The Merry Month of May

In the charts… Manfred Mann announced they were splitting up. They performed their last song, Ragamuffin Man, on a regional news programme. I was sorry to see them pack it in as I liked their songs.

Football… Gillingham managed to avoid relegation, even with Basil Hayward in charge. A draw at Shrewsbury in the last game of the season kept them up.

More football… Wednesday May 7^th: My brothers and I were sat around the goggle box when the England v Wales game kicked off.  Then Dad walked into the room. ‘Come of Wales!’ he shouted. A grin spread across his face, but he got no reaction from his English-born, England-supporting sons. We sat stone faced, not daring to utter a word against the land of our father’s.

18 minutes: Ron Davies put Wales in front.

‘Yes! Come on Wales!’ said a gleeful Dad, who’s passing interest in football was no match for his interest in his nightly pint; at half time he went and got ready to go out.

58 minutes: Bobby Charlton levelled for England.

70 minutes: Dad reappeared. Standing in the living room doorway in his cap and coat, he stared grimly at the telly.

72 minutes: Francis Lee scored to put England in front.

Dad had seen enough ‘I’m going up the pub,’ he said, a bit like Alf Garnett.

We found our voices the minute the front door closed. ‘Come on England!’ we shouted, and burst out laughing.

Final score: England 2 Wales 1.

More football… AC Milan defeated Manchester United over two legs in the European Cup semi-final. Milan went on to win the cup, with Pierino Prati getting a hat trick in their 4-1 win against Ajax.

At work… 

Saturday afternoon: 3pm. Sitting in the makeshift shelter in the International Stores’ back yard, I was on my tea break and munching my regular Saturday afternoon treat – a sevenpenny pack of three Jaffa cakes, purchased in the shop – when two of the girls came out on their break. Sue, a blue eyed blonde of fulsome proportions, was singing.

‘Come back and shake me, take me in your arms, squeeze me, please me, baby, baby.’

Several teenage girls worked full time at the International Stores. All were friendly but none more than Sue, a chatty girl who tried very hard to involve me in conversation.

Yes, no, yes, no, I answered, being shy and overawed. I’d yet to master talking to girls my age, never mind young ladies like her.

Another burst of singing…

‘Come back and shake me, take me in your arms, squeeze me, please me, baby, baby.’ 

It seemed Sue couldn’t get the song from her mind. ‘I’ve got the same name as a film star,’ she said, trying another line of chat. ‘Susan Hayward, have you heard of her?’

‘No.’ Another conversation stopper. 

Sue smiled at me. ‘Hasn’t he got sexy eyes…I think he has,’ she said to Margaret, her more reserved colleague.

I didn’t hang around for Margaret to commit herself. Sexy eyes or not, it was time I got back to work.

At school…

Another RE lesson for 3A1 meant another half hour’s solitude for me, 3A1’s lone Catholic. Spending the period in the canteen with a Mass sheet and a questionnaire was an exercise in futility that killed time and achieved nothing. After scribbling my answers on a sheet of paper, I only had to keep an eye on the clock before dumping the lot at Mister Carroll’s classroom and rejoining the class, as I’d done a hundred times before.

Slouched over a table near the hall, I was immersed in holy time-wasting when I became aware of a clicking noise. I paid little attention to it, just as I paid little attention to the intermittent rattle and clank of jugs, trays and crockery in the adjacent kitchen.

Click! Click! Click!

The sound of clicking heels grew louder as someone emerged from ground floor corridor and entered the canteen area. A lazy roll of the eyes brought Lindsay Hawkes into view, passing across the main doors to the office area. Must be taking a message, I thought. I didn’t trouble myself to look up again, moments later, when I heard the same footsteps on the way back.

Click! Click! Click!

But instead of fading away the footsteps grew louder. Much louder.

‘Hello Gerard, what are you doing?’

If there’d been another Gerard at Upbury I’d have looked around to see where the other one was. Surprised, if not startled to look up and see Lindsay’s beaming smile, I showed her the mass sheet and questions, and when she leaned over the table for a better look, I was more than happy to explain. 

A warm feeling came over me as she sauntered off between the tables to rejoin the class, celestial even, like I was floating on a cloud. Blimey. She’d never spoken to me like that before, no girl had. And she’d gone out of her way to speak to me. Hmm.