Gets worse before it gets better ….

It was 1977 I walked out of my comfortable semi-detached home and I left my husband and two children. It had been a difficult marriage and I was left with no alternative.  (Leaving is another story to be told) So with a small case of belongings and £60 cash I found my way to Watford where my sister was living in homeless accommodation since she had be turned out of tied accommodation when her partner became redundant,  So living with her was on a very much as and when so then I started sofa surfing for two years so that I could find work and save the deposit for a home of my own or at least the rent.   Fortunately, my mother bought be a car so that I could see the children each weekend until I had a home. With that and finding a job I was hopeful for the time being.  The job was In the Buying Department of a Paper Mill not only a paper mill but one was that is world renown as the maker of Croxley Script and that was the tip off the iceberg the paper was beyond compare its bread and butter was the providing of paper for Lady Bird Books,  Sadly, it operations where in a time warp. The wood pulp arrived from Canada via the docks in Tilbury  in London along the Grand Union Canal and man handled to was Burma Run … where the paper was made, sometimes the paper went through the mill three or more times until it was perfect and after the  first run we had made a loss! The Paper was cut with elderly equipment; while state of the art equipment  stood without the know how of use and the Union men watching more closely when there was a risk that the work load was cut,  After the paper was cut it was sent to the salle so that woman could hand count for packaging … they were perfect and won prize for their accuracy … but again there was equipment to do that but they too were discarded. I was happy there lots to learn but it was pulled down and other Dickenson Robinson Groups this thrive along the tow path.  Nearly 1980 …