life
DAYS GONE BY: LIFE IN THE PATIOS
Happy days are what many recall when referring to ‘yesterday, when they were young’. Many remember life seemed more enjoyable and carefree then, far removed from the rat race, materialistic hubbub we experience nowadays. As we get older, those memories seem to come to the fore as the contrast with today’s clamour begins to widen... BY RICHARD CARTWRIGHT
A
nd that’s why a group of over 60-year-olds got together a little while back to reminisce about the ‘old days’. Over a coffee, beer, or glass of wine, they reminded each other of how different life was in the 50s and 60s when they were 10, 15, or 20 years old. They met because they all happened to live in Carrera’s Passage situated just a few metres up from the bottom of Engineer Lane just off our Main Street – a very narrow passage where, as you delve into the lane, you come across government flats: homes for many families including those belonging to our group of friends sitting together having a yesteryear chat. “You know, there were no bathrooms in any of those flats,” Tommy says, “We bathed in zinc tubs which mum would fill with hot water boiled in a kettle. Can you imagine how many kettles it took to fill the tub?” Sergio remembers how two communal toilets in the patio served many families and there were no toilet rolls. You’d have to make do with newspaper or leftover brown paper from your 42
shopping, and if you visited the loo at night, you needed to take a candle with you, because there was probably no light in the closet!
They claimed older males often had lady friends in La Linea. Tony jumps in and is reminded that some parents wouldn’t let their kids use those communal toilets. “They claimed older males often had lady friends in La Linea and elsewhere during those years which seemed to be tolerated by their wives. The men tended to slip across the frontier on a Friday night for a ‘bit of fun’ and the fear was some would bring back with them diseases us kids to pick up from the toilet seats, so we used buckets in the home. Can you believe that happening now?” Five patios made up the complex
in Carrera’s Passage, not unlike similar areas found around the Rock, in the Upper Town especially and other places. At least not living in tin, Nissen huts where other families were domiciled, which were unbearable in the summer heat. The Carrera’s Passage homes comprised of just two or three, not very large, rooms each. “Yes, the flats were small, taken up by families of three, four, five and even six or more and there were also a couple of shops and workshops in the patios on the ground floor. I remember the smell of coffee beans coming from a tiny, sort of factory in one of the patios,” Tommy says. The anecdotes and stories just kept on coming as the three former neighbours chatted about times long gone: games they played were also called to mind by Tony: “The sense of community was fantastic. We’d play games outdoors, especially in summer right there in the patios. Neighbours left their front doors open and sat outside. The grown-ups would play bingo and card games and we’d play hide and seek, marbles and football. GIBRALTAR MAGAZINE MARCH 2020
