3
AT GRANDMA’SMum had not been asked to take one of the men, just to organise the Witham Street Welcome. She seemed worried about the men not knowing that ‘Witham’ was a river. It was difficult really not to be aware of the fact as the water theme had flooded the area, with streets named Derwent, Severn, Leven, and Tay. Mum looked all of them up in our Philip’s Atlas and noted whether they were lakes, rivers or some other watercourse. Ours, being named after the local river, which nobody who lived beyond the city boundaries had ever heard of, demoted us to provincial status. We were the country cousins. She was deeply disappointed about that. She said she would have really liked something with a wider appeal, something in the style of ‘Thames Avenue’ or ‘Windermere Drive’, if she had been
