The rubbish was collected by an Arab man called Muruadd. He would come once a week by donkey and cart. Animals run free all the time; sheep, chickens, goats, and many a stray dog, too. Oh not more stray dogs!!!

Our house wasn't too bad at all. It was very big, apart from the kitchen, where you couldn't swing a cat round in it.

We had an area on top of our roof where mum and dad made a garden out of and we could grow things in, although we had a garden on the ground, trying to grow anything was impossible with all the wandering animals around. Us girls spent loads of time up there on the roof getting into mischief and watching our neighbour train his golden eagle tricks on his roof.

One day mum was in the kitchen cooking bacon and eggs when we heard this really loud sizzling noise when mum went out to see what was happening. She found a 4" cockroach in the frying pan- YUK !!! Needless to say, we went without the eggs and bacon for ages!

We had to travel to school on these old wooden army buses with no windows, and every day we were stoned by the Arabs. It was really frightening but worth it, because we got to go swimming before school. This was compulsory because of the heat, and we had to swim after school as well.

Over the bridge where we had to travel to school, we saw every day loads of dying fish washed up on the beach. We even saw a dolphin, and a whale once, but many an octupus or stingray, just laying there dying. That was really sad.

School started at 8a.m. and finished at midday because of the sweltering weather, then we would come home and swim again, as the rest of the afternoon was ours, I sometimes went on the dustcart round with Mauradd just so I could steer his donkey, whom he named "Garage". Still not sure why or what it meant, but he looked after me, and mum would always reward him with a meal.

He soon became a member of our family, and Garage stayed in the garden whilst he visited us munching on the carrots dad grew and saved for him.

There was a newly built superstore where we shopped for groceries and things. This was supplied by the army, but they employed Arabs to run it for them.

One day I was in there with mum and sister when the manager of the store came up to me with a meat cleaver in his hand wanting to literally scalp me!! I was screaming, and didnt know why he wanted to hurt me. Mum threw a tin of something at him, and my sister kicked him hard from behind. He was offering my mum money for me, as it was classed as something sacred, a white girl with blonde hair, and as young as I was, I was 8yrs old when that happened, he was offering 10 million dinars for me, and two cows!! He was arrested by the military police soon after.

Mum always joked afterwards if he had thrown in a couple of camels, she may have considered it :(

Then a few months later dad started to feel unwell and went for tests at the army hospital. He was diagnosed with cancer of the stomach lining and bowel. We had to fly back to have dad admitted, to England's Millbank hospital, in where dad was operated on and nearly died.

Four times he had the last rites read to him, but he did pull through, and although was still poorly, in time he started back to work but in Civvy Street as a sales correspondant. He carried on working there for 15 years. He lived to see my sister marry and have her children, M* and A*, and me marry John, and have my daughter, Kimberley.

R* and M*, my brothers, also had married, and had their children during this time, but we didnt get to see them that much, as they lived too far away.