Tag #138726 - Interview #98186 (Matilda Ninyo)

There was a Bulgarian family, the Tomovis, who lived on the upper floor of our house in Antim I Street. They were very nice people and they loved us very much. They took care of my brother Zhak and me when we were alone, because my mother worked all day long. She worked from seven o’clock in the morning till nine o’clock in the evening. My grandfather also worked all the day. My brother was three years younger than me, so by the time I was at school the Tomovis took him in their home. He behaved well and never made any troubles. Later he also attended a Bulgarian school. Our neighbors, the Tomovis, were a very important part of our life. They had a store for sewing machines. It was time when people didn’t throw anything away, but instead they tried to fix it. Women used to mend the ladders on their stockings themselves. There were even special workshops where one can have either socks or female stockings mended. For example, my mother was very good at resoling socks.

One day Mrs Nadia Tomova called my mother to tell her they had imported a new machine especially designed to mend ladders. She offered Mom to show me how it worked so that I could help them in the store and teach the clients how to use this machine. I could go to work in the store when I was free from school or when I had little homework. They promised to pay me, so my mother agreed. So I went to the store, learnt all the necessary things and started working.