It is me and my sister, and she is sitting on the pram and she is two years younger that I am which it means it is a hot day in the front room of our council house which means it is probably juneish. I was born in September that means I am about two and three quarters. And the point of this memory. It’s, she is sitting on the pram and I am in the front room, we are both in the front room the curtains are drawn and it is a hot afternoon, my parents are busy in the kitchen, sweeping the chymeney and that was they let us for. It is something to do with the heat of the afternoon with the curtains drawn, and I can’t remember why the curtains were drawn to tell you the truth and it could it be that actually my sister was sleeping on the pram and that is why the curtains are drawn because she felt asleep and I am bored. And there is something to do with the heat but also on the table in front room there is my mother’s lipstick and this is an opportunity for me to make looks beautiful my sister like my mother and it is particularly the smell of the lipstick in the hot front room with the curtains drawn I particularly remember. And it is that kind of…. It is a very female smell, and it is very intimate smell and it is a comfortable smell and very…. I can’t remember whether I wake my sister up or whether she was already awake but I made her laugh and she looked as beautiful as my mum. And then my mum and dad came in and they laugh… because she was …. And there is a picture to probe it. I think why my memory stays with me it is because it is the first time I guess I can say I experienced shame because I made a mess of it… and that’s it.

Memory