Regretfully next day we said goodbye and Paddy drove us to Ipswich to start our new life, and Peter started term at Northgate Grammar School. Luckily the good weather held as we had to be out of the hotel all day. The park was a great resource but we must find lodgings before our money ran out – well before if we were to pay a week in advance. How does one find lodgings in a strange town? A local paper might help – not very likely but worth trying – some newsagents have cards in their windows but not, obviously, those in the centre of Ipswich – so we went to buy a paper and an ice cream.

There was nothing in the East Anglian about rooms – only notices of houses for sale we couldn’t possibly afford. Anyway we didn’t want to live in Ipswich. We had long since drawn up our list of requirements. Peter insisted on a ploughed field at the end of a long garden, and room for a piano and all his books and much more. I felt we had to be near a school for Gale and some children for her to play with. But meanhile we needed an affordable roof over our heads while we house-hunted. While Gale enjoyed her ice cream I asked the saleswoman if she knew of anyone who let rooms – just for a few weeks while we looked for somewhere permanent. She wasn’t sure but thought we might try the other end of Woodbridge Road. “We needn’t walk all the way,” she explained, looking at the length of Gale’s legs. “We could catch a bus at the top of Lloyd’s Avenue”. That sounded a good idea. A bus ride would be nice, if only for two stops. Then we knocked and asked, walked and knocked and asked again. Each time the answer was the same – no, there were no rooms to let, but possibly it might be worth trying Mrs So-and-so. Eventually, tired and very hungry, we caught another bus back to the centre of town. Gale had been so good and patient we would look for her favourite sausage and chips. They were not too difficult to find, and the waitress was very kind and helpful. She was not sure, but she had heard that they had rooms to let at number 96 London Road.

This time we walked, past the shops, a swimming pool, a big church, and there was London Road running downhill and there on the left was a tall house with steps up to an imposing front door. Yes, it was 96 – Yes, they did let rooms. Yes, they had a double free and a small one next to it that would do for the little girl – would we like to see it? We thought we would, though it didn’t really matter as we wouldn’t be there long. It looked fine. Mrs Barber seemed kind, a small dark haired tousled middle-aged woman with a little girl a bit younger than Gale hiding behind her skirts, and then, suddenly, two more girls who obviously ought to have been at school but were instead cleaning down the stairs and hallway. We would pay a week in advance and could we please come tomorrow. Peter would be thankful.