Blog Digression

West Cornwall Travelog - onto Porthcurno where the liquid turquoise of the bay hypnotizes me. Looking out from the Minack Theatre over to Logan's Rock - is there a more beautiful view in the world? And the Minack, I will return to the Minack.

'Too much, too young'

1980 - March, I think. A phone call, I think. Elaine in the hospital. I left my studies and went up to see her. On the maternity ward. Strange ward to be on, baby not due yet.

She'd gone is as an emergency. Cyst on her ovary the size of a grapefruit. Excrutiating pain. They had to cut it out. Take away a bit of the ovary too. Messy.

How did the baby survive that? It did. It was strong. I was glad. I thought she was mad to get married but she was married now. What would have happened to her marriage if she had lost the baby? The baby was the reason she got married. It would have been so ironic is she had lost the baby, lost the reason for getting married at 18.

But she didn't lose it. The marriage carried on.

There was no irony.

Blog Digression

West Cornwall Travelog - back to Mousehole in the evening. The May sunshine lighting up the harbour. Reading a book on a bench on the harbour wall, stopping for minutes at a time just to look at the village looking back at you. Tide is up and kids are jumping off the harbour wall into the calm sea below. Their wetsuits keep them warm. Their energy keeps them safe. Mousehole.

'Too much, too young'

1980 - I can still hear that stupid song, that stupid inappropriate song, playing on the record-player. 'now you're married with a son when you could be having fun with me....'

Maybe it was cold. It was February and February is usually grey, horrible, cold. Registry office do, other old school friends there although I can't remember who. Elaine seemed happy enough.

It is the reception which sticks in my mind. In a house in North London. In the through lounge. Dancing and drinking. No speeches. Some one in charge of records. Kept playing that damn record 'you done too much, much too young now you're married with a son when you should be having fun with me'. Why did they keep playing it? It was a big hit but it was crazy. Maybe the 'DJ' didn't know Elaine was pregnant. 18 and pregnant. She didn't look it. Just a pretty slim young woman talking to everyone and enjoying herself.

No one else seemed to notice the inappropriateness of the record. Just me. It was all so weird. That February day when my friend and I were 18.

'I wanna be free'.

Blog Digression

West Cornwall Travelog - If you go to the 'Merry Maidens' you must go to the 'Lamorna Pottery'. Not for the pots, lovely as they are but for the Cream Teas. In the summer, in the garden, there is no better place in West Cornwall to have a Cream Tea. I feel giddy talking about it.

'Too much, too young'

1979/1980 - I don't remember whether it was late 1979 or early 1980. It was all such a rush. 1980 I think.

I don't even remember if it was a phone call - or did we meet up? God knows, I don't remember. Elaine told me she was pregnant, which was a surprise. However, the bigger surprise was when she told me she was getting married. Why get married? Young women didn't need to get married anymore just because they were pregnant; it was 1980 not 1960. I remember her telling me that she wanted to leave home but I don't think her parents put her under any pressure to get married. I was studying for my 'A' levels whilst my school-friend was settling down. My friend, who was a clever girl and knew all about contraception was pregnant. It was all so very odd, no wonder I can't remember it properly.

I don't know if she loved her boyfriend. The dad. I never asked if she loved him so how would I know? I did know that she had met him at the 18-30 club, he was 10 years older, 28 to her 18. I'd met him maybe once before the wedding. He seemed ok.

Older and ok.

Blog Digression

West Cornwall Travelog - the first time we stayed in Mousehole we stayed in a lovely little cottage called 'Tara'. It was owned by Mr Harvey, who lived next door. He was a retired fisherman who wore a very jaunty cap. His Cornish accent was so thick that we had to listen to him very carefully so that we could understand what he was saying. He told us to visit the 'Merry Maidens' so we did. It is a really interesting place, set in a field just off the road, near to Lamorna. It's like a mini Stonehenge with its circle of standing stones. The guidebooks say that the stones are girls who were turned to stone for dancing on the Sabbath. Maybe. Definitely worth a look, especially when there is a bit of mist around; spooky.

'Too much, too young'

1979 - I enjoyed being 17. It was a really great time. How can anyone not enjoy being 17?

My friend Elaine enjoyed being 17 too. She enjoyed it alot. She had a nice job in the building society; lots of friends there. She had lots of friends everywhere. I saw her every couple of months - 'lemon chicken' at the 'chinese'. Our lives were different, me studying for my 'A' levels and really enjoying 'tech' with the many new friends I had made. Elaine enjoying having money in her pocket and plenty of time to spend it without the constraints of school and study. The blokes really liked her and she liked them.

With her friends she joined a local group. '18-30' it was called. She wasn't 18 but they didn't ask for a birth certificate. Lots of blokes liked her there, guys a bit older, in their 20s. She liked them too. Maybe that's when she started having sex, I'm not sure. She enjoyed that too. My friend enjoyed being 17.

18 was a bit more problematic.

Blog Digression

West Cornwall Travelog - Mousehole is a beautiful village. Viewed from the harbour on a sunny day all seems right with the world. Visit it.

'Too much, too young'

1978 - All he wanted to know was why we were leaving school.

Outside the headmaster's office, in possibly one of the worst comprehensive schools in North London, Elaine and I wondered what we had done wrong. We were two sixteen year olds who had led a pretty quite life at school just getting on with it and yet now the Head wanted to see us. Suddenly, a younger but taller 13 year old red-headed hard looking girl came out of the Head's office and gave us a knowing smile as if she knew we must have done something at least as bad as what she had done. We hadn't but we were nonetheless called into the office. "So why are you two leaving us?" said the Head. We were surprised by the question. I was leaving because I couldn't stand the idea of doing my 'A 'levels in a school which I had never really liked and the local 'tech' had offered me a place to study. Elaine was leaving because she wanted to earn some money and she had a good job lined up. The Head wanted us to stay at school so the school could improve its 'A' level ratings. How strange.

We couldn't wait to get out of there and nothing he could say would stop us.

The beginning

This is the start of my blog. I use to keep diaries when I was young, especially in my teenage years of school days and school friends and with my bad drawings of current fashions and what I thought about them. I use to like culottes I recall. 1970s, what a long time ago....

So welcome to 2007 and the ramblings of one who is no longer a girl but a 45 year old who still rather likes culottes.