.MTQ1MA.MTI1NzY3

2 others with white-collar incomes as I observed these villas on later trips - we used to walk the 3 miles because the tram between Maidstone and Loose was sort of pokey-slow and we were young and fast - I used to be amused. Young boys with Kentish accents would approach and ask for cigarette cards. My wife would interpret, the boys were seeking little cards enclosed in those cardboard cigarette packets which had pictures of cricket heroes, reminiscent to me of the time, around 1911, when american Boys used to collect cigarette cards of ball players, Christy Mathewson being my hero. The magazine Punch frequently depicts a suburban scene in its cartoons, with "Mon Repos" on at least one front gate.

 Even in the villages the folk demand privacy, often old neighbors are screened from one another by a good solid brick wall. It would

be a rare house that did not "draw the blinds" immediately that dusk approached, and the thick curtains in the day would prevent any vagrant eyes from seeing much. My wife used to be fascinated by the sights she used to see in exposed windows