Margaret remembers moving from Copnor to a three-bedroom council house in Portchester before starting junior school.

Margaret meets Denise, the confident girl from two doors down who becomes her first friend in Portchester.

Margaret starts at Castle Lane Junior School and relies on Denise while she learns the unfamiliar routines.

Sunday visits to Nan Wells reveal the family’s fixed routines and George’s quieter relationship with his mother.

Margaret remembers Gran Collins teaching her the exact value of money before decimalisation.

Margaret remembers Decimal Day through the conversion card on the kitchen table and her family’s different responses to the new money.

A childhood caravan holiday at Hayling Island, remembered through packing, beach routines and four people sharing a confined space.

Margaret recalls a damp family week in Weymouth, with boarding-house routines, wet shoes and competing versions of the weather.

Margaret and Denise spend Saturday mornings considering records they can rarely afford, while Peter treats musical taste as a test.

A reconstructed diary entry about Margaret’s final day at secondary school and the uncertain gap before her first job begins.