No, not at first.
My first impressions, apart from his disability, were that he seemed quite ill-mannered. Or, as my Mum would say, "Common". He had a pronounced accent and was given to making remarks of heavily laden sexual innuendo, that made me feel uncomfortable. He was also blonde. I'd always found the stereotypical 'Tall, Dark and Handsome" far more attractive.
As this was the winter months, when I arrived in the office in the morning, it was dark outside and it was dark again by 3pm. My desk was placed next to the window whereas Kev's was nearest the filing range. Apart from work based instructions (as I was still learning) I really didn't want to talk with him much beyond that. However, he frequently interrupted me, while I was working at my desk, to make some comment. John, our supervising Higher Executive Officer (H.E.O) would also peer over the desks whenever he did.
I began to spend a lot of time (when not doing 'post' ) amongst the filing range, checking the order was correct and weeding out very old paper work. Replacing old folder covers with new, where necessary. Once I'd completed that task, I checked the order of the concards, ensuring that they were also alphabetically correct.
Kev's friends, Rob and Mike, based elsewhere in the Revenue, would come to collect him on Friday lunchtimes, when they'd all go to one of the three neighbouring pubs: The Merton and The Jawbone being their favourites. Kev invited me along to join them on a few occasions, but as my income was so small and I'd be the only female in their group, I'd politely declined.
One Thursday evening at the end of October in an almost empty office, I was working overtime, Kev broached the subject again. This time suggesting a drink after work the following day (pay day). Although I explained that I wasn't comfortable with the idea, and why, he continued. Hoping the conversation had ended, I looked away and towards the window (rolling my eyes) before noticing that the darkness outside reflected my image and the well lit office behind me. I'm sure Kev saw my expression in the glass. I made a pretence of checking my hair and make-up before picking up some post and using the filing ranges as a temporary fast exit.
Mid November a new member of staff joined our group of desks, Teresa. She sat at the desk opposite me and was almost the same age, though she was very slightly older at eighteen. Teresa had a bubbly attractive personality and, though petite, a buxom and slender figure. Both of us had dark hair, mine ash brown, short and punky, hers was a mass of gorgeous black curls cascading to her shoulders. Teresa explained she was a rock chick. She wore tight denim jeans, high heels and low cut blouses. I wore short figure hugging dresses, high heels/cowboy boots (with beaded fringes), or pirate shirts with black jodpurs, I was a 'new romantic'.
Chris was very much quieter than everyone else, though he had a pleasant personality and a good sense of humour, he rarely initiated any conversations. He was also an only child of 20 something years, who (like me) still lived at home with his parents. He had light brown hair, a goatee and wore flares.
After John approached our group of desks and complained about the amount of chatter and laughter. Chris became even quieter. John told us, more than once, not only was it disturbing the office, but that the door immediately behind his desk (to the Tax Inspector's office) acted as a sounding board and as a result he could also hear every word that was said.
In December, the older women in the office decked the office in festive drapery. Brilliant foil garlands trailed across the ceiling above the desks each side of the filing range. We even had a Christmas tree, on the spare desk next to John's. Teresa and I were fast becoming friends and we ventured out to the nearest pub together the first Friday in that month - we'd just been paid.
A couple of weeks later as Christmas fast approached, we were enjoying the flexible hours that allowed us to leave the office at 12pm and return by 2:30pm. Teresa and I found ourselves enjoying the company of a group of colleagues, which included Kev and his friends Mike and Rob.
