1994 Comings and Goings

A while after that all happened, I started seeing another guy that I met at the pub and he ended up moving into my bedsit. One night I went out with some friends from work and because it was in another town stayed the night at one of my colleagues houses. When I returned the next day I was met with a note on my door telling me to contact the landlord a.s.a.p. Still hungover I went downstairs where the landlord lived to be told that my boyfriend had been rushed to hospital early that morning with severe stomach pains. I promptly jumped back into the car and drove all the way back to the town I had just left because that is where the hospital was. (What a difference a mobile phone would have made!)

My boyfriend was seriously ill. Somehow he had developed a blockage in his intestines he was in severe pain and was starting to bring back some of the stuff that couldn't get through the blockage. He had been heavily sedated while they were carrying out tests to try and ascertain the cause of the blockage. It had to be unblocked soon or his intestines were likely to rupture. I then drove all the way to his parents house, which was miles away, but I didn't want them to hear about it on the phone. When they had been informed I rushed back to the hospital. He underwent sugery to remove a ring of muscle that had grown across a part of his intestine and after a few days was allowed to return home.

My boyfriend was a stone mason and obviously couldn't work for a while after his operation, but as time went on and he returned to health he showed no sign of getting back to work. I was running out of money fast. The rent had gone up since he had moved in and I was paying for all the food and bills. I pushed and pushed him to go back to work but he didn't seem interested. The relationship suffered and eventually I told him it was over. I gave him two weeks to sort himself out. It was awful, we were still sharing the same bed and there was no where to go. Eventually he did leave and left me completely skint.

After that I started seeing more of my ex boss' daughter again. We would go out in town together and then crawl back to the Esso garage for Lilt and Pickled Onion Monster Munch. My friend was younger than me and had fake I.D. to get her into the clubs, sometimes she would get in and I would be refused because I didn't have I.D.! There were two places to go at the time. Thursdays and Fridays we went to this awful place where you could get in with jeans on. It was so rough, not one night went passed without at least ten fights. It was a time when our town was particularly rough anyway and there were often stabbings at the weekend. The other place you couldn't get in with jeans on, so that was Saturday night dress up. There were the same idiots and usually fights but it was just a little bit classier.

We met a group of guys who regularly had parties at one of their houses and we would go back there after town. Some were in a band and we used to go back, drink some more and have a smoke while they strummed guitars. I met one in particular who was a bassist. He came back to our friend's house one night and tied a banjo with a broken string to my leg. Funny the things we remember. I have always loved bass guitar, it travels through your body from the floor. He had long blonde hair and probably fancied himself more than me but we got together. He was a greengrocer during the day and used to bring me fresh fruit and veg (how romantic) and then I would cook him tea!