It seemed that everyone my age, or thereabouts was either courting or engaged apart from myself and my friend Suzanne (that's Suzanne with a Z'd not an S, see... Suzy). Suzanne and I had grown up playing in our neighbourhood together, although we'd gone to different schools until I was 13, at which point I'd changed schools. Even then, although we were almost the same age, Suzanne had been in the year ahead of me so we'd mixed with different friends at school.
While I'd been doing my O Levels, Suzanne had been in the 6th Form studying her first year of A Levels. Once I'd completed my O Levels in 1980, I chose to leave school and started working for the Inland Revenue in the October. A combination of reasons influenced Suzanne's decision to leave 6th Form and commence her working career. No doubt the fact that I had left formal education was, probably, in some small way a contributory factor.
Suzanne was working in the Health & Safety Executive Offices, which were within walking distance of where I was based at Daniel House in Bootle. We'd meet occasionally for lunch and Suzanne began to join me and my colleagues on Friday evenings, after work, as this was now becoming an established routine. Suzanne had short blonde curly hair and was very pretty. We were very similar in that we both liked the same styles in clothing, music and loved dancing. Though she was as blonde as I was dark haired.
Both Suzanne and I were seventeen, single and neighbours. As Teresa lived nearer the City, and had a boyfriend, she'd join us at lunchtimes on Fridays but generally travelled home immediately after work. This usually left Suzanne and I in the company of Kev and his two friends Mike and Rob. Mike often left early when he did join us - he was a married man. Rob was a little overweight, balding and single, but had a great sense of humour and was very entertaining. He still lived at home with his parents and, although I'm not sure of his age, was either in his late 20s or early 30s. Kev often bragged about being the only male living in a shared house with a number of women. He was 22 in 1980.
During January 1981 Kev and I became good friends. In the office we weren't supposed to be talking so as a group we'd begun to pass notes around our four desks. As time went on, it was mostly Kev passing notes to me. I grew to enjoy his sense of humour and the notes he passed to me often made me laugh. I started to fold them over and reply on the reverse, then fold that and pass it back. Eventually we'd have a full fan of comments. We had recycled paper note pads, provided free for our use - office equipment. We wrote like this for months. Apart from this activity, he got on my nerves. I wonder now if I should laugh at the thought that ... potentially, I just love the ideas that I have? Our supervisor, John, would look over the desks but, as there'd been no obvious conversation, he had no reason to complain.
February, another Valentines was looming, and yet again, Suzanne and I were single. We talked about how we might change that and invariably discussed the most obvious solutions: Rob and Kev.
