1970 marked the end of life as a single man. No longer a totally selfish existence considering no one but myself. What a shock to the system after thirty years! Paulette and I married in April and after a brief honeymoon in the Lake District settled into domesticity with an elderly friend of the family, a Mrs Wilson. Some found our choice of honeymoon night at Knutsford amusing; Knutsford is far from amusing I can assure you. Neither was it funny when Paulette crashed my beloved Mini Cooper two or three days into our honeymoon. I took it remarkably well, I thought, it could have easily been one of the shortest marriages on record.
I remember nothing of living under Mrs Wilsons roof. (Evidently it was always dark and Mrs Wilson was into pot plants.) It was an inauspicious start to marriage, hard though the lady tried to make us comfortable. It was some relief when the council provided us with premises on our own. I would like to say their generosity knew no bounds, alas this would not be true.
The council gave us the tenancy of an upstairs council flat in Newbold, close to the Eagle Youth Club which I r
an as warden come dogsbody. But I was naive, we were both young and we enjoyed life in our own innocent way. The flat was tiny, actually only the upper floor of what was originally a semi detatched council house. Again the details are remembered by my wife and not myself, consisting of a through lounge come kitchen, a bedroom and a tiny boxroom.
an as warden come dogsbody. But I was naive, we were both young and we enjoyed life in our own innocent way. The flat was tiny, actually only the upper floor of what was originally a semi detatched council house. Again the details are remembered by my wife and not myself, consisting of a through lounge come kitchen, a bedroom and a tiny boxroom.The estate was noisy, lively with no pretentions whatsoever. It is not true that even dogs roamed in pairs but it was not exactly the best address in town. But we were young, it was our first home together and we were perfectly happy in our own little world. The only problem was, as Paulette came in of an evening from her job as a comptometer operator at the nearby Glass Tubes factory, I would be going out to run the youth club. It was obvious that another more compatible existence was needed. Nevertheless they were happy days and our tiny flat was certainly 'home' in its own way.
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