After my Father Died in June of 1987, things took a while to get back to Normal, we had Just Moved back into the same House we had previously moved out of, so we were trying to Sort this out and keep an eye on my Mother. As I said previously my Mother was only in her Mid-Forties, so this was a Big Shock to her, me and Susan used to go round to the House several times per Week, and taking her Places, getting her Shopping in and generally making sure she was not on her own a lot. I can't Remember to much around this Period, understandably I suppose, but I do Remember I was still Self-Employed, so I needed to start earning some more Money again!
I had my Mobile-Shop still so I was selling stuff around our way, People used to bang on the Front Door and I would go and open up the Van to Sell them what ever they wanted! I cant Remember how long this went on for, but what did happen shortly afterwards was, my Father's Will was Read, and my Mother Insisted that my Father Wanted me to have some sort of Help, Starting up a Business! This I agreed to and then I Started Looking for some sort of Business to Rent or Buy.
As I was a Qualified Chef, I started Looking for some sort of Food/Eating Place, I did after a few weeks of Searching find a Take-Away in my Home Town of Gorleston, It was Actually 2 Minutes from where we used to live, so I knew the Area well. So we started doing some Research on the Place, we also went down there when it was Open for Business, and it seemed a Fairly Busy Little Place, Selling Fish & Chip's and a Very Small Restaurant, as well! But as it Turned out, things were not all they Seemed at the Take-away (more on this next time)! ====================================================== Now for some Music, back in 1988 Will Downing Released his Self-Titled Debut Album for the 4th & Broadway Record Label, and the First Single from the Album was a Track Called "A Love Supreme" It was his Version of the "John Coltrane" Classic, it Reached Number 4 on the US Billboard Hot 100 Chart! The Song was Produced by Arthur Baker and Will Downing and Features the Great Stanley Turrentine on Saxaphone.
There was also a Great Mix Released shortly after, it was Called "A Love Supreme Jazz House Mix Dub, I've included that as well below! Will Downing has Released a Total of 13 Albums during his Career, and is still Recording Today!
Something a bit different this Week, I found up some older Photos of me and Susan from 1977 and 79. These first 3 Photos were taken Outside and Inside of the Shop, where Susan used to work, it was Her Father's Shop, it sold Leather Good's, for example, Bags Purses etc, it was called Regent Leathers, the other Photos are on a Day trip to London! Some are a bit damaged, but still great Memories!
Susan worked there for a couple of Summer's, the first being 1976 and 77, in early 1977 was when I came along, although I did actually go to the Shop in September of 1976, I took a College Friend down to have a look at Susan, who was working, little did I know some 35 years later, we would still be Together!
That was a Great period of my Life, I was working in a Great Hotel, I had no Debts, no worries, I had a Car and I had a Great Girlfriend! How things were going to change for me in about 1 Year's time!
I used to spend a lot of time in the Shop, I sometimes used take Susan to work in the Car and Pick her up after Work, one Day I remember Driving her to work about 9 am, and I smashed into the Car in front of us, I still remember it was a Volvo!
That was a Great Car I had, it was a Morris 1800, We called it "Bessie", I remember I had stickers above the Window Wipers on front windscreen, it read "SPRINT 1800" What a Child I was!
The other 2 Photos were taken in London, we had a Day Out with Susan's sister and her Boyfriend, it was, I believe our first time out without nathan who was Born about 8 Months previously, we were having a Drink outside a Cafe!
It was a Coach trip, we went around "Madam Thussand's" Buckingham Palace etc, another place we went to, was "The Planetarium" I remember this well, as I fell asleep during the Show!
Another thing that always sticks in my Mind concerning this day was, as I said about us being away from Nathan for the first time, well it was also my Mother's First time at looking after Nathan, on her own!
And what a Mess, she made of that, when we got Nathan home, he was Crying a lot as I remember, so Susan went to change his Nappy, well I will always remember, the state of Nathan's Bottom, I don't think My Mother had changed his Nappy all the time we was in London, his rear was RED RAW, he had Bleeding Blisters on there, all this and I thought my Mother said she was Great with Kids!
This I'm afraid was what we were going to get from my Mother, over the Years! =============================================== Music from 1977, there was a Great Album Release from "The Brothers Johnson" called "Right On Time" It was their Second Album to be Released on Qwest /A&M Records, it was Produced by Quincy Jones, it also contained the following 3 Singles! with US R&B and US Pop Chart Placings:
Within a couple of weeks of Moving into our One Room Accomodation, Nathan was ill again, he was taken to the Local General Hospital on the Baby Unit.
He was not keeping his Bottle down and being Sick all the time and he was badly Dehydrated!
Within a couple of days, Nathan was sent back to the Hospital where he had his Stomach Operation a couple of weeks previously!
Now at this time, we never had a Telephone, because of the type of place we lived in, I cant even remember there being any type of Communial phone in the house either! So we gave my Hotel Telephone number and my Mother's phone number in case of Emergencies, this has it turned out was a mistake, given them my mother's number!
My Mother most of the time found out things before us this way, so when the Hospital tried to contact Me and Susan, they phoned both my Mother house and my work to tell us about Nathan, saying "Nathan was sent back to the original Hospital, for further Tests etc" she was at the Hospital before us, all gowned up and holding Nathan, so when we got there, she had already been told all about Nathan's condition and knew everything that was going on etc!
Now this was not right, but very Typical of my Mother! to this day She is still like that or should I say the last time we saw her she was, but that several years ago now!
In fact I now have Grandchildren, with the oldest being 11 years old and my Mother has never ever seen Her! So that will explain to you what she is like!
Anyway because of my Mother's actions it caused a row between Me & Susan and my Mother and Father, I put this down to us being young and Naive, because if it happened now, my Mother would have firmly been put in her place by Me and Susan!
Back to Nathan, he was all wired up again with tubes for feeding and Montoring tests etc So we for next couple of weeks were backward and forwards to the Hospital, all the time, plus I was still at Work and College!
The old Launderette we used to use and it's still going strong!
We finally moved into our new place around last week in September 1978, things at that time were fairly hectic as I recall, I was also back at College, one day per week and still working at the same Hotel, It was hard for us with a Baby living in just one room most of the time!
But we did have one particular friend in the House we shared with about 9 other families, her name was Shirley (she was the person who seemed to keep things going along in the house), she I remember helped me and Susan out several times during our stay!
One thing I do remember was having some sort of bother with the Washing of Clothes, I remember there was only one machine for all the families, so being a bit particular where we washed our clothes! it was my job to go to the local Launderette, which was about 5 minutes away, so every couple of Days we were over the Launderette, washing ans drying our clothes.
We used to use Nathan's pushchair to take to laundry backwards and forwards, it was a bright Orange colour! ................. Married life was Bliss!
Another thing I remember about this period in time, I didn't have my Music Center with us, because of space etc, it was left at my Mother's House, but I still brought the odd Vinyl Record to play at a later date!
One Record I remember buying was the Rose Royce Single, "Love dont live here anymore" this was a Number 2 in U.K in September of 1978! I still have the Single to this day in our loft!
Things were about to change again for us, with Nathan still not right after his operation!
By now we had Hoped to be living together on our own, but we were still with my Nanny at her House, but things were going OK!
I remember I stayed at my Mother's House the night before the Wedding and Susan was at her Mum's, I remember the only person (Parent Wise) who was happy we were getting Married was Susan's Mum, the other 3 Parents did'nt like the in-Law or wanted us to get Married!
See picture above, The Happy Couple ( me and Susan) ha ha, and the other 2 people are Susan's Mum and Nanny, Susan's Nanny would be in our Lives in the not to distant future!
Anyway the Wedding Day didnt get off to a Good start, my Mother drove me and my Sister's to the Registry Office about 5 miles away, and we got stuck in a Traffic Jam about a Mile away, so we had to get out and Walk to remaining distance to the Registry Office! What a Fool I felt!
Anyway the Day went well, but my Father never turned up! and Susan's Father came to the Registry Office, but went straight back to work afterward's!
So no surprise there then!
We had the Wedding Reception Party at the Mother in Law's Bungalow and Susan's Brother made the Wedding Cake, and everything else went Great!
So at last we were Married and looking forward to the Baby being Born!
One thing I remember happening that day, was Susan's 2 elder Bother's gave me a Friendly Warning about Looking after Susan in the future !!!!!!!!!!!!!! OR ELSE!
Our one room Accomodation!
