So many memories…

For many years I worked at the income Tax Office and for a lot of that time I was in what was called The Annexe. Depending on exactly what job I was doing at the time I moved around the annexe but the second window from the left was the window behind my desk at one time.
What were the memories? I could write a book about it but quite a dew involved lunchtimes spent up on the roof. My boyfriend of the time also worked (I use the term loosely because he was not cut out for office work and since I was a very fast worker I could easily do the work allocated to the two of us and nobody ever seemed to notice) in the annexe and we found the key to access the roof. At lunchtimes we used to roam all over the roof of the market. Sometimes we climbed over a void wher the building changed direction; slid down the tiles and sit over a busy road, traffic and people watching.
Another favourite was to scramble up to the copper tobacco leaf you can see to the left of the roof in the pic (which represents the fact that impôt duty on tobacco helped fund the building of the market). Makes tree hugging seem tame when you can cuddle a tobacco leaf high above the town! Unfortunately that was our downfall because one Battle of Britain Week the boss had some important people with him and said he knew where they could get the best view of the Red Arrows. Oooops, Phil and I and a whole bunch of other annexe workers were already there! And that was the end of our rooftop fun!
Underneath this part of the building was the Bonded Store and another memory is hearing the noise of barrels being rolled into the Bonded Store. I didn’t take a pic of that because it’s now Sports Direct and not interesting at all.
But I could have taken a pic of the windows from inside the market. One was our kitchen where we were allowed to make coffee while another was the addressograph room. This was a giant old fashioned machine that prepared sort of pewter discs used to print the name and addresses for the annual tax returns. It used to nearly shake the building to pieces as it chugged away when changes of address were processed. I used to love doing all the updates and since I was a fast worker I was happily given the job. The extra advantage of this was a quiet place for extra assignations. Say no more…

The extra is actually just across from the annexe and is the Town Church. This is where I learnt to ring church bells in 1996 and then on and off until I retired in 2019 at 70. To get to the ringing room you have to go up a spiral staircase in the little tower, then along the valley of the roof behind the railings into the main tower, down a short spiral staircase and bingo you’re there!