The Windowsill Boys

The windowsills at 134 Park Road, London NW4 were always empty - void of any ornamentation, plants, or in fact curtains.  Why?  That would mean someone would be obliged to clean, water or wash!  We had no time for such trivialities - we were after all - women of the world!  Women living in one of the largest, most exciting cities on the planet.  At our beck'n'call lay an abundance of great theatre, great art, great food, and great parties.  Consequently, our windowsills remained empty.  We had our priorities right!

One afternoon, while humming a tune from the new musical Hair and baking 'bickies' in our tiny kitchen - the sound of muffled laughter drifted through the air.  At first I thought it was emanating from next door - but of course the 'lady with the broom' lived there, so that was impossible.  I listened more closely, and stuck my head around the corner into the lounge.  To my dismay, our usually empty sill was packed with small boys.  Heads filled the open window at all levels, while elbows, hands, knees or bottoms balanced them on the sill and kept the lot from tumbling into the house.

They became still as I approached.

"What are you doing?", I inquired.

"We smelled something lovely, Mrs." replied their spokesman.

"Did you now ... and by the way, it's Miss".

"Sorry, Miss", one of them piped up.

The rest is history.  Every once in awhile, when they 'smelled something lovely, Miss', our windowsill was full of small laughing boys, in their shorts and wellies, a little muddy from playing their own brand of soccer in the park.  We didn't have to clean, water or wash them.  All we had to do was enjoy them ... and share our 'bickies' of course.

The boys in this photo evoke the essence of my windowsill boys from so long ago.

It brought a smile to my face to remember them.                 (found in a 2001 journal)