Back to Normality......

The announcement the previous day did nothing to change the routine I was in, the following day, Sunday the 1st of February, there was the usual tearful goodbye at Lime Street Station, Liverpool.

The train journey from Lime Street to Euston station in London, was a weekly affair for a few of the Northern Apprentices. At times we eluded the guard and had a free ride, but as we had become regulars and our faces known, that was becoming more difficult.

A homemade cheese sandwich and a cup of British Rail tea was the standard fare, although the occasional overpriced can of lager was an option from the buffet car, and more than likely, on February the 1st, 1976, I would have comforted myself with a couple.

A couple of my apprentice buddies, Ken and John, where on the train, not close friends so I kept my little secret to myself on the two and a half hour journey.

A good friend of mine, Mark Gaskill, shared a room in the house we rented in Romford, it was late on and I can still remember telling him, the quietness and stunned disbelief. The pair of us had a good run at being Northern drunken rascals and causing trouble down in Essex, but all good things come to an end, and this was the beginning of the end of that chapter.

He didn't know it then, but within two years, he would be married too.

The following day, as usual, the car would not start and when we arrived half an hour late at Barking college, the place was still there....