The Famous Five

I wasn’t aware of much except that I had my room, my father had his and my mother had hers and that in the night when I wanted her I couldn’t get to her for the gate that blocked the hallway and farther who would pick me up and try to explain that I couldn’t disturb her.

She had been ill since I was born and during her struggle to get better and his struggle caring for her, me and running the studios their relationship had been lost. I had just started school so must have been four or just five when I stood on the pavement and watched her blue poka-dot sofa being lifted into a van.

I remember being told it was ok and that it was an adventure like in the Famous Five, I loved the Famous Five and longed for adventures on Kirrin Island with George and Timmy. But we wern't catching smugglers, my mother was just moving into her own flat a few minutes’ walk away. I 'just' because it was all very un-dramatic, sometimes I slept at my mothers, sometimes at my fathers and my mother would walk me up and down the market street that connected the two.

She went to great efforts to make the flat a nice home, painting our bedrooms pink and white with a rose border and all of the cupboards in the kitchen pretty pastel colours. I was never bored at either's house receiving a great deal of attention at my mums and distraction at my dad’s.