He and I had an especially close relationship: I called him ‘Sammie’ and he treated me as his friend and equal. From the time I could walk, I accompanied him on his early morning swim, which performed the triple function of getting me out of the house, teaching me to swim, and establishing an affinity with my grandfather and his family. Every morning at 6 a.m. we walked through the empty streets and the grimy park, known as the Domain, where tramps were just stirring under their newspapers, to the fenced-in enclosure at the harbour’s edge, the Domain Baths. The Baths were in the same tongue of the harbour as the docks and I shudder to think of the oil and refuse in which I must have wallowed and flourished. Until I was four we went to the Men’s Baths, and when I was nearly two I graduated from Sammie’s back to a sturdy dog-paddle of my own. The men swam naked, so that at four it was decided that I was too old to share their morning freedom and my grandfather dropped me off alone at the Ladies’ Baths next door.
What do You think about Aunts Up The Cross (2015)?
