Frank Turney

Every Friday night Dad for years Dad would come home with takeaway dinner after work. I was in my very early teens, so it must have been when he worked at LW Parry in Arncliffe. maybe at the Esso servo in Brighton. He'd get hamburgers with chips from Paul's at Sylvania for the rest of us and barbecue chicken and chips for himself. We'd all sit in front of the TV to eat and watch English comedy shows on ABC like Dave Allen and The Two Ronnies, which was unusual – we were a commercial network household. He'd be in his usual chair adjacent to the door into the hallway with one of the nested tables in front of it for his dinner. There's a photo somewhere of Tiddles reaching up for his plate wanting a piece of his chicken. He'd always buy me a peppermint crisp chocolate bar for after dinner. I don't think I even really liked them a lot – certainly not as much as some other chocolate bars – but he'd got into the habit by then so it was etched in stone.