By Michele Hanson
Michele Hanson grew up an 'oddball tomboy disappointment' in a Jewish kinfolk in Ruislip within the Nineteen Fifties - a suburban Metroland idyll of neat lawns, bridge events and Martini socials. but this shopfront of respectability masked a mess of anxieties and salacious goings-on. used to be Shirley's mom relatively having an affair with the fellow from the carpet store? Did chatterbox Dora Colborne harbour unspeakable wishes for Michele's sulky dad? Whose Battenburg cake used to be the easiest? an environment of severe contention prevails, with Michele's mum suspicious of her non-Jewish neighbour's own behavior, and Michele very cautious of children's video games like 'Doctors and Nurses' that may convey bottoms into the equation. And with glamorous, scheming Auntie Celia swanning round in silk attire not easy cognizance, Michele has much to cope with. merely the yearly vacations to the south of France relieve the stress. This hilarious and fantastically evocative memoir charts Michele's early life and coming of age in a Britain that used to be rising from post-war austerity into the times of 'you've by no means had it so good'. it's a characterful and affectionate examine a manner of British existence lengthy due to the fact that disappeared yet one for which we proceed to carry large affection.
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Additional resources for What The Grown-Ups Were Doing: An Odyssey Through 1950s Suburbia
Sample text
Is he one of the notables? UNKNOWN MAN: CADI: No. you’re in charge of directing his affairs? UNKNOWN MAN: CADI: That’s so. Then he’s an employee. UNKNOWN MAN: CADI: They claim he has. They claim he has a trade but he does not make anything. UNKNOWN MAN: CADI: He makes nothing. No. Has he influence? qxd:Tawfiq_Hakim 52 4/13/08 4:12 PM Page 52 The Sultan’s Dilemma UNKNOWN MAN: Yes, CADI: on his acquaintances. Has he many acquaintances? UNKNOWN MAN: Yes—many. CADI [thinking in silence as he passes his fingers through his beard]: Yes.
WINE MERCHANT forward. qxd:Tawfiq_Hakim 4/13/08 4:12 PM Page 45 Act Two SLAVE TRADER: VIZIER: Silence! Silence! Honorable people! You are today present at a great and unique occa- sion, one of the most important in our history: a glorious Sultan asks for his freedom and has recourse to his people instead of to his sword—that sharp and mighty sword by which he was victorious in battles against the Mongols and with which he could also have been victorious in gaining his freedom and liberating himself from slavery.
Thirty! At a sum of thirty! Thirty thousand dinars! [whispering]: Thirty thousand dinars to be thrown into the sea! What a madman! [shouting at the top of his voice]: Thirty thousand dinars! SLAVE TRADER Thirty! Any better bid? No one? No one bids more than thirty thousand dinars? Is this all I’m offered as a price for our great Sultan? SULTAN VIZIER: [to the VIZIER]: So this is the height of noble, patriotic, appreciation! Your Majesty, those present bidding here are mostly the miserly mer- chants and well-to-do, those whose nature is niggardly, whose one desire is profit, and who begrudge spending money for the sake of a lofty purpose.