The following passage is a description of the cellars at the rocks, it is in no way required reading as it does not affect the outcome of the story and it is merely intended to create the atmosphere of where Lucy lived.
79 ½ George Street was located between the Commonwealth Bank at No. 81 with it’s shiny brass plate next to the front door and a toy store at 79. Lucy loved going into that toy store to buy tiny things.
The worms printing business was down a steep set of wooden stairs at the end of the corridor. You could enter through the back door, when you would walk across a small wooden bridge, in the door, and straight down the stairs that spiralled at the bottom. The building was made of the original sandstone, quarried probably by the original inhabitants of Sydney town. When you came in the front door, about half way along the corridor there were 4 letter boxes for each of the 4 businesses that had offices up and down the stairs. Lucy never ventured up those stairs.
Lucy made up lots of stories about the people that used to live in her office. Set in the alcove of an old fireplace was a heavy old safe that she thought was probably used to store bank notes from the bank up above. The key was long gone so they only kept a little bit of petty cash in it and some old cash receipt books.
The roof no longer existed over the rooms out the back and they had been transformed into paved courtyards. The courtyards had old open fire-places that were now the home to ferns and plants. More ferns took root in the stones above. Little wooden bridges had been built at ground level to lead people to the back doors. Inside, the old cast-iron wood-stove still existed, it was used to cook on in the olden days, but the chimney was blocked now. I have a funny feeling they tried to light a fire in it once and the room had filled with smoke though I may be mistaken about the smoke part, but the worm family preferred to used blower heaters to keep themselves warm.
Lucy's favorite thing was the huge old Heidelberg printing press. And there was a roll top desk with secret draws. It was always very cool down in the cellars and often quite damp, which wasn't great for the paper they used to print on.
She was sure families had lived there once long ago. She owns a piece of their history, a cross stitch sampler dated Feburary (this is not a spelling mistake) 19th 1869. Stitched into it are the names of 3 little girls, Margaret Clark, Garty More and Isabella Mcleod. Lucy likes that spelling of February, now she knows she is not the only little girl who has trouble spelling.
What else was interesting about this office? It had a sink where they could make tea and coffee hidden behind a curtain, (quite an ugly old curtain in Puss's opinion) and the tea always tasted weird. Sometimes they worked there day and night, collating, printing, proof reading and mailing. The name of the business was Mailmasters, they also sent out batches of letters. The worm smoked a pipe. One day the worm lost his temper at a man who came down the stairs and told him it was bad for his health. The man must have caught the worm in a bad moment 'cause he fired off that it was his premises and he could bally well do what he liked there. Which is all true, smoking a pipe is bad for your health and the worm did have the right to do whatever he wanted in his own place. But losing your temper is not a very nice thing to do.
Lucy had to put up with her evil mother the witch and the worm losing their tempers at each other all the time because the witch was never satisfied with what the worm could do. Puss thinks the worm did very well. Lucy really liked his hide out in the Rocks. He expanded his business by getting a stone mason to cut a hole through the sandstone wall to give access into two further rooms next door. It was quite a low doorway and if you were tall you could easily bump your head. There was a sign pasted above it that said: "Duck or Grouse", Oh that must be why the worm was such a grouch! He was always bumping his head!
The worm had a great idea of turning the place into a museum. It would have been fantastic! They had so many beautiful antiques they could have put on display but in their almighty wisdom the Rocks Authority decided it was a bad idea and tossed them out like they were an unimportant part of history. Remember the worm's character is misfortune? It seemed to follow him all his life. Like the earth worm Lucy had taken pity on on the pavement one day, she knew worms liked moisture and it was dying on the footpath so she picked it up and put it in a puddle. She thought she was saving it but her father said it would drown. She wanted to go back and get it but they were about to go and eat pizza and the worm (her father) told her to leave it.
Oh, now I feel sad for that poor worm. Another day, in a completely different place and time, Puss was standing at the window of a fish market that had closed but was kindly still serving customers. The fishmonger had been washing the pavement and soap-suds were spilling across the concrete. Another of the customers said to Puss "I don't want to alarm you but there is a large size earth worm crawling at your feet". Puss looked down and took pity on the worm as it knew she would. It was dying slowly from the soapy suds and needed a helping hand. Puss knew better than little Lucy had that day, she scooped it up kindly and found a safe haven for it in the garden under some mulch.
Author's not: That's it for the descriptive passage, I hope it's given you a general idea of what life was like in the cellars. I think I might move onto an adventure Lucy had one day when she lost her Puss and met a Mermaid.
Stay tuned for Part IX. Actually, seeing as this story appears to be growing into a novel, I think I should change the name PART to CHAPTER.
Chapter IX coming soon.
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| See? It is real :) |
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| Puss saved some of these tiny things for Lucy to play with when she grew up |
Lucy made up lots of stories about the people that used to live in her office. Set in the alcove of an old fireplace was a heavy old safe that she thought was probably used to store bank notes from the bank up above. The key was long gone so they only kept a little bit of petty cash in it and some old cash receipt books.
The roof no longer existed over the rooms out the back and they had been transformed into paved courtyards. The courtyards had old open fire-places that were now the home to ferns and plants. More ferns took root in the stones above. Little wooden bridges had been built at ground level to lead people to the back doors. Inside, the old cast-iron wood-stove still existed, it was used to cook on in the olden days, but the chimney was blocked now. I have a funny feeling they tried to light a fire in it once and the room had filled with smoke though I may be mistaken about the smoke part, but the worm family preferred to used blower heaters to keep themselves warm.
Lucy's favorite thing was the huge old Heidelberg printing press. And there was a roll top desk with secret draws. It was always very cool down in the cellars and often quite damp, which wasn't great for the paper they used to print on.
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| The worm's printing press was exactly like this one, it may even be the same one. He had a guillotine the same, set up next to it, and a tape dispenser the same too, gosh even the rag on the floor looks familiar, but it's probably just my imagination |
What else was interesting about this office? It had a sink where they could make tea and coffee hidden behind a curtain, (quite an ugly old curtain in Puss's opinion) and the tea always tasted weird. Sometimes they worked there day and night, collating, printing, proof reading and mailing. The name of the business was Mailmasters, they also sent out batches of letters. The worm smoked a pipe. One day the worm lost his temper at a man who came down the stairs and told him it was bad for his health. The man must have caught the worm in a bad moment 'cause he fired off that it was his premises and he could bally well do what he liked there. Which is all true, smoking a pipe is bad for your health and the worm did have the right to do whatever he wanted in his own place. But losing your temper is not a very nice thing to do.
 |
| The worm, being king of his castle is allowed to smoke his pipe but may suffer from the consequences of ill health |
The worm had a great idea of turning the place into a museum. It would have been fantastic! They had so many beautiful antiques they could have put on display but in their almighty wisdom the Rocks Authority decided it was a bad idea and tossed them out like they were an unimportant part of history. Remember the worm's character is misfortune? It seemed to follow him all his life. Like the earth worm Lucy had taken pity on on the pavement one day, she knew worms liked moisture and it was dying on the footpath so she picked it up and put it in a puddle. She thought she was saving it but her father said it would drown. She wanted to go back and get it but they were about to go and eat pizza and the worm (her father) told her to leave it.
Oh, now I feel sad for that poor worm. Another day, in a completely different place and time, Puss was standing at the window of a fish market that had closed but was kindly still serving customers. The fishmonger had been washing the pavement and soap-suds were spilling across the concrete. Another of the customers said to Puss "I don't want to alarm you but there is a large size earth worm crawling at your feet". Puss looked down and took pity on the worm as it knew she would. It was dying slowly from the soapy suds and needed a helping hand. Puss knew better than little Lucy had that day, she scooped it up kindly and found a safe haven for it in the garden under some mulch.
Author's not: That's it for the descriptive passage, I hope it's given you a general idea of what life was like in the cellars. I think I might move onto an adventure Lucy had one day when she lost her Puss and met a Mermaid.
Stay tuned for Part IX. Actually, seeing as this story appears to be growing into a novel, I think I should change the name PART to CHAPTER.
Chapter IX coming soon.
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