Explanation
Over several months, I became friendly with Janet, a dizzy grandmother who used to come into the Oxfam shop where I worked. She usually appeared in the last hour before closing time. I also met her daughter, her son-in-law and her two young grandchildren - Loretta and Roy. They were the reason she had moved up to Sheffield from Birmingham. Janet was always looking out for things she could buy for the kids - little treats, toys, books or items of clothing. She was very kind and I often chatted to her. Like her daughter and son-in-law, she was staunchly working class with typically old-fashioned values. The manager of the shop was Catherine - a couple of years younger than me and in most ways a great, hard-working shop manager but looking back I think she was also a bit of a misandrist. She had put a poster up in the shared staff toilet advising men about how to use toilets, including leaving the toilet seat down for female users. It was not a joke. Anyway at the back of ...