If It Wasn't For The Houses In Between

Wiv a ladder and some glasses
You could see to 'Ackney Marshes
It if wasn't for the 'ouses in between

Actually that is a slightly interrupted view of the Campsie Fells, taking in Asda and the railway station.

The song was a favourite of my great-grandfather, according to Granny and Meg, probably because in his case it was true. At least, I think it was Dickie. He was always known as Dickie even by Granny; he worked for Cassells publishers in the warehouse and brought home 'damaged' books free. It was in Red Lion Square and burnt to the ground in the Blitz, but reopened a couple of days later in a new place.
It may have been Granny and Meg's maternal grandfather though, unless I'm getting confused with him saying "Bring that child out here now: she won't see a thing like this again in her lifetime!" So my gran got to see a zeppelin burn over Hackney Marshes during WW1. He was both right and wrong, of course.

See how these family stories get garbled so quickly when there's nobody left to ask? Although my mum and my auntie are probably going to read this and put me right for being a smart-arse....they're still alive!

Meg was Granny's first cousin, and although she was 8 years younger they were brought up together and were more like sisters. They were alarmingly well and largely self-educated, having a conceived a passion for culture at an early age (helped by the free books). My gran as an adolescent took herself across London to the Old Vic weekly to see the great actors of her generation, also teenagers, for pocket money prices. Gielgud was her favourite. They went to Covent Garden, and did amateur dramatics.
There are some brilliant pictures of them dressing up, probably helped by their mothers having worked in East End garment factories. In the days before TV, working class people really did seem to be more included in high culture than they are now.

Here's the odd thing: the lyric I really remember from that song doesn't seem to be a real one:
If the weather had been finer
You could see the Wall in China
If it wasn't for the 'ouses in between
I can't find any reference to it on the interweb. Does anyone else know it? It really wouldn't surprise me if they'd made it up, though. Meg wrote poems all her life: there's a cracking rewrite of Twinkle, Twinkle I shall be teaching Alexander. Not to mention her fondness for cryptic crosswords, knitting and watching soaps.

Meg died the week before my wedding in June 2006, and her funeral was the following Monday; Liv's (my sister/bridesmaid) and my bouquets were cremated with her. We benefitted from a large part of her science fiction collecton, something she had in common with my husband.
Granny died in February 2007, she caught C Diff in hospital, and although I could comment on the issues of nursing staff not caring properly for elderly patients, I think really nobody she knew was alive any more. All the family were around her that could be, and me and Liv being furthest away got down to visit her, and she died a few days later. One of the few mementoes she had kept was a review from the local paper of her playing Lady Macbeth.

They had a huge influence on me, and were certainly responsible for me being a bit Old Fashioned and doing a History degree! They were the only people I know who could do most of the King William's College Quiz without looking stuff up.