Life in London part 1.

So I am, at the tender age of 16 1/2, and settling down in London. Not really very different from boarding school, apart from freedom and money.
Joe Lyons had a hostel for his junior employees, a rambling house above the shops on Clapham High Street. We had a bedroom between two of us, and shared kitchen, dining room sitting room with the rest of the house and had a house keeper who was susposed to "keep an eye on us". But I had been through all this and knew how to get around rules and regulations! Life there was fun, plenty of friends always someone to chat to and although the work was hard we didn't mind.
I started training at a shop/cafe in Fenchurch Street, up at the crack of dawn to catch the tube to have the shop up and running before the office workers started. I had a thorough training in all aspects of running a shop, take away service and a busy cafeteria, the hours were quite long and looking back not too much money but I didn't work weekends or bank holidays for two years, so got to go home a fair bit.
I loved the work and the people and after a year at Fenchurch street I moved round the corner to Leadenhall street which had a Jolyon Grill attached to it (posh for Joe Lyons, anyone remember them?) Now this place was different again and the shop was a community in itself.