I was a pupil at Kingsbury County School in north London for the majority of my secondary education. I am a little imprecise regarding my age and associated events, but I would say I was just 15 years old at the time when a group of us used to cycle, after school, to a coffee bar in Queensbury. Whilst there, we would congregate on the pavement and smoke cigarettes. I have no idea how these were obtained, but someone always seemed to have a supply. Probably 'borrowed' from parents.
Anyway, one day I was standing around chatting about whatever we used to chat about, when I was approached by two girls. One was called Freda and the other Ivy (not names that are common these days). I knew them both, but was somewhat lost for words when Freda said "We both want to be your girlfriend, but as this isn't possible, we have decided that Ivy should be the one". This is close to verbatim. I have no memory of my response, but from that moment on, Ivy became my first proper teenage girlfriend.
This was quite a long lasting relationship. Probably around 6 to 9 months. Despite the duration, it was never very advanced in a physical sense. I was certainly not as forward or knowledgeable as some of my friends. From time to time we went to 'the pictures' where we would hold hands or an arm would go round her back, but that was it. However, we did eventually progress a little further. Queensbury was on the London underground system and near the station was a narrow footway that ran between the bottom of a row of houses and the railway line. After we had been out, we would walk down this path and in one of the recesses, would kiss and talk and kiss and talk. We would do this until I heard the approach of the last tube train, at which point I would unromantically say a rapid goodbye and run as fast as I could for the station platform. I think I am right in saying that I never once caught the train. A two mile walk then ensued.
Some months later, we went to a party. This was nothing like a fifteens party of today. The host had a pianola which had tunes on a roller with perforations which was inserted and driven by a large
foot-pedal. We would gather round and sing! To this day I remember many of the words of 'Til Captain John McPherson cursed the day he went to sea'. There was certainly no alcohol, and we all sat round a large table and played various games. At all times the man of the house was in the room.
Eventually, Ivy and I left to walk to her home, but on the way it poured with rain, and for reasons beyond my recall, we returned to the party. We were soaking wet, so went upstairs to dry off, only to be immediately followed by mine host who said he wasn't going to have 'any of that sort of thing' in his house, so downstairs we trudged and joined the others. We all stayed the night, gradually falling asleep wherever we happened to be sitting/lying.
One of my friends was Fred Perry, a name not easily forgotten. He and his girlfriend slept on a settee. We all woke around the same time, and as they sat up, she said 'Oh Fred, you didn't did you?'.
We all laughed knowingly. We carried on talking, and Fred announced that he was going to join the navy. In those days, you could sign on at sixteen for seven years service, with a further five years on reserve. It may be the same today. When I heard this, I thought it was a great idea, and on returning home announced to my parents that I wanted to join the navy. Now, at this point, my father should have simply said that it was out of the question, and that would have been the end of my aspirations. Dad was the very strong head of the family, and if he said 'jump' etc., etc. But he didn't. I guess they both felt I should move from the influence of my current classmates.
So I went to Cranleigh Public School. Approaching sixteen years of age, from a mixed school environment, I was to board at a monastic establishment in Surrey. Why didn't I keep my big mouth shut?! Possibly more about Cranleigh at another time.
At the end of my first term, I came home for the holidays. Before long, I was down the Queensbury footway, with Ivy in my arms. We kissed, Suddenly, there were two tongues in my mouth. Wow! This was something new. My reaction was automatic. My right hand, which had been behind her back, moved swiftly to cover her left breast (also something new). Unfortunately, it was just as swiftly removed.
And that was it. I went back to school, and she, presumably, went back to her new boyfriend. But at last, in one respect, I was making progress.
