Tag: Amey's Laundry

Research rabbit hole ~ Portswood 1935

Portswood Road – The Palladium is on the right

I lived in Portswood for a couple of years in the early 1980s, in a flat on Belmont Road, so when I wrote A Dish Best Served Cold, and my characters took me there, I already had a feel for the area. Things were different in Portswood in 1935, but modern-day Portswood still has remnants of its past glory, if you look closely. These, along with old photographs and searches through Kelly’s Directories, formed the bones of my story’s world. As usual, my research led me down some interesting rabbit holes and uncovered lots of snippets of information, many of which never made it onto the page. Rather than waste them, I’ll share them with you now.

Continue reading Research rabbit hole ~ Portswood 1935

Portswood, trams, tin churches, a laundry and some research

Walter Dowling was a tram driver. He was also Commando’s grandfather. In our attic, there was a wooden box with some of his prized possessions, including his war medals, photographs, postcards, and a tiny diary. During the spring of 2021, I’d been working on a story that involved trams, and Commando thought some things in the box might give me inspiration. The diary was especially poignant. Walter wrote little, but it covered the period when he had malaria and was about to be leaving the army after seven years. It was also when he first met Violet, Commando’s grandmother. He may have been a man of few words, but the words he wrote about her showed how deeply he had loved her. They brought me to tears.

Continue reading Portswood, trams, tin churches, a laundry and some research