BABS 1973
It's 1973, I am 25. I am nearing the end of my 5th year at Manchester and about to gain a BArch and start working in an architect's office for real. I went shopping from the house opposite the Halls of Residence and unbelievably ran into a girl who was resident there with me 3 years before just walking along the road – she had left Manchester two years before – what was she doing there? I had always wanted her, and now the attraction was mutual. We greeted each other incredulously, and I invited her back to the house for a coffee and chat.
She was living about 6 miles north of Manchester and had just come back from Africa after working for an aid agency; she had a motorbike (fortunately I had a motorbike licence) and (as I discovered) was wearing rather a large number of layers as she felt the cold!
She invited me for the weekend and after she had got rid of her brother we made the most of being alone together . . . . “We should have done this a long time ago” I said; so we made up for the lost time. But unfortunately I was due to leave Manchester in 6 weeks, so the relationship was automatically time limited, which made it all the more exquisite.
About 4 months later my mother was surprised to see a motorbike draw up and the rider knock on her door. She opened the door and only when Babs removed the helmet and she saw the flowing auburn hair did she realise it was a girl. “Hello, I'm a friend of Roger's, and as I happened to be passing I thought I would call on you; despite our most intimate friendship he never told me he lived in a caravan”.
She also came and visited me in London at about the same time; she asked if she could stay for the weekend and I dragged another single bed into my bedroom for her -