Wednesday 15 October 2008

Love of travel spawned from Makeshift Toilet

Pauline Roberts, 59, has to stop many times while explaining her earliest memory to delve into fits of a racking cough.
Her earliest memory is from when she was of 3. when she was bundled into her family's vintage British car to complete a 2000 mile round trip, from their hometown of Bolton, Lancashire to the South of France. This proved a foundation for her future love of travel.
“It would take us four days to get from Bolton down to the south coast of France” she reminisces. “We went in my dad’s old Black Vanguard”. A journey of close to a thousand miles each way can’t have been nice in a car I probe “No it wasn’t, there weren’t as many motorways back then, and France was very difficult to get through”.
The activity most ingrained in her memory from this trip shows just how times have changed. “Back then it seemed perfectly normal to dig a latrine into the beach,” she remembers fondly. “We all used it, we didn’t think it mattered that much. I doubt it would happen today!”
Ms. Roberts has never had a steady job, preferring to take non-permanent positions so she could concentrate on travelling. “My favourite destination has always been New Zealand, the scenery is beautiful”.
It was the travelling lifestyle she led that echoes in her beliefs and politics. “I’ve been a Liberal Democrat all my life”. Does she think they’ll ever reach power again? “Not in my lifetime, but hopefully in my niece’s”.
A resident of Boscombe for 20 years, she echoes the sentiments of every Boscombe resident by saying “There’s never a dull moment”. Of course, that doesn’t mean she’s being positive.