Imperial Leathered
Trope on a soap. Some things gnaw away at you. They are memories on repeat from seemingly the most innocuous of sources, but as Frank Spencer said, "a trouble shared is a trouble doubled" so here we go. I'd be about 11. Mum was always a lady never afraid to save some money, I still swear I'd be at least two inches taller if I'd eaten a bit better as a child. She had this siege mentality when we were growing up and she'd squirrel money away. You'd often find her up a ladder decorating, or under the bonnet of some old secondhand car after reading a page on auto mechanics from the olive green oracle that was the Readers Digest book of DIY. Many a winter we'd have an extension cord and jump leads from the back window to the garage trying to breathe life into her latest clunker. I remember she had this very fashionable cropped beige duffle coat from the late 50's or early 60's that she'd always do odd jobs in. She'd resided herself to the r...