More recollections; why do the evenings in Bali make me reminisce?
I am back at the Paloma bar and the act are playing the classic Rolling Stones song Angie. A flood of memories.
Only 16 and just moved into the sixth form and stated going to the pub, not that it was legal. I think many of the pub staff were just very relaxed about things and were more concerned with older pissheads who wanted to cause trouble. A few kids sitting in the corner slowly drinking pints of bitter was a minor distraction. Of course if the police ever came in we would be in trouble. Back in those days most of us had long hair and bumfluff which made us look older. And young girls can cover themselves in make-up and a 15-year-old can be mistaken for a 29-year-old. I believe the expression we used for such young ladies was jailbait.
So after a school meeting one Friday we went to the Falcon Pub to meet some of the girls from St. Gregory’s – that was the catholic girls school and St. Kevins was the catholic boys school.
I met Angela.
As the evening moved on we started holding hands and then kissed; I walked her home.
I was in love.
We made a few phone calls but never managed to meet up. Then a couple of weeks later I heard she was dating one of the guys from the year above. I was devastated and found for the first time in my life that drinking beer does not numb the pain, it just makes the anger swell. One of my mates, Danny, actually stole a street sign and presented it to me.
The street was Angers Lane.
About a year later Angela contacted me and wanted to meet up. I guess Brian had gone off to University and dumped her. She came to my house and we climbed up into the converted attic. I’d done the conversion by putting down sheets of hardboard flooring and closing down the eaves. It was originally going to be a pace for my model railway but by 16 I’d given up playing with trains (I started again aged 50!).
The Loft, as we called it, had become a place to play records, burn incense and drink beer or cider. The night Angela came round we played Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and James Taylor. We drank a lot of cider and Angela decided she wanted to make up for letting me down the previous year. With too much cider in my body I had reached the state where the spirit was willing but the flesh was weak. I love the expression Brewers Droop; it was the worse ever experience of losing my cherry.
From then onwards, whenever I see the expression floppy disc I think of that night. And hearing Angie brings it back too!
Fairy Hanny 