That last term at Stratford Grammar we were too busy enjoying ourselves to worry about where and how we were going to live. The Peppin twins gave several concerts, which were followed up by long sessions in a pub and then a party at Cannonbury Square. There was a lot of talk about Dylan Thomas being expected but he always got too drunk at another pub before he got to ours. We did meet Augustus John though, also drunk, I was not sure whether he was being amorous or leaning on me for support he needed for his age or condition.

We were also seeing more than we wished of John Longdon. Indeed he began to turn up every evening we were at home and staying remorselessly on until we were obliged to say “Sorry, John, I’m afraid we must go to bed now”.

“Don’t worry,” he would say, “I’ll let myself out!”

I had a mild attack of flu. John insisted on sitting on the end of my bed reading aloud to me in his harsh monotonous voice. I suffered the whole of Byron’s Don Juan and have never taken to it since! He must have been very lonely – a very intelligent man but most unpleasing.

We didn’t have much time to see much of Arthur and Peggy and the Swinglers suggested we should spend Easter with them at Pebmarsh to be within spitting distance of Ipswich. Peter had a lot of farewells to say at school and after an almost all night party at Cannonbury Square we left 44 Lee Park behind us to start a new life, with £32 in hand.

It was a late Easter and the weather was glorious. The country lane which twisted past the thatched cottages was bordered thickly with primroses, violets, cowslips ... so plentiful they even grew into the road where the tarmac was thin and it was impossible to avoid treading on them.

Peter hitched to Ipswich to make arrangements. We had been given an introduction to an architect, Birkin Howard, his wife and four children. Unfortunately they had no room for us too, but offered to do Gale’s washing. Eventually he found a fairly cheap room for the three of us in a small hotel facing Christchurch Park and booked us in for bed and breakfast. We had most of our £32 still, but obviously couldn’t afford to stay there for long. Getting back to Pebmarsh took longer and involved walking more between lifts.

On May 1st we were all sunbathing in the Swinglers’ orchard, Geraldine, Randall and Judith their daughter, Peter, Gale and me, and Gale was running about naked in the hot sunshine.