BACK HOME and JEFFREY OSBORNE

Our Move to Norwich  back in Early 1987 came to an Abrupt Ending, shortly after a the 15th June 1987!

This was the Date my Sister Telephoned me at Home in Norwich to say that "My Father had been taken ill and was Rushed to Hospital"

We came back to Yarmouth asap, we took Nathan and Natalie straight to Susan's Sister's House (so she could look after them) & we went straight to the Hospital.

My Old Boy (as I always called my Father) had been Suffering from an Heart Complaint for a Few Years Previously and had took a turn for the Worse!

This is when I found out that "The Old Boy" had been Bad for Ages, but my Mother and Sister's decided not to tell me anything about this!

What a Family (they are), Me and Susan are just the Opposite to this, if we are ill, our Kids are the First to Know! (not the last).

At this time I was 28 Years Old, Married with 2 Kids and the Eldest of 4 Sibling's, so perhaps I should have been the First to Know!

But Knowing My Mother as I Do (Back then, But Not Now), this I suppose, should have been Expected! 

Anyway after that Visit to the Hospital, we went to get Our Kids and went back to Our Home in Norwich, I am Not Sure of How it Happened or the Timing's, But We Decided to Move Back to Great Yarmouth (asap). 

As I said this is another Time in the Past I can't Remember 100%, I Don't know if we had Planned our Move Back before "The Old Boy" was ill or after, but whatever it was, we Moved back to Our Old House about 3/4 Days after "The Old Boy" was Admitted to the Hospital!

It turned out, Her who we Swapped Houses with (in the first place), Wanted to go Back to Norwich, So we just Swapped back Houses again!

So after about 12 Weeks we were back Home in Gorleston, Great Yarmouth, in the Same House we had left earlier, We were all Glad to be Left that Dump in Norwich, but now We had to Deal with "The Old Boy" who was Still in Hospital in a Bad Way!

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Now for some Music, During 1984 Jeffrey Osborne (Former Lead Singer with LTD) released His 5th Single on A&M Records, "Stay With Me Tonight" it was Taken from his Second Album (same Title for the Album), that was Released the Previous Year.

What a Great Track this was, I Purchased the 12" Single and the Album, Jeffrey Osborne has an Un-mistakable Voice.

The Track was Produced by George Duke and Reached Number 30 on the US Pop Chart and Number 4 on the US R&B Chart, it also Reached Number 18 on the UK Pop Chart.

The Album Attained Platinum Status and Number 3 on the US R&B Chart.

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WELCOME TO 1979!

1979 was the Year of change for us, Nathan finally came out of Hospital for good! but this did'nt happen until April, so we still had around 4 months of Hospital visits etc still to come!

This was a very testing time for us, we were both still only 20 years old and what with Nathan still not right and we were still living in a 1 room place! and not too much help off anybody!

One thing me and Susan can say is, we have never treated our Children , liked how we were ! even to this Day we treat our Kids, how we would have liked to have been treated ourselves!

I was still working at the same Hotel and going to College every week, but my 4 year Course was coming to an end, so I had to make my mind up what I wanted to do, work wise, do I stay as a Chef, working long and un-socialable hours or do I go into something different!

One funny event of early 1979 I remember was, My Father had a Volkswagon Van like the one in the picture above, and as we had sold my Car, the previous Year, any chance to Drive the Van was a welcome change!

So one Day we went to the local Town Centre and parked on the main Town Car Park, right in front of a Butchers Shop ( a few years later, I worked in this Shop) now I dont remember if we did this before we went round the Shops or after the Shops!

Anyway I remember I drove into a parking space next to another Car, and had to reverse back and forth to straighten the Van up, well on about the third movement I jammed the van into the Car next to us, the Volkswagon had these big door hinges on the side of it and we could'nt move forward or backward, and as I said we were in full view of the Butcher's Shop and the people inside the shop!

Anyway to cut a long story short , the only way out of this spot, was to drive forward very quickly, but there were quite high concrete edgings to this Car Park, about 6inch high at least!

So we drive back as far as we could, scraping along side this parked car, then I stuck my toe has hard as I could!

We came out of the car park, like Starsky & Hutch, bumped up & down the car park edgings at about 30 mile an hour and off the car park, we were laughing so much, we forgot about the people watching in the Shop!

Luckily for us, the Old Mans Van was'nt damaged that much and he thought he had done the damage anyway, and nobody ever reported the incident the the Police either!

So we got away with it!

CHRISTMAS 1978

Christmas 1978, soon came around, as I said in previous post Nathan was gradually let out of Hospital on a more regular basis, firstly a few times a week and back at the night, then after a while we had him home for a few days at a time, he was still being Sick a lot of the time, so he was still being kept well looked after by the Hospital Doctors!

Nathan was still on Babies bottled food, but Susan remembers Nathans first taste of babies proper Food!

The Doctors said he could try some Heinz Chocolate Pudding, this was over the Christmas period, he loved it but as usual he brought it all back up, so he was straight back on the babies milk again!

I remember around Christmas week I think it was , we went over to Susans Mum one evening on the Bus, to visit her Parents, while we were over there it started to Snow quite heavy and lasted for ages, so as it got time to leave, Susan was offered to stay the night there with Nathan!

This was great, but unfournately it didnt include me, so I had to get the Bus back home on my own!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

NATHAN OUT OF DANGER!

After a week or two, Nathan was released from the Hospital's Baby Unit and Transferred to the Baby Unit at the General Hospital, which was handy for us , as it was only 2 minutes from where we were living!

So over the next couple of Months, Nathan was in and out of Hospital constantly, going in for a few days then back out again, which for me and Susan was a strain, what with living in 1 room and sharing all other rooms and facilities with about 9 other families, plus still working split-shifts at work, times were hard, not too mention having hardly any money, as I was still on low wages being a Trainee Chef!

I cant remember either family helping out too much either!

As for family visits to our place, they only happened about twice the whole time we lived there!

This must of been worse for Susan, as at least I had work to get away from the strain of our situation!

We were just about out of November in 1978 and things had not really changed concerning Nathan and our situation and with Christmas was just around the corner, (our First as a Family since we got Married) would things improve!

NATHAN BACK IN HOSPITAL!

Our one room Accomodation!

Within a couple of weeks of Moving into our One Room Accomodation, Nathan was ill again, he was taken to the Local General Hospital on the Baby Unit.

He was not keeping his Bottle down and being Sick all the time and he was badly Dehydrated!

Within a couple of days, Nathan was sent back to the Hospital where he had his Stomach Operation a couple of weeks previously!

Now at this time, we never had a Telephone, because of the type of place we lived in, I cant even remember there being any type of Communial phone in the house either! So we gave my Hotel Telephone number and my Mother's phone number in case of Emergencies, this has it turned out was a mistake, given them my mother's number!

My Mother most of the time found out things before us this way, so when the Hospital tried to contact Me and Susan, they phoned both my Mother house and my work to tell us about Nathan, saying "Nathan was sent back to the original Hospital, for further Tests etc" she was at the Hospital before us, all gowned up and holding Nathan, so when we got there, she had already been told all about Nathan's condition and knew everything that was going on etc!

Now this was not right, but very Typical of my Mother! to this day She is still like that or should I say the last time we saw her she was, but that several years ago now!

In fact I now have Grandchildren, with the oldest being 11 years old and my Mother has never ever seen Her! So that will explain to you what she is like!

Anyway because of my Mother's actions it caused a row between Me & Susan and my Mother and Father, I put this down to us being young and Naive, because if it happened now, my Mother would have firmly been put in her place by Me and Susan!

Back to Nathan, he was all wired up again with tubes for feeding and Montoring tests etc
So we for next couple of weeks were backward and forwards to the Hospital, all the time, plus I was still at Work and College!

STILL HOMELESS! and FINALLY SOME HELP!

This is the house we moved into, front and side photos. We lived in the room, 1st floor on the right, our room included the side window!

So now we had a Sick Son and nowhere to live again, Susan had came out of Hospital the day Nathan had his Operation and and we were staying with my family, who luckily lived 5 minutes from the Hospital.

We had no money to buy a House and in them days there wasn't to much private rent unless you had a well paid job, which I didn't!

So we started visting the local Council most days to try and get on the Housing Waiting list, to get a Council House!

I remember visiting there loads of times, without luck! and then one Day we met a Lady by the name of Phyllis Flaxman, I believe she was the Housing Officer, anyway after a few visits she said she may be able to get us a room in a large local Council House with about 9 other Families, you had to share all other facilities, ie Kitchen, Dining Room, TV Room etc.

We stayed at my Parents House for about 2 weeks, this was not ideal as my Parents, really did not want us there! especially my Mother, who did not like Susan, so the quicker we got out of there, the better!

With having a Sick Child and nowhere to live! you would have thought both sets of Parents would have put their differences aside, to help us! but they didn't!

With the help of Phyllis Flaxman (which we were always grateful for this help), we finally got the move to the council house and out of my Parents House, which was a relief!

This was around the last week in September 1978.

NATHAN STILL NOT RIGHT & HOMELESS AGAIN!

 

After the operation things still wasn't right with Nathan, so obviously Susan stayed at the Hospital all the time and I was back at work, but at the Hospital all other times.

The card above was what the Hospital gave us after we had Nathan Baptised, because as I said in previous post, there was a chance, Nathan wouldn't make it!

At this time we were still living with Susan's Grand parents at the other end of Town, so as my Mother lived 2 minutes from the Hospital, I stayed there for a few nights, I told Susan's Nanny this and she understood!

Anyway as Susan was running out of clothes to wear, she asked me to pop to her Nanny's and get her some more clothes!

This I did, and to my surprise when I got to the House, Susan's Step Grandad started having a go at me, saying I was using his Wife and where the Hell I had been in the last few days!

I cant remember all that was said, but one thing stood out was when he called a Sh*thouse! and said we Had to move out!

So with all that was happening to Nathan and us at this time, we were once again Homeless!

At the time we were devasted, but looking back in hindsight, we were glad to get out of there, as I said before we knew for a fact  they were going through our belongings and stuff when we were out!

So a blessing in disquise, and we never spoke to him again, he has since died.

As for Susan's Nanny, we never spoke to her again either, but about 15 years later I was working at an Old Folk's Home as a Chef, and when I finished my Duties I used to help with the Old People, and guess who used to come to the Day Centre about 3 days a week!

Yes it was Susan's Nanny! she thought I was a "lovely man" but by this time she had Dimentia, and could'nt remember who I was!

How Ironic, I had to look after somebody who had made us Homeless when we had a Sick Son!

Funny how things change!

This is the Card of Reverend Ian Hoyle

 who Baptised Nathan.

ITS A BOY!......."NATHAN"

So after nearly 10 months Susan finally had the baby, and it was a Boy!

But it quickly became clear all was not well with the Baby, in them days the Mother's stayed in the Hospital for about 10 days, after the Birth!

We soon found out after the birth, he was not keeping his feed down, he seemed to be bringing it all back up at a great force, all over who was ever feeding him or the floor!

This went on for a few days and then the Doctor's started carring out Tests on the Baby , to see what was wrong with him!

After about a week his weight had gone down from 6lb 13 ozs at Birth to 5lb 2 ozs, after 8 days the Doctor's found out he had an Illness called Pyloric Stenosis (the narrowing of the opening from the stomach to the intestines) this was what was causing the severe vomitting.

It was quickly decided they had to operate as soon as possible on our Son, as it turned out our Son was the youngest Baby to have this Illness in our Area!

Susan had already picked a name for our son before the Birth, he was going to be called "Nathan" at that time, we had never heard of anybody else by this name.

So after days of worrying for both of us, on Monday 11th September 1978, we had to have Nathan Christened in the Hospital because there was a fair chance he would not get over this illness! we were told he has a 70/30 chance of Survival, and the 30% was on our side of survival!

Straight after the Christening, Nathan had to have his operation, we were told the surgeon performing the Operation was on the Telephone to Great Ormond Street Hospital surgeon's in London, as he had not performed this Operation before on such a small infant and needed guidance!

The operation seemed to take an age, but eventually we heard that the Operation had been completed, but "Nathan" was "touch & go" whether he would pull through!

The picture was taken after the operation, Nathan had tubes coming out of his stomach and Head, he had also both sides of his head shaved, where the tubes went!

SEPTEMBER 3rd 1978, We became Parents

These pictures were taken last week of outside the Hospital where Susan had our Son,
and the middle picture is the actual room where they both were for the Birth, the
Hospital is now closed!


I remember things were going well at work and Susan was doing fine (pregnancy wise) it was now exactly 6 weeks after we got Married, we went to bed that night on the 2nd September 1978 and everything was O.K, Then about 3 am on that Sunday Morning, Susan's water's broke!

I thought Susan had too much too drink the night before! lol

Anyway the Ambulance was'nt called until about 7am the next morning, and by about 8am, we were off to the Hospital.

I was told after about an Hour or so, to go off to work as nothing would be happening for "Hours yet"

At about 11.30 am I was getting ready for Sunday Lunch at Work, when a Phone call came through for me to get to the Hospital as things were about to happen!

As I went to the Hospital with Susan earlier that day in the ambulance, I didnt have my Bike with me, so I had to get to the Hospital somehow!

Luckily there was a Bus that ran all the way from my Work to the Hospital, I can remember to this day the funny feeling of fear I had all the way there , which was about 3 miles away, in total!

I finally got to the Hospital about 12.30pm, I remember both of us being "very nervous" as we were both still teenager's ourselves, and back then in 1978, we were classed as "too young to have Kids"

Anyway after hours of waiting and tension in Susan's room and the waiting room, things were about to happen! (I remember there was 2 other blokes in the waiting room, and both of them looked older enough to be my father!).

I had to wear a big white coat and green trouser's in the Delivery Room, and I also remember the Doctor had big White Wellington Boots on, and after speaking to Susan while writing this Post up, she reminded me that I had a pair of the big White Welly's on as well!
I cant remember there being too much Mud about in the Delivery Room!

After which seemed an eternity of pushing, shoving and sweating bucket loads for both of us, at 15.55pm on Sunday 3rd September 1978, our Son was BORN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a relief! that was probably the first time in public I cried!

But Problems were on the horizon for me and susan concerning our New Baby.

PANIC and KICKED OUT!

Exactly a week after we got Married, I was at work and a Phone Call came through, Susan had been rushed to the Hospital, the Baby was on its way!

After several hours at the Hospital, the Doctor said it was a false alarm, and nothing was going to happen now, "Thank God for that", we thought!

We were still at my Nanny's House, this I'm afraid was'nt going to last much longer, as my Nanny's Brother stuck his Nose in, saying we were using Her, she told us what he had said, I can't really remember the ins and outs of the Situation, but in the end we had to move out!

This has it turned out , was the only time in my Life I had any bad feeling's towards my Nanny, she was always Great to me and Susan, this incident I fully blamed on her Brother and his Big Snout and Mouth! (yes we were bitter towards him! and never spoke to him again)

Anyway my Nanny Passed away in 1989, and to this day we still now and again take Flowers to her Grave!

So once again we were Homeless and not having a Car anymore, we had to walk everywhere, and by now Susan had about 2 Months to having our Baby!