INT: Did you like Scotland?
ED: Yes, I think so. They were more open, you know. I worked in a school in Scotland, in East Kilbride. That came after, really, Sandhurst wasn’t it? And they were very, very nice, you know. The headmaster was nice, a retired army officer, sergeant major, so the school was run on those lines. Listen, everywhere I went I was a foreigner, you know? And to the Home Office, do you know how they referred to us at this time?
INT2: No.
ED: We had to go to the Aliens Department in the Home Office. The Aliens, we were aliens.
INT: And do you still feel very foreign now, even now, or do you feel a bit more Scottish? What do you feel, what do you consider yourself to be?
ED: I don’t feel Scottish, I don’t feel English and I don’t feel Israeli either. And Baghdad, I don’t want to know. So I really, no, this is my house, I made it my home but it’s not really, you know, like them, they were born in England. They were born, you know, Britain is their home, but you can’t divorce yourself from where you are really. I was there until seventeen years old, I was grown up, you know, just…
INT: So, my last question is, if you look back now on your time here, once you’d got to Scotland, what are the highs and lows that stand out for you?
ED: For Scotland or for me?
INT: For your whole life.
ED: All in all, it was an interesting life. It wasn’t milk and honey. I’ve had to fight all my life, maybe I still fight now, you know? Because it wasn’t easy getting, or acquiring, anything. It was always, you know, kind of, not a hundred per cent, it was more fifty per cent more that I should give of myself or do more to really get. Even at school, you know, I was Mrs. David, the notorious Mrs. David, if you like. I had to. I wouldn’t let anyone walk over me and they were inclined to do that because I’m a foreigner. It doesn’t matter if we lived in England for ten, fifteen years, I’m still, you know, I’m here. Wherever I was, I’m a foreigner, you know? I’m an alien.
[Laughter].
INT: And the high points? What would you say, what…?
ED: The high point, getting married and having my own home. Life was very tough, as I said. David wasn’t even qualified yet, but we managed somehow or other. Yes, and I didn’t teach until Michelle grew up and the other two were grown up enough. And I taught, I was here in, twenty years in here and about three, four years in East Kilbride, yes. So, until I retired here, yes.
INT: Well, thank you, we’ve had a fascinating afternoon and it’s very kind of you to share your memories with us.