The detached house on Pottery Lane, Whiston, had a small kitchen that looked out to the front garden. It was the 31st January 1976 and I was sitting at the table, having just made a cup of tea for my mum.
In my world, I could have heard a pin drop and the moment that I was about to reveal all was approaching, I just didn't know when that moment would be, however, I knew it would be soon.
Another cup of tea and we both stared out the window, dad was out on his taxi rounds and probably would be in soon for another cup of tea. I knew the window of opportunity was closing as I wanted to speak to mum alone, gosh that was bad enough.
I heard myself say, "Jan is pregnant", and it was out, published, stated to the world. The small room echoed with my words, I'm sure my knees shook as the words floated around, the tension of the moment, and now, it was done.
Mum asked if I was sure it was mine as "If she'll do it with you, she'll probably be doing it with others" and I insisted it was, knowing that if I showed any doubt that they would stop me from doing the right thing.
The front gates opened, and the lights from the taxi swung in, mum looked at me and said "I knew she was pregnant and I knew you were going to tell me tonight" and I found myself staring unbelieving at her.
The front door creaked, dad came in, took off his cap and was about to take his coat off and ask for the kettle to be "put on" when mum turned to him and said "Arthur, I was right" and for a brief moment he was puzzled and then looked at me and shook his head.
There had been a five pound bet on it.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Total Panic
It was the early dark days of January 1976, Christmas and all the festivities were over and the cold light of dawn crept into my life, I was having major problems with my finances, my jaw was in constant pain and to top it all off, I decided I would leave my pregnant girlfriend, run off to London and hide.
The problems with money obviously did not phase me, I bought my first car on the 8th January, it was as old as I was, a 1957 Ford Popular, 100E and it cost me the grand total of forty five pounds, I was soon to find out that just insuring it for three months would be over half that amount.
In the meantime, the girlfriend was sending letters, forgiving me for walking out on her. I read my diary and in the week that followed, not only was my relationship in the dumpster but all sorts of things were going wrong with the "new" car, if I'd known the phrase "money pit" back then, I would have used it.
The month ended with a reconciliation, a major haircut for my girlfriend for her new faithful "image" and another major haircut to my bank account for the car that I had nicknamed "The Sluggard", I was spending a lot of time down at the scrapyard, grubbing round for solutions, which was a fitting testament to my young life.
I ended the month stating my beliefs that the car appeared to be quite reliable now, that my revised girlfriend was also quite reliable now and that it seemed that life was on the up and up, happy times ahead.
The problems with money obviously did not phase me, I bought my first car on the 8th January, it was as old as I was, a 1957 Ford Popular, 100E and it cost me the grand total of forty five pounds, I was soon to find out that just insuring it for three months would be over half that amount.
In the meantime, the girlfriend was sending letters, forgiving me for walking out on her. I read my diary and in the week that followed, not only was my relationship in the dumpster but all sorts of things were going wrong with the "new" car, if I'd known the phrase "money pit" back then, I would have used it.
The month ended with a reconciliation, a major haircut for my girlfriend for her new faithful "image" and another major haircut to my bank account for the car that I had nicknamed "The Sluggard", I was spending a lot of time down at the scrapyard, grubbing round for solutions, which was a fitting testament to my young life.
I ended the month stating my beliefs that the car appeared to be quite reliable now, that my revised girlfriend was also quite reliable now and that it seemed that life was on the up and up, happy times ahead.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Happy New Year
It was 1976 and a brand new year, things back at the ranch had run their normal course, the traditional Christmas, with mum going crackers while we all pulled them.
I'm sure dad had a Bass shandy or two on Christmas day and gave my young brother Paul a weak one, while we older brothers had moved on to more adult drinks, mum would cherish a Malibu and Grandad a sweet sherry.
Christmas 1975 at the Cottage on Pottery Lane was the last I can remember where we celebrated as a family in Whiston, Lancashire.
Life soon changed for all of us.
The new year started with my jottings in a new five year diary, something I'll dig out for the next series of blogs. I was about to tell my parents about what I'd been up to and what I planned to do.
Little did I know that they had already been talking about it...
I'm sure dad had a Bass shandy or two on Christmas day and gave my young brother Paul a weak one, while we older brothers had moved on to more adult drinks, mum would cherish a Malibu and Grandad a sweet sherry.
Christmas 1975 at the Cottage on Pottery Lane was the last I can remember where we celebrated as a family in Whiston, Lancashire.
Life soon changed for all of us.
The new year started with my jottings in a new five year diary, something I'll dig out for the next series of blogs. I was about to tell my parents about what I'd been up to and what I planned to do.
Little did I know that they had already been talking about it...
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