shock that must have been for her. Caring for me for 22 years and suddenly, Bang! I was gone. I never gave it a second thought.
So Mrs Colly finished college and moved north 7 months later. She got her first teaching job in Pontefract, Carleton Boys School. Having a London accent proved tricky at first, they thought she was Australian. The accent in South Yorkshire in the 1970's was quite distinct and so she had to quickly adapt her language so the boys could understand her. Gr ass in place of gr arse , buus rather than bus etc. but she did alright.
Seven years later our first child was born, then another and then another.
During those years things changed. I was made redundant and became self employed and because I did ok straightaway we had the funds to move to a bigger house. Almost as soon as we had moved, the first business began to struggle. One reason being that, in those days, taking your telephone number with you was not an option. I leafleted all my old customers and advertised much more but things never recovered to the degree necessary and so I had to find another way to make ends meet. In desperation I started to take on upholstery work. I sub-contracted it out, which, while it brought some money in, was never going to be a long term prospect. So I took to doing smaller jobs myself rather than subbing them out, then bigger jobs, and then anything that came along. I taught myself how to sew, read loads of craft books, asked as many questions as I could and then set my own workshop up, bought a decent sewing machine and found I always had work in. At first advertising costs were crippling but the more work I did the more recomendations I got and so it continued. I didn't advertise at all for the last 20 years of working. I had quiet times but mostly I was snowed under.
38 years and half a dozen grandchildren later we moved again, last year. I finally gave up working and sold my sewing machine and various bits of equipment. I get people calling me all the time but I decided I didn't want to work until I dropped.
My children are all Leeds Loiners. Mrs Colly and I are blow-ins. My two boys married Yorkshire lasses and both live less than 30 mins away so we see the grandchilders often. Which is nice. My Daughter married a Leeds lad but after a few years they parted and she came back home for a spell. Now living with a guy of vietnamese extraction and they seem very happy together.
Now I live in Scholes which is just outside Leeds but with the amount of house building going on we will probably be swept up like many former villages.
After 50 years in Leeds I think I'll stay.
Which is the furthest I've had a home in 53 years having moved further west
Lumped in with that there Surrey. It went down badly with just about everyone.
