Visiting My Inlaws

A Memory of Chelsea.

In 1953 I used to visit my in-laws who lived at 19 Rumbold Road, Fulham.
I remember when we walked along Kings Road towards the football ground there was an antique shop that had an unusual armchair in the window. It was carved in the form of an old lady. Her arms were the arms of the chair and the front legs were the front legs of the chair. So if someone sat on it they were sitting on her lap.
My relatives' home was very poor, with only a tap coming out of the wall and an enamel bowl under on a stand to catch the water. The toilet (which was considered 'modern') was a wooden slat from wall to wall and the plaster was falling off the wall, showing daylight through. There were 'Baths' nearby where people had to visit for a bath as no one had bathrooms.
A market nearby sold most beautiful fruit! Large juicy oranges etc.
My husband's grandfather had a Bakery shop in Fulham Road during the First World War and on Sundays he used to take in the Sunday dinners to cook in the ovens. This avoided turning them off over the weekend. They were charged a penny.
This grandfather was German and he had a lot of stones thrown at the shop window etc at times during the war. We also used to pass a cemetery where the dead were buried in standing up position because of their religion.
We visited a pub called "Dirty Dick". If I remember correctly it was the pub where a lady once had a sailor son and when he was away she saved him a bun every year which were hanging up in the pub with all the cobwebs.

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