In 1964 a young man went to his first dance,not a street wise young man of course not in those days. He entered the dance hall with his best friend,almost 2 years his elder and very street wise. On one side of the room there was a long bar occupied by young men on the other a long row of chairs on which young ladies sat. There were wall mirrors covering the whole room and a large spinning globe in the centre of the room spreading multi-coloured light around. On the stage a 7 piece combo played and a few girls were dancing in groups around a pile of handbags on the floor. Now it was mind games,who would be the first brave soul to cross the floor and ask a young lady to dance. Success was greeted by a round of applause from those at the bar,failure would mean the walk of shame back to the bar. As the night wore on and the beer flowed folk relaxed and both the bar and the chairs thinned out as people found somebody to dance with. The young man still nervous finally made a move and asked a girl if she would care to dance,to his amazement she said yes and a friendship was born which lasted for 25 years. The young girl was called Angela and the young man Mick. The friendship lasted until Angela died. Mick is still going strong or at least I try my best to.
Why was 1964 such a good year? It was later that year I met the soul mate and love of my life Margaret and we were together from then until 2000 when cancer claimed another victim.