[West Ender]

I had a Bako Building Set which I loved. It was the fore-runner of Lego and had sort of wire "scaffolding" and bakelite bricks and windows that slotted in so you could build houses. My brothers and I also had an electric train set but we rarely got near it as our dad always got there first.

I was never very keen on dolls, being the despair of my mother as I was such a tomboy, but I remember a shop near Church Railway Station that, for a long time, had a very large (about 3' tall) doll in the window. It was dressed in a red velvet "shepherdess" dress with white petticoats underneath and, for some reason, I coveted that doll. Just as well I didn't get it as it would have stood in a corner, entirely unplayed-with, and a complete waste of money.