Carla Ferris & Michael Rakena
Early morning pubs, kidneys and bananas
By Anne Bransford
Michael Rakena, originally from New Zealand, has lived in Covent Garden since the 1960s, where he worked in one of 8 early morning pubs.
Carla Ferris, whose grandparents were Italian immigrants, lived in Cambridge Circus for 25 years, attending Sunday school in Covent Garden across the road from the hospital where her mother had a kidney out. She recalls the days when her father would go across the road to buy fresh fruit and veg, and when St. Martin's Lane was a place for where she bought school supplies and her mum paid the electric bills. Nowadays, these shops have been turned into chain cafes. Carla also tells a great story about her mother nearly being cheated by a barrow boy - listen in!
In this picture that Carla talks about, a nurse at St. Peter's hospital smokes next to Carla's mother's hospital bed.
Carla Ferris