I have no idea why we moved from sharing a house in Goderich Street but I would imagine my parents much preferred to live in home of their own (even if rented) so we moved to what today is called a duplex but which in those days was called a semi-detached house. It was quite spacious and from what I remember very comfortable. It had a tiny front garden and a nice smallish back garden. In those days it was quite difficult to find affordable houses to rent and although Mum didn't like the idea of living in East Perth this was the best place available at that time.
For some reason I can't remember the house number although this is inconsequential as it has probably been well and truly demolished by now, as is the case with nearly every house I have lived in, so I am not likely to be able to re-visit it even I wanted to do so.
Dad by this time had become a quite successful Rawleighs dealer and had a large number of customers. It was decided that it would be nice for us to have a pet and our choice was to get a cat. One of Dad's customer apparently bred blue/grey cats and one day came home with a delightful little kitten. I feel they may have been thoroughbred so perhaps Dad purchased it from his customer or did a deal providing her with some Rawleigh's good she required in payment for the cat.
Off Dad went to work several days later only to return home that night to tell us that he had to take the kitten back. We were devastated but all was well as there was another kitten we could have in place of the first one. Apparently the male kitten Dad had bought home a few days previously had been promised to, of all people, W.A.'s *Lieutenant Governor, Sir James Mitchell. All was well as Dad arrived home with another dear little mite, this time a female, who was immediately christened Molly. We used to jokingly tell people that our cat was sister to the one that lived in Government House although of course this was actually true.
We must have lived in Royal Street for a while because Molly became at least half, if not fully, grown and as this house had a passage which the 3 front rooms opened on to she thought up this game of waiting until people were walking down the passageway and she would leap out at them. We would quite often get quite a fright with this little cat suddenly springing out at one of us. Fortunately she was not a cat to use her claws so no damage was done.
Obviously, apart from Molly, we led quite an uneventful life in Royal Street as I have very little recollection of anything exciting or untoward occurring while we were there. I know I used to walk to school and back and we also lived not far from one of my best friends, Shirley P, which meant I had someone to visit and play with. Our next move was to Clive Street in West Perth of which I shall write later.
*Explanation of Lieutenant Governor. Mitchell was appointed L.Governor of W.A. in 1933. Although he lived in Government House and was Governor in all but name, he drew no salary thus reducing the demand on the public purse at a time when ordinary people we under severe restraint owing to the Great Depression. He held this position until 1948 when he was appointed Governor, a position he held until he retired in 1951. When I made my debut in 1949 it was to Governor Sir James Mitchell that I was presented.
I love this story about Molly the cat......we have a visiting cat called Poppy, who lives across the road on another property. She keeps coming over and we keep taking her back. I think she likes it at our place!!
ReplyDelete