Tales of Jill

Well here I am again at that fabulous fourteen years of age.. in love with life like a lion let loose out of it’s cage..I was working as a waitress everyday betwixt attending school and dancing in the Viking with late night play..Monday thru to Friday I learned my lessons in school and I was well above average so I was no fool.. infact in both English language and Mathematics I did very well, though I realise nowadays I just lived for that hometime bell..mind you I walked from my front door to school with my girlfriend Kim opposite our house and that was cool.. We played together throughout all my childhood but I had loads of other close friends that joined our brood.. So fourteen to sixteen was pretty much the same, schooltime, working with weekends of exclaim.. Eeh but how I loved my clothes, I followed the latest fashions.. I just had to have those.. Well I caught the  bus from the nearest town to the city and spent my good hard earnings on things that was pretty.. ‘Sargent Pepper’s’ denim shop with ‘Sasha’ shoes.. Oh my golly gosh!! there was so many to choose..so of course my wardrobe was always changing, with the weekly trends and rearranging...My saddest memories of my Viking days are when I was banned twice amidst my doom and dismays..the first incident was when I decided stupidily not to turn up for my work.. the viking owner was my boss and he wasn’t amused..I was such a silly berk.. but on the second occasion it wasn’t actually my fault.. my best friend Joanna pinched a budding band banner off the viking foyer wall and alas when my boss walked through the door I got blamed for it all..so on two seperate six monthly stints when I couldn’t go to the dances.. not the best recollections of happy happenstances ..

Now as you know by now my face and fashionware was always in the ‘Viking’ ballroom, Oh and the ‘Dolphin’ that was just along the street.. these establishments were the ‘In thing’ where everyone did meet.. I would waltz in a whizz in the Viking door and plonk my handbag in the middle of us dancer’s on that disco floor.. the top latest, live bands from far away brought sheer delight I have to say.. Teehee wonders like Thin lizzy, Hot chocolate, Gary Glitter and Slade.. all the top of the charts stood on the stage and played..Great bands that I did adore came to my little hometown near my front door.. I lived for the weekend throughout my teenage years without any cares, worries and fears..As you can well imagine my life was just a blast and I lived for this moment thinking it would always last..

One Sunday night I had been waitressing allday and it was the end of the weekend so I’d got my pay.. well I went out to the Viking tho it wasn’t to see a band, I think I recall a man playing a keyboard with a mike in his hand..Now larking around in the corner of the hall was a group of lads, I could see them laughing amongst themselves on the long mirrored wall.. Well I was dancing with a couple of my friends, chattering about the night before and odds and ends.. when one of these lads asks me to dance, so I smiled and I bopped never thinking of romance..So would you believe it that forty five years later that dancing couple was my destination instigator..Yes that’s correct that is how we both met, and lots of other married couples would have the same tale I bet.. that Viking dancehall had alot to answer for, it moved me to the countryside from the equally beautiful, scenic seashore..

Courtship lasted for two years or more and we spent our weekends between his folk’s cottage in the country and my seaside front door.. I think it was on my eighteenth birthday and we could both hardly wait.. as we announced our engagement with a gold ring and planned our wedding date.. now for those two years I was working as a ‘bodylinker’ in ‘Pringles’  factory, though the bus journey was a stinker.. we arranged our wedding date for the second Saturday of Pringle’s summer holidays, I wish my memory served me better coz my honeymoon in Jersey is just a happy haze.. As we enjoyed the lovely Jersey blue skies of summer, that Saturday to Saturday sped by so speedily..What a bummer!! but there was a painter and a decorator left in our little bungalow, hanging new rolls of paper in our boudoir to be and he finished it with gusto...

Well the sun shone with a shining jubilation on July 29th 78’ for our marriage celebration..as we stood smiling for photographers beside those wooden Chapel doors, confetti was thrown in our midst and carpeted the floors.. Nowadays when I watch this perfect day all back on an old cd machine I reminisce how on our special day we were a King and his Queen.. 
As soon as we returned from our honeymoon in the sun I started my brand new adventures of being a newly wedded wife and looked forward to the fun.. Of course I had said an optimistic “Hello” to my new dwelling within the picturesque countryside with the rolling hills around us and the green fields far and wide..I wasn’t sad to say my farewell to the salty sea air coz I knew I could always go to see my family as they all lived there..