Danny puts in an Addendum (Part II).
We now had February in hand until taking up my appointment with HMC&E in Manchester on the 3rd March. With my pre-war experience in the old Ministry of Labour in mind, I hied me smartly round to the local Employment Exchange and "signed-on". There was absolutely no possibility of their finding me anything to do in the short time available, but I collected £20 per week to add to my pension !
Then I found a very useful piece of information. It seemed that the Ministry had thought of a Very Good Idea to get people out of areas where there was little chance of employment. If you were drawing Unemployment Benefit, but had found yourself a job in another part of the country, they would pay £1,000 (£11,700 today) "Disturbance Allowance" to help you with the move. "That's for me !", I thought, and promptly applied.
But I was turned down because I had organised my own job before signing on ! So the regulations said. (If I'd been offered the appointment a week after , I would have been "in" - even though I 'd been negotiating about it for months before). I regarded this as grossly unfair, but even a letter to the then Chancellor (Anthony Barber, as I recall) had no effect. Rules are Rules !
That was not the only disappointment. Of course, the Renault 16 did not turn up before Christmas (as had been promised). Nor in January. Nor in February. There was the usual string of weak excuses. Our poor old Peugeot had to soldier on.
We put our Thirsk house on the market, left it for the Estate Agent to sell, rented a furnished semi in Sale, packed up and hit the road. Our "Pug" managed (with some difficulty) to get to Manchester. I started at Portcullis House, Old Trafford on 3rd March.
The Renault arrived early April - at Leeming Bar, of course ! (only in the nick of time; a week before I'd lost reverse gear; the other residents were treated to the spectacle of Mr D. being pushed back out of the drive into Oxford Road every morning by his loving family). The old car got across the Pennines one last time. "Stappers" (ex-Corporal Stapley, RAF M.T. Fitter), who did roaring trade on the RAF Caravan site in an old Nissen hut, and who knew the car all too well), gave me £50 for it - and unloaded it onto some Malaysian students on the AFS for twice that.
I picked up the Renault and went back to Sale. And this is Positively My Last Regular Appearance.
Goodbye, chaps. Danny42C.
That's it for now !