My hours were 8am to 2pm and 6pm to 9pm, but if we'd done the work Cook always used to say we could finish. We used to go to Golders Hill Park and listen to the band, or in the evening to hear the nightingales. There were lots of good places to go round there. In the afternoons in summer we would swim in the Hampstead Heath swimming pool. For 2d we could take a bus ride to Oxford Street.

I used to get 2 weeks holiday a year. I had one Sunday off every month, and a half-day off every week. I used to see one of my sisters a lot, she was in service, too, and we used to go out together.