“THE HOUSE of 33” A family saga of London and the Rhondda by Michael A. Ashton An extract from PART 1 Published by Turner Maxwell Books First published 2009. Copyright © Michael A. Ashton 2009 WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR THIS MISADVENTURE CALLED LIFE World Tales of Trial and Tribulation from East to West by Michael A. Ashton. Turner Maxwell Books Free Publishing Free Books Free Literature Free Writers Turner Maxwell Books are an independent co-operative of new writers, committed to publishing inspirational literature. Turner Maxwell Books has over one hundred writers, producing original stories not seen in any other bookshop, Turner Maxwell Books has established itself as a successful and viable publisher. This achievement lies in its innovative and daring approach to establish a shorter supply chain that is simply focused on the requirements of the reader. All aboard for Morea, Rarotonga, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Pattaya, Bangkok, Singapore, Nairobi, Malindi, Rome, Munich, London, Swindon, Rhondda, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. About the Author:Michael A. Ashton was born of English and Welsh parents but has spent most of his adult life outside the United Kingdom as a British expatriate and has traveled the world extensively. He was educated at Ferndale Grammar School and London University to become a surveyor and then later a university lecturer and journalist. He lives in Hong Kong where he is based between regular travels to his roots in the United Kingdom, and also to Canada, the USA, and mainland China. He is author of “Not for the Squeamish” and its sequel “Not for the Nervous”. CONTENTS LATE ENTRANCE SOUTH SEAS ESCAPE A QUESTION OF IMPORTANCE REPATRIATION AT THE RACES CHURCH OUTING THE CONTRACT WALKING THE HYPOTENUSE PATTAYA RETREAT EGO CHOIR ROMAN HOLIDAY MALINDI MEMORY FLIGHT TO HOTEL CHINA CRUISE ON THE ISAR. INTERRUPTION IN L.A. A TASTE OF THE BIG APPLE Published by Turner Maxwell Books First published 2008. Copyright © Michael A. Ashton 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted or stored in a retrieval system in any form or by any means without permission in writing by Turner Maxwell Books. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which this is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. The purchase of this book is a private sale between the reader and the publisher; at no stage will indemnity be claimed against the publisher. The moral right of the author has been asserted. This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental and may be more the work of your own imagination. Why not write a book yourself? Turner Maxwell Books are an alternative co-operative of new writers, working towards publishing inspirational literature. Printed and bound in the United Kingdom for Turner Maxwell Books.

“THE HOUSE of 33”

A family saga of London and the Rhondda

by

Michael A. Ashton

An extract from PART 1

WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR

    Although William Ashton prided himself in being master of the manor of “Tudor House” at No. 33, Middle Terrace, Stanleytown, it was hardly a comfortable retreat for a native of bright and boisterous London Town. It was poor reward for a man to be driven by Hitler’s war and an ill-matched romance into the indefinite exile of the Welsh coal mining valleys of the Rhondda and their long dark wet winter nights of emptiness.
    His new home of No. 33 was just a simple miner’s cottage that could not match the Victorian rooms of a five story tenement of London’s East End, that was to be bombed to rubble and the Ashton worldly goods painstakingly accumulated over the previous decade destroyed with it. This rented miner’s cottage acting as substitute, had three small bedrooms over a living-room and front parlour, with a ground floor annex split into a small pantry and a larger space serving as kitchen, wash house and bathroom combined – of course the bath being a tin tub hauled in from the back yard when needed. A stone outbuilding and garden steps was set against and retained a fairly generous shelf of land which could serve as a garden given enough work and attendance and know-how in bringing it to life. But Bill Ashton nor anyone else in the ménage of 33 had the industry patience or elementary horticultural skills to accomplish this, and not one of us bothered to take up even the rudiments of gardening to improve matters, perhaps we were endowed with an hereditary instinct steeped in Ashton tradition of not acquiring skills that might enslave you at some time later. The upshot was that apart from one important exception in this history, our garden was a jungle of weed. But at least it was green weed, and easy on the eye from the perspective of the window of the back bedroom where I and the other brothers slept.
    The outbuilding below the garden was equally divided into three compartments that provided a coal store, a “rubbish” store (so called because no-one seemed to know what to use it for other than to dump any discarded items of hardware and broken up wood articles, the wood to serve as tinder for the open coal fire), and finally our only toilet - a wood-shelf seat W.C. unit without wash basin, the seat being regular varnished by our old man Ashton, as the activity of wielding a paint brush was one of Bill’s passions, whether the WC seat needed varnishing or not.

Published by Turner Maxwell Books

First published 2009.
Copyright © Michael A. Ashton 2009

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted or stored in a retrieval system in any form or by any means without permission in writing by Turner Maxwell Books.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which this is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

The purchase of this book is a private sale between the reader and the publisher; at no stage will indemnity be claimed against the publisher. The moral right of the author has been asserted.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental and may be more the work of your own imagination. Why not write a book yourself? Turner Maxwell Books are an alternative co-operative of new writers, working towards publishing inspirational literature.

Printed and bound in the United Kingdom for Turner Maxwell Books.