I’m just warming up to this. I’m looking back over some of the more risky elements in my existence. Right from the start, I had to think on my feet if I were to survive. I won’t go into the circumstances of my early childhood, except to say that I am in pretty good company when I think about it: King Arthur, Lord Krishna, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo all shared similar fates as well as a few million individuals whose names will never grace the pages of history, more’s the pity. Another World At the age of 18 I was catapulted out of my gypsy-like family nest into the working world of the upper middle class of England – people who had been to “public school” and spoke a different language to me, laughed at different things, expected different things from life. They liked me. And I liked them. The fact that I looked like Audrey Hepburn and had a size 8 figure might have helped. My love affair with that stratum of society lasted ten years and I look back on it now with affection and good humour. It was a good time to have in one’s life and has stood me in good stead. It taught me that I have a good brain which will see me safely through tricky situations – and it sharpened my wit. That’s about all. Oh, and it gave me a great bunch of memories of the most wonderful people. Then the age of 30 arrived and it was time to move on. (The flow of writing paused here for a while as I was awash with happiness and sadness at the thought of those ten years and the people I shared them with. If only……..) Anyway, I set out from my marital home in suburbia with £10 in my pocket and one suitcase. It felt like walking away from a prison and even today, forty years later, I shudder to think what might have happened to me had I remained. I don’t think I would have made it to 2014. He didn’t. But which Direction…… I had to tiptoe across London to avoid “capture” and it went without a hitch. The next thing was where to go. I went to the railway station and looked up where I could get a return ticket to for £10 (I wanted to be able to get back to London and start again if things didn’t work out). Bristol it was. I was on the next train out of Paddington for Bristol Temple Meads. 14 January 1976.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 19:46:52 +0000
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