1991 - 1992 Moving on

I was very much against the move, but it had to happen, as the house I had spent most of my childhood in and loved so much, came with my father's job. The new house was a bungalow, tiny in comparison, and in the middle of nowhere. There were no shops, a truly crap bus service (I was yet to pass my driving test) and a pub. So that's where I ended up, in the pub. I earnt £30 a week on employed YTS, gave £10 to my mother for housekeeping, (she always insisted on a third) and spent the rest in the pub. I was only seventeen when I started drinking there but convinced them I was 18. Within a week I had joined the ladies skittles team and settled in.

My 18th birthday happened to a be skittle night. The tradition within the team was to chip in and buy the birthday girl a cocktail of every short on the shelf. Because they didn't know me that well they opted for Jack Daniels, which was my drink of choice at the time. I had pints of the stuff and needless to say was very drunk. My sister had been away at college but was back home and we were still sharing a bedroom. Unfortunately her bed was near the door and she never did appreciate me stumbling in drunk and falling onto her bed at silly o'clock!

I spent many a night in that pub and made some good friends. I would always drink too much. Because the pub was fairly remote we used to have frequent lock-ins, in fact I don't think it ever closed on time. Some weekends I was there ALL weekend, maybe popping home for some dinner then back to the pub. My first New Years Eve I was, of course, drunk again. When it came time to sing Auld Lang Syne everyone headed outside, as was the tradition. I stumbled down the step which was halfway across the lounge, and stayed there. I just couldn't be bothered to get up, so I lay there, quite happily, listening to them singing, until they came back in and picked me up. Talk about a misspent youth. I wasted plenty of time and money in that pub!

I was still in touch with Ozzy and used to run up huge phone bills, which I would often get a bollocking for. I would come home on a Saturday night from the pub and ring him up. We'd talk for hours. At some point, I don't remember exactly when, it was decided I would go to Australia to see if we could make things work. In the meantime, however, I met someone at the pub. I was young and having fun. He knew the situation, he knew I was going to Australia and why, so we just had fun.

All the plans were made and I was due to fly to Australia the summer of 1992. I was still working as an office junior on YTS and was deciding when to hand in my notice. The office was in part of my boss' house and I had become quite friendly with his family especially his daughter, who also rode and had a pony. We would sometimes ride on my lunch breaks. Unfortunately my boss found out I was leaving before I told him, and I guess he was a bit pissed off, because, one morning I went into work and he told me he was interviewing for my job that day! Because of this I ended up finishing work before I had planned. I had to go temping for a while to keep earning.

June 1992 rolled round and I packed up my stuff and headed of to Australia.