We all understood that my father didn’t like decorating, even though as a youngster he had trained as a master plasterer, a career that had ended when he had broken his arm in eight places in a motorbike accident. I know that whenever decorating was in progress, my mother encouraged him to keep going, plying him with cups of tea and pieces of cake along the way. I can’t remember ever helping my father, so I think we children might have taken to our bedrooms to read a book.
So, what made this one decorating session so memorable to me, then?
It wasn’t even the shocking fact that we all hated the wallpaper once it was up! Yes, it was hideous, with great flowers all over it. My mother had never been one for florals. Nor am I, even today. Why had she chosen such a pattern, I wondered? Perhaps because it was cheap? I can’t remember the colour of the paper, but I do recall our reaction as we contemplated this ghastly, newly decorated wall. My father didn’t like it, either, but then I suspect he wouldn’t have liked it on principle, considering it unnecessary. Even my mother was crestfallen claiming that it hadn’t looked like that in the shop.
By now, it was late. My father was tired, sweaty, and just about ready to drop into bed. I heard my father say to my mother in a calm voice, “Well, I am going to bed now. If you still don’t like it when you come to bed, then just scrawl across it “Take this down!” and we will rethink tomorrow!”
And off he went to bed, closely followed by the rest of us.
The next morning, we still hated the new wallpaper, and we knew it couldn’t stay there. I don’t suppose any of us had the energy to start stripping it off the wall immediately. We realized we would have to live with it for a while because our family didn’t have enough money to buy a second lot of wallpaper.
Fate was on our side, though! Overnight, the water tank in the roof/attic space above our flat sprang a serious leak. When we awoke the next morning, water was pouring down the newly papered wall, making a mess of everything. We couldn’t believe it!
