Spring 1967
I had changed my job by this time and had resumed employment with my previous employer in Leith, as the Jesperson flats contract had come to an end in Livingston. I was sent to work in Penicuik, which meant I had to commute there in my old A30 never knowing when it would give up on me. As it was, it would see me safely back and forth until I found employment nearer home.
Green Fingers
One of our first tasks this spring was to build a flower box to set out on the full length of our verandah. I obtained numerous bricks from the building site I was working at. One evening as I was carrying some of them upstairs, I stumbled and the bricks fell forward out of my grasp. Unfortunately, as I went forward and put my hands down in front of me, the bricks landed on my fingers. I let out a yell. A few of the neighbours came out and one of them, Brenda, a nurse immediately applied first aid to my now burst fingers.
Olive had not heard the commotion, and when I entered the house she was taken aback by my injury. I pretended to her that it was a good job there had been a nurse in the stair. She, being a nurse, did not see the joke and rightly told me off.
With the bricks now in place on the balcony, wood was required. I obtained tree bark from a sawmill in Kirknewton. We then filled the completed box with a mixture of soil, peat, and leaf mould that we had dug up locally. In this we planted gladioli bulbs. I swear to this day we never had a more beautiful display than those when they finally bloomed. This was my first ever experience of gardening.
Pamela`s First Days at School
Karen had already enrolled at Riverside primary in November 1966, and now it was Pamela`s turn to attend. She had just celebrated her 5th birthday in March and this was the same month she was enrolled. She was very enthusiastic at first as she was going to join her big sister at the big school.
The day came then she baulked. She thought she had just to say that she had changed her mind then that was it. How wrong she was.
Each morning she set off holding Karen`s hand. This was the exciting time. Reaching the playground, she decided it was better to return home.
Olive would be sitting in the kitchen having a cup of coffee with one of the neighbours, Geraldine, when a feeble knock at the door was heard. It was a tearful Karen and a Pamela who had decided once more home was best.
Olive would throw on her coat and immediately take them back to school, all the time Karen complaining that Pamela was making her late. This went on for some time before she eventually accepted the situation. She settled down into the routine and never looked back.
Spring arrived and the landscaping around the Walks became alive with the emergence of the shrubs and flowers that had been planted the previous year by the Corporation. We had not been designated a garden city, yet the LDC landscaping department under the experienced Malcolm Drummond was a credit to itself. The standard of that day was followed faithfully right up to the time the LDC eventually handed over to the West Lothian County in 1996.
Building Sites
Almond West was an oasis amidst the ongoing development around it Immediately to the west work was taking place on the A899, the main arterial way from the A8 south to the A71. Pile driving began on what was to become the Almond Valley Bridge section of the A899. This went on 24 hours a day.
To the east, Torridon Walk and the Drives were nothing but trenches in the early stages of that area`s development.
I had to traverse this assault course one morning when my car was off the road. I was heading towards Pumpherston Road to catch a bus. Being 5.30am, it was quite dark and I kept falling into foundation trenches and this continued until I reached the main road.
All the cars in the area, despite regular washing bore the evidence of all this building activity. Lorries were constantly on the move with their loads of red shale which inevitably spilt onto the roads. Cars picked this up and carried the tell-tale tidemarks halfway up their bodywork. Livingston cars could always be identified by their distinctive red `livery`.
Birdlife
Birdlife or the lack of it was a feature then. This struck us very much so. We could not understand this at the time, but we put it down to the amount of development going on all around. Top soil and the insect life was being carried away with the resultant food source of worms as well. Even gardens were bereft of this natural irrigation source. It would be some years before this was rectified.
