At the end of my last post I promised to introduce you to Lady Sippington. Unfortunately she has proved to be a little shy and has begged me to keep her secret for a while longer. She will feature on the Books We Love blog eventually, however. Today, instead, I'll talk about something else and what better on 14 February than Valentine's Day because this year it is a very special day for me.
On 14 Feb 1965 my husband and I had our very first date, so Valentine's Day 2015 is the fiftieth anniversary of the first time we went out together. Now although I write contemporary romantic fiction I can't pretend that we are the most romantic couple. Valentine days have passed without us remembering. We've even managed to forget our wedding anniversary on more than one occasion, but I can still remember that first date as if it were yesterday.
I wore a Mary Quant little black dress (if you are as old as me you might remember her...very sixties) and a Mary Quant hairstyle of sharp bob and geometric fringe, and probably too much make-up. I really thought I was something. Fortunately my husband-to-be thought so too. Also, somewhat shamefully, I was wearing a corsage of orchids that had been sent to me by someone else, but let's gloss over that.
My date, an older man by four years who actually owned a car, took me to a nightclub...my first. I don't suppose it was much more than a couple of smoke filled rooms and a bar that served little more than beer and soft drinks, but to me it felt like the most sophisticated date ever. I remember shuffling around a dance floor that was so crowded that actual dancing was impossible. Shortly before midnight, like Cinderella, it was time for him to take me home, but not before we enjoyed the ultimate in high cuisine...the bacon and egg sandwich with brown sauce which was the house speciality!
It didn't quite end there, however, because on the way home it started to snow. Of course we didn't think of the danger of driving in slippery conditions because at that age we were immortal, nor did we worry that the forty minute journey took almost two hours, but my mother did! She was waiting up for me and I can still 'see' the expression on her face when I opened the door. To say she was displeased is an understatement, especially as I was on a first date with someone she didn't know and he had delivered me home late.
Fortunately she wasn't someone to hold a grudge and they eventually became firm friends. And in the words of Jane Eyre...reader...I married him...almost a year to the day after that first date. We have travelled a mile or two since then and are well past our sell by date now...but we still remember.
What about you? What memories does Valentine's Day stir, and what about your first date with your partner? Do you still remember it?
Happy Valentine's Day.
First dates feature in quite a few of my books. You can find many of them at http://bookswelove.net/# and all of them are available at http://amzn.to/ZSyLpf. In Saving Katy Gray, Book 3 of my When Paths Meet trilogy, Katy's first date is not at all what she expected.
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Sheila, Great story and sorry about the late return home. My husband and I had our first date on Friday the 13th 56 years ago. I was on crutches but that's another story. The only curfew I had was the one set by the nursing school and it was one AM. We made the deadline in time but were able to sit in the parlor and talk until curfew.
ReplyDeleteWow! Does anyone on a date sit in a parlour and talk now Janet? I love your memory and it would be good to know about the crutches sometime.
DeleteI have trouble remembering what I did a couple of days ago but can recall things that happened years ago as if they were yesterday. I met my husband at a dance hall in London on Christmas Eve 1957(eons ago) I wore an atrocious brown skirt and awful flat shoes. Lord knows what I looked like, but he obviously fancied me, and we rock and rolled the night away, then had to walk home as the bus drivers were on strike. We were certainly no romantic couple either and often forgot anniversaries but our love was the steadfast type.
ReplyDeleteSteadfast is good Tricia and if you could rock and roll then he wouldn't have noticed the brown skirt and flat shoes! I guess the bus drivers were on your side if their strike meant you had to walk home because that way your date lasted longer. A lovely memory.
DeleteSheila, what wonderful memories you have and have inspired in others. Steadfast is a word I love, it encompasses so much, and sadly, it is so much harder to find in present times. Thanks for sharing all of you. Jude
ReplyDelete