Now winter of 1967-8 was cold and we had a white Christmas (I’m assuming because I remember a lot of white Christmases in the 1960’s). I went to a nearby community centre in an old school building near my home along with a lot of my friends and we were introduced to some new people from the local area, male and female, and all under 18.
Given that I was 13, a few of my friends a year or two younger, we were the youngest group there. Being as it was January 1968 and the oldest, as I said were 18, there were no responsible adults in attendance during these Friday nights as the caretaker would open up to let us in at 19:00 (GMT) and then come back to lock up after kicking us out at 22:00.
My parents thought he stayed there the whole time but after the first week he said he couldn’t take any more of the music we played (Blues and Rock ‘n’ Roll mainly) so he would open up then come back to lock up and make the building secure. We were left under no illusion though that any alcohol consumption would remove the privilege of using this hall (and the school grounds) once and for all.
There was a record turntable so we would bring in some albums and play them while smoking (not always just tobacco) and lie around on the floor talking and making out some times. I never had to try with the girls as it had got around that I had experience of how to treat girls and would never ask them for sex, although I was inexperienced in that department. Anyway, the girls used to come on to me and ask me to kiss them and we would sometimes move into a shady area on the periphery of the crowd. I never tried to force myself on anyone but some of the girls definitely wanted to do more than just kiss and cuddle and I would never go under the clothes unless she pulled her jumper up, or knickers down.
They never tried to touch me and there were too many people around to attempt to have sex there, so it was just a case of fondling her breasts or between her legs but never enough to make her scream or moan as that would have drawn attention to what we were doing. Anyway a few other couples would leave the area around the record player and there was never any doubt that a few of them were having oral sex if not full sex, around the darkest areas you could often see bodies moving together.
However, that was not for me, as I said I was experienced in some aspects of sex, but had never had full penetrative sex at that point with anyone. I definitely would have said yes to a lot of the girls (and some of the boys) were they to ask me but that never happened. I never saw anyone away from the community hall at this time given that it was far too cold to meet up on any other night unless you had somewhere to go inside.
I learned an awful lot from these early groping sessions, such as how to squeeze a nipple without causing pain, how to find a clitoris and rub gently on that to make a girl squirm. Putting my fingers inside her to make her wet and gently massage round and round until she whispered for me to stop. Many nights I would walk a girl home in the opposite direction to my home, kissing and cuddling as we walked and sharing body heat to keep warm. Once we had said our goodnights around the corner from her door I would keep an eye on her until she went inside and closed the door before heading for home and walking quickly to keep myself warm on the journey home.
A few of my older friends were talking about seeing if they could get the hall on a Saturday night as well so we could meet up twice over the weekend, and said that, if they could get permission from the caretaker we might have to pay a small fee to get in but it would only be charged to cover the cost of the hall. Several people complained but my closest friends and I said we might be interested as long as the entrance wasn’t extortionate since we didn’t have jobs.
When I went home and told my mum about this idea she was all for it as it meant me being out from under her (or rather my dad’s) feet for two nights a week. Anyway, being winter the nights were dark and the days short so we never ventured far at the weekend anyway, shopping in Kirkcaldy of a Saturday morning and settling down to watch tv in the afternoon starting with the wrestling on ITV. Occasionally there would be a chance to disappear upstairs to my room and listen to music on the transistor my aunt Joyce had bought me for Xmas 1967, while reading books. Sometimes a few friends would call round and ask me to go out with them either next door to Ian’s place or further afield. My dad didn’t like the Adamson’s so if I was going next door I would tell him we were going to Brian’s in Dovecot Park, or Alf’s. (Not that Alf would have been in, he seemed to spend a lot of time with his girlfriend round at hers). I used to love visiting Ian as he always had the latest records by The Beatles, The Stones, The Yardbirds, or American records on Motown and Stax. If we went round to Brian’s his mum let us go up to his room and would keep us supplied with coffee and biscuits (or toast). I would also sometimes go round to visit an older friend of mine, Andrew, who would share his home brew or occasionally some home made wine (my favourite was the elderberry he made). We could also help ourselves to food round at his as his mum didn’t mind. (I also had a crush on his sister who was 18 months younger than me, so his place was always a pleasure to visit.)
This didn’t come to anything though, but she was always kind to me. In those days I didn’t know how to approach a girl as I was rather shy (I still am around strangers so nothing much changes does it?). The women (and the few girls) I had been with and had experimented sexually with had all made the first move, of course with rampant hormones and hormonal changes going on in my body I was always up for the idea of anything with anyone. I had even spent a few hours in the company of gay friends and we indulged in mutual masturbation although I never tried having penetrative sex with them but I found the mutual masturbation very enjoyable.
As everyone knows who is beyond a certain age, teenage years are never easy for either sex. You want to experiment and get to know your body as well as wanting to experience everything with others. There was a lot of talk in 1968 about the Stones bust, especially as Marianne Faithfull had been there and came out wearing a rug and not much else (if anything). It was rumoured that she had chocolate stains between her legs where she had inserted a Mars bar and Mick and/or Keith had been eating it. Of course this was only a rumour but, if you can imagine the scene when 6 or 7 teen boys got together and discussed where she could have hidden said Mars bar, things tended to get heated and not everyone was comfortable having a wank in front of the group.
I tended to speculate that said Mars bar might have been placed (shoved, possibly) inside the vagina and wondered what it would taste like to have the chocolate mixed in with a woman’s cum, or come to it, what said cum would taste like. Now I had been experimenting and had shared body fluids with women (and girls) but never had penetrative sex.
In the summer holidays of 1968, however, while on a hike with Ian, we came across two girls who were crying in each other’s arms. We approached them and asked if we could do anything to help. They looked around at us then at each other and began sobbing again. I put my arms around one and Ian did the same with the other, to try and console them as much as find out why they were crying. To cut a long story short, they were lost and didn’t know where they were or how to get home, they had been picked up by a couple of guys in a car and when they refused to have sex with them they were unceremoniously dumped out of the car where they were and left stranded.
I looked at Ian and he looked at me and, almost as one, we said that the first thing we should do was get off the road in case those guys came back to see if they had changed their minds. There was a wood a few hundred yards away and we suggested going there where we could be hidden while they told us who they were and where they lived. Anyway, we got them moving and a few feet into the wood we were completely hidden from the road. The girls were called Moira and Frances, lived just a few streets away from us and had seen us around. A few minutes after they had stopped talking we heard a car approach and, according to the girls, it was the one they had been dumped out of unceremoniously just 30 minutes before. I said, see I knew they’d be back (I thought it would be to see if they had changed their minds and, possibly, to rape them both if they hadn’t).
Anyway, the girls had stopped crying by now and we waited to see what the car did before leaving the safety our hide afforded. Anyway, the girl I had had my arms around was Frances and she moved closer into me while we watched the car. Once it had gone and we were sure it had not stopped further up, she started kissing me and, without any hesitation, I kissed her back. It came as a surprise when her tongue found its way into my mouth but I reciprocated again, not sure why I suddenly became very hard. Moira and Ian were also kissing by this time so Frances suggested we should give them some privacy and move away deeper into the wood. Moving upright was difficult for me and Frances was watching and smiling away, when we were away from the others she said to me “You’re a virgin aren’t you?” Not knowing what she meant by that I asked her.
She laughed and said a virgin is someone who has never had sex with another person, full penetrative sex, cock inside vagina sex. Of course, I didn’t deny it as it had never happened before. She said that I was a poor frustrated teenager who deserved someone who would take care of everything the first time. With that she opened my fly, releasing my proud erect cock, and moaned “Oh you don’t wear underpants then!” I told her I hadn’t worn any since the age of 13, although my mum still got them to wash every week. She pushed me down on my back on the ground and removed my clothes completely, before removing her own. She then slowly rubbed my cock to make sure it was hard with one hand while rubbing between her legs with her other, I asked if she wanted me to do her and she told me to relax and shut up. Anyway, before long I’d gone hard and she must have decided she was wet enough as she climbed on top and slid my cock into her pussy, gripping it then releasing to get it further in. Once she had me buried and her thighs were alongside mine she started to move slowly and rhythmically up and down and back and forth. Within a few seconds I’d cum but she still didn’t stop. She just moved her hands down and started rubbing my balls until I felt my cock stiffen again, she was still moving back and forth, up and down while doing this and then she moaned slightly, stopped moving and I could feel her vagina lips squeezing and releasing while I was getting more and more wet from her. She started again moving slowly until she shot her load a second and third time, when she stopped moving I started to raise and lower my bum off the ground to get her to start again as I was almost ready to shoot my load for the second time. Feeling this movement, she did indeed start up again, only this time she was moving faster and faster up and down on my cock, squeezing as she almost lost me and again when she had the full shaft inside. Then she blew my mind as we both came together, her fourth and my second and we were stuck together for, what felt like an eternity but could have only been a few minutes. She pulled a pack of tissues out of her bag and proceeded to dry me off before cleaning herself up, once done we dressed quickly and went in search of Ian and Moira.
It turned out they had been doing the same as we had, and were just finishing getting dressed when we found them where we had left them. Nothing was said at that time, by anyone of what had happened but there was no sign of the car so we left the wood and started walking towards home, deciding to avoid the road we took off across country keeping to the edge of the fields until we arrived at the girls’ street. Of course, Ian kissed Moira goodbye while I kissed Frances, arranging to meet her again the next day at the same spot in the afternoon. (12:30 for those interested in knowing every detail, as we both had lunch at 12:00 so we agreed to rush it and then meet up).
On our way home, I asked Ian when he was going to meet Moira again and he said he was meeting her at the entrance to Lady Walk the following afternoon at 1, I told him I was going to meet Frances at 12:30 where we said our goodbyes, so would take her down the old railway siding so as not to encroach on his meeting with Moira. Anyway, we went the rest of the way home in high spirits although not talking to each other as we were both deep in our own thoughts.
When I got in, as it was after 6, my dad was waiting for me and boy was he mad. He demanded to know where I’d been and who with. I told him Ian and I had been out hiking and got lost which is why I was late back, also said that I hoped he’d enjoyed his tea but I wasn’t hungry so was just going up to my room. That’s when he hit me across the back of my head so I went flying forwards into the kitchen with him at the back of me undoing his belt. He cracked it off the door as he slid it off through the belt loops then I felt myself falling across the table when the belt whacked down on my back. He kept hitting me until my mum came in from next door (I lost all track of time so it could have been a few minutes or even half an hour). He stopped then and told me to get up to my room and not come down again until the next day, then he told my mum I was grounded until further notice.
I ran up the stairs fighting the tears back as I was determined he wouldn’t have the pleasure of knowing how hurt I was. When I got upstairs I closed my bedroom door but didn’t need the lights on, it was still daylight as it was only about 6:30 or 7. I opened my bedroom window and kept an ear open for my dad coming back to continue my “lesson” while trying to get Ian’s attention by tapping on his window. It was sometime later when Ian tapped on mine that I was able to tell him what had happened, he said that if I couldn’t get out the following afternoon he would meet Frances and let her know, but did I know how to get in touch with her to re-arrange? I said I could try and rearrange something once I knew what was going on if he wouldn’t mind getting her address or giving her the message for me.
Anyway, I heard footsteps on the stairs at this point so I quickly ducked back into my room pulling the window too behind me. I needn’t have worried though as it was my brother Paul who’d come up to let me know that dad had fallen asleep in front of the tv so the coast was clear if I wanted anything to eat or drink. I thanked him for letting me know and went downstairs with him, going into the kitchen and finding my mum there. She asked me what I wanted and I said just a couple of pieces of toast and a coffee. She told me to go back upstairs and she’d do them and bring them up as soon as she could.
When she came up I told her I had to go out the next day while dad was at work as I’d arranged to meet Frances at half 12. She said I could go but then to bring Frances back to ours so she could tell Dad Frances had called round to see me and she had let her in since dad never said I couldn’t have visitors. I gave her a huge hug and said thank you, telling her that I didn’t know what I’d do without her. It was always mum who came to my rescue but only when dad wasn’t around. I found out much later that she was frightened of him and was only there to try and protect the three of us, although she didn’t succeed with me for very long, but at least he did seem to leave Graham and Paul alone.
Anyway, the next day I got up early (school holidays be blowed, 9a.m. I was awake and up) so I could have a bath and wash my hair, still no bum fluff on my chin so no need to shave, how lucky I was. Anyway by 10 I was ready to go and meet Frances, Graham and Paul came down then to use the bathroom and get their breakfasts. Graham teased me that I was looking good for a scruff, but I was in too good a mood to retaliate by chasing him outside. Instead I went upstairs to my room and tapped on Ian’s window to tell him the good news. He was just waking up when I tapped on his window.
I think I should explain, our windows were right next door to each other as he had the room next to mine, but in the house next door. We had set up a pulley system with a piece of wood on a string so we could knock for each other even if the windows were closed. Had my dad found this he would have hit the roof because, as I mentioned earlier, he hated the Adamson’s. Anyway, we stayed talking for a while until he went down for his breakfast. At this point I pulled out my copy of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan and put it on the stereo, listening on head phones. A little while later my door opened and Jim came in, signalling for me to remove the headphones. I did and asked him what he was doing and he said he’d just been next door and Ian told him I was grounded, I said it would only be until the knife and gunshot wounds healed but that was ok, I was up to visitors.
He said that I’d been missed the day before as he had called round to find out I’d gone out with Ian (he only found out when he called at Ian’s and was told we were together by Billy, Ian’s brother). I said that if we’d known he could have come with us but would have been a spare prick at a whore’s wedding. He laughed and said he heard that I was going to meet a lass that afternoon, I said yes, indeed I was, but doubted if I’d be up to anything since the wounds were still raw, having been beaten up and stabbed before being shot in the head twice at close range. In fact, I went on, it was a wonder I was still alive, he laughed and said my imagination was the best, always full of it I was, but he didn’t know the half of it, why I was grounded or what had happened just before being told I was grounded. His parents, like Ian’s, were very laid back and he rarely got into trouble even when caught stealing apples from the greengrocer, but that’s a tale for a different time.
I said I had some good shit left if he could wait until I made us a coffee we could drop it and have a pleasant time. Turning the stereo off I went down to the kitchen and made us both a coffee taking a few biscuits up with it as well. Putting the cups down on my table with the stereo I lifted up the turntable adaptor and took out a little packet of 3 pills, I offered Jim one and a half but he said no, one would be enough as he knew less than two wouldn’t really do anything for me. I thanked him kindly and we dropped our pills at the same time, ordinarily that could have been a problem since it’s always best to have a “straight” friend in case things turn ugly. I knew this particular batch was good, having taken it before with Ian, so I wasn’t worried about not having someone with me to talk me down from a bad trip.
After demolishing the coffees and biscuits, Jim said he would have to get going as his mum would be in soon to make his dinner. I said of course, no bother man and I’d see him later on (that evening after our respective teas had been eaten). I then put on my best shirt, brushed my long hair and went downstairs to see what was happening while saying goodbye to Jim. I picked up a couple of biscuits and went out (at the same time as Jim) to meet Frances.
I took a slow walk for two main reasons: 1. It was a beautiful summer’s day without a cloud in the sky and 2. I had 25 minutes to do the 10-minute walk (I was also still stoned but less said about that the better). Everything was fine with the world, I had a girlfriend and a mother who understood the way teenage boys and girls worked. With a huge smile on my face and a spring in my step I wandered towards the afore mentioned meeting spot, eating the biscuits as I went.
Once I arrived at the spot I sat down on the side of the road to wait for Frances to arrive, by this time the speed was beginning to wear off so I didn’t have to worry about coming down in front of Frances. She came into view at 12:25 and I stood up as she was approaching and watched her walking towards me thinking how lucky I was that I had someone like her. After we kissed hello I put my arm around her and told her what had happened the night before when I got home (without telling her about the belting I’d received) and that if she was okay with it we would have to head to mine since I was grounded. She said that would be ok as she knew my dad anyway so she could see if she could get him to lift the grounding when he came in from work, as long as my mum didn’t mind her staying for tea. I whispered in her ear that she was totally the greatest, so why hadn’t I met her before since she knew my dad? It turned out my dad had done some decorating work for her parents (her dad and mine both worked for Alexander’s bus company in Kirkcaldy) and that was how she met him.
Anyway, when we arrived back at mine, I asked mum straight away if Frances could stay for her tea? She said yes, but it would depend on what dad said how long after that she could stay. I thanked her and asked Frances how she would let her mum know? She said that it was fine as she had already told her mum she was meeting me and asked if she could either have a late tea or, if I was going to feed her, no tea so her mum already knew. With that we sat at the kitchen table while I made coffee for us both and tea for mum. When I had done that I asked Frances if she wanted to go and sit in the living room with mum or would she prefer listening to some of my records upstairs? When she said music, we left mum with her tv and tea while we went upstairs to my room and I asked her to choose something to listen to while we had a “chat”. Because mum was downstairs we couldn’t have sex again but we could do other things while the music was playing.
To cut a long story short we talked, kissed, cuddled, talked some more and kissed lots more. The albums seemed to me to be much shorter now than the last time I listened to them. Or perhaps it was just the company I was with that made the time fly past. We heard mum coming up the stairs so I got up and opened the door slightly, quietly, and sat down on the bed facing Frances as my mum pushed the door open. She asked if we were okay for drinks as she was going to start doing tea and would have the kettle on. Frances said she would love a tea and I asked for coffee and said I’d be down soon to bring ours up here, unless mum wanted a hand?
Mum said she could manage and would bring the drinks up for us when they were done, I told her not to just to shout and I’d come down to get them. Anyway, a few minutes later she knocked on the door and handed the cups to me before heading back downstairs. Frances and I returned to our chat about nothing in particular and kissing and cuddling in between speaking. I asked Frances what she would have been doing if we hadn’t met up and she told me she didn’t know as her friend had a date that afternoon and we both burst out laughing. When the album finished I turned the stereo off and we went downstairs with our drinks and I told mum we would be in the living room if she needed us for anything.
The tv was on one of the radio channels (yes even in the 60’s you could listen to the radio on your tv set). Mum had the radio on in the kitchen as well so we had the same show in both rooms, being as it was 1968 and the UK, we didn’t have 24 hour tv (there was some educational programs broadcast through the day, along with Open University courses, but programming proper didn’t start until 4:30pm when the kids were home from school. In the summer holidays, and at Christmas and Easter, the educational programs were replaced by cartoons to keep those too young to play outside unattended, occupied. We sat down together on the sofa and waited for Graham and Paul (my younger siblings) to come home, ahead of my dad getting in from work. Just before 4:30 I turned the tv over to the test card on BBC1 (another shortfall in 1968 was just having the two channels unless you had a specially adapted tv and aerial to allow BBC2 into your home). The best children’s programmes at that time were on ITV but there were adverts on that channel so we generally watched BBC1.
I seem to remember that we had a soup course before dad got in from work, then we could watch tv for a little while until dad had eaten his soup, then everyone would be through to the kitchen to have the remainder of tea together. With a guest this evening we were going to sit in the living room at the big table so we all had to wait until dad arrived before starting with anything. I whispered to Frances that we never had a feast but there was always enough to go round and mum was a wonderful cook. Mum called me through to the kitchen and told me to take an extra two chairs through as dad wouldn’t be long, this I did and then I laid the table ready for everyone to sit round. (Another thing about tv in 1968 – no remote so I had to turn it off manually). I then showed Frances the bathroom and told her to take her time getting washed ready for tea as we wouldn’t be eating just yet but it wouldn’t be long. When she came out, I went in and washed my hands.
We then went back through to the living room and sat back down on the sofa to wait for everyone else to arrive. Graham and Paul both arrived together through the back door and while Graham went into the bathroom Paul washed his hands in the kitchen and then came through. He asked Frances who she was and what she was doing here, I told him she was my girlfriend and was having tea with us. He then sat and sulked as he wasn’t allowed any friends round for tea. Graham came through so I introduced both him and Paul to Frances and Frances to them both. Then we heard the back door open again and heard my dad’s voice announcing he was home so tea wouldn’t be long.
He came through and said hello to Frances (as I said there was no need for introductions as they knew each other). Frances thanked him for allowing her to share our evening meal and told him that it was her fault I’d been late home the day before as she was dropped in the middle of nowhere by her brother’s friend because she had told him no when he asked her to go out with him. When I found her, she was lost and I’d walked her home following the road round as she didn’t want to get more lost going through the countryside.
After tea was finished, dad told me he wanted a word so we went out to the kitchen and he asked why I hadn’t said anything the day before, I told him that I didn’t know I’d be seeing Frances again but she had called round to thank me for the night before. I asked him if it was okay for me to walk Frances home later (when she left) and he said that he’d been too hasty grounding me without knowing all the facts so the grounding was lifted. He also told me not to leave it too late to walk Frances home as he had to be up for work in the morning and, while he might not wait up for me to get back in, he would have to wait until Frances left before going to bed.
I went through to the living room and joined Frances on the sofa, Graham and Paul had both disappeared upstairs to wait for their friends to call round for them. At about 6:30 Jim came calling and the three of us then went upstairs to my room to listen to music. After about an hour Frances said she would have to be going soon and I said I would walk her home as I couldn’t leave her to get home on her own, Jim said he was going to call in and see if Ian was free so I should probably call in there on my way home, after seeing Frances home. I winked at him and said if it wasn’t too late I might see him later.
Frances and I went to say goodnight to my mum and dad, mum said that if I saw Graham or Paul to send them home as it was getting on for 8. I told her I would, then said that I would be going round to see Fido on my way back so for her not to wait up as I might not be in till 11 or just after.
Anyhoo, Frances and I left to go back to hers, we were walking hand in hand when Graham and Paul appeared heading for home. I shouted to them and said mum was waiting and I’d see them later. Because my work was done then, Frances and I headed off to the park on her way home. The park was quite big but open with a few bushes and some trees dotted around, there was a football pitch, swings and a roundabout as well as some dilapidated buildings, toilets and three or four footpaths through the park. We headed to the toilets as in between the ladies and gents there was a seat under cover which was never lit up. We sat and talked, kissed and talked some more before Frances took my hand and led me into the ladies’ toilets (we hadn’t seen anyone else but she didn’t want to take a chance on us being perved on having sex). We hadn’t seen anyone go in or come out of the toilet but still we knew we could be caught so we made for the furthest stall and locked the door once we were both inside. Because it wasn’t the cleanest we didn’t strip off naked, just loosened our clothing so we could have sex standing up. I found this experience was not as good as the day before but still pleasurable nonetheless. Presumably down to the partner as much as the sex.
Once we had finished, Frances sat me down and cleaned herself with tissue, before cleaning me off as well. We then unlocked the door and Frances went out first to stop anyone coming in and catching me. I followed after a few seconds and we sat down again on the bench kissing and cuddling before I started to feel we were being watched so I asked Frances if she wanted to head for home, so we took a slow walk, and cuddling into each other we headed for Frances’ house.
The next day was Friday so I asked what Frances would be doing and she told me she had nothing planned so I suggested a morning rendezvous to meet up with Ian and Moira and then the four of us could maybe do something together in the morning. She said she’d see what Moira had planned and let me know if I called round to hers in the morning but not before 10:30 as she needed to catch up on some beauty sleep. I laughed and told her she didn’t need to as she obviously had her own beauty and someone else’s as well. She laughed at this and said it wasn’t easy looking that wonderful and it took a lot of time and make-up, before we kissed goodnight and I waited while she went in. I then went home, as Fido’s house was in darkness I didn’t call in, Ian’s was also in darkness when I went past so I just went straight home and got in at 10:30 as mum was going up to bed, dad had already gone up by then. I locked the door and went into the kitchen with mum for a chat, she thanked me for getting home so early and asked me if I had any plans for the following day and I said I was going round to meet Frances at 10:30, she then told me not to get ahead of myself with Frances and start making plans for marriage or anything, I told her I was still at school so I was only seeing Frances to have some fun together, Frances was too young to even consider settling down yet so mum had nothing to worry about. She told me it was time she discussed that subject with me (sex, I suppose) since I was now 14, but that there were lots of books at the library on the subject and if I read a few of those they would teach me everything I needed to know. I said “Ok mum but what if I have any questions?” She told me I could ask her but she might have to ask my dad before giving me an answer. I thanked her for that conversation and said she should go to bed and I’d see her in the morning.
With that she went upstairs and I grabbed a cold drink from the fridge and went into the living room and put the tv on, not that there was a lot on at that time of night, apart from the local news on ITV and a late night western on the BBC, but I wasn’t tired and wanted to think things over after what mum had said.
Anyway, the next day was Friday and with only one week of holidays left before returning to school I was determined not to waste any time pondering the secret of life, the book of the dead or the dead sea scrolls. I turned the tv off and went up to my room. I still wasn’t tired so I put my light on, and the stereo, put Sgt Pepper on and listened on headphones, while reading the Lord Of The Rings (I was up to Book 2. (The second part of the Fellowship Of The Ring) and things were heating up for Frodo and Samwise). I finished the chapter and turned the stereo and the light off and went to bed. I didn’t realise it at the time, but I was keeping good company sleeping with nothing on, just as Marilyn Monroe had done the decade before.
On the Friday I met up with Frances as planned and she told me that Ian and Moira were no longer seeing each other as they had split up the day before. I asked if she was going to split up with me too then, and she said no. However, she did want to spend time with Moira that day and would I mind if she joined us for the day? I said no, it wouldn’t be fair of me to take Frances away from her friend in her hour of need and if she wanted me to disappear she only had to tell me to get lost and I’d arrange to see her another day. Anyway we went round to Moira’s and I said that it was ok if she didn’t want me around I could go off and find something else to do, but Moira said no, I was going out with her friend and she was glad to spend time in both our company so it was cool. Anyway we hung out with Moira for the best part of the day but at 4, I said I’d better be going as my tea would be ready soon, giving Frances a long kiss I whispered that I’d see her the following evening, and we could go and hang out at the old school if she wanted to, and as it was an open “happening” Moira could come too. Frances said she’d see what Moira said and she was sorry my day had been spoiled and I told her not to be silly, it hadn’t as I’d had her company (and Moira’s too) and they were two of the nicest girls I had met. Moira said thank you, so I knew she’d been listening to our conversation, I then thought I’d ask her if she wanted to hang out at the old school with a crowd of us and listen to music and talk? She said she’d think about it and see but didn’t want to be “A spare prick at a whore’s wedding!” I told her she wouldn’t be as Frances and I had only started seeing each other and she was always welcome to hang out with us, after all she had been friends with Frances longer than I had known them both.
Anyway, that Friday night I went along as usual to the hangout at the school hall, my friends had all heard about my girlfriend from Jim, who had met Frances and then talked to Ian about her as well. I was the centre of attention at the beginning of the evening which I didn’t like one bit as it made me very uncomfortable to have everyone’s eyes on me and the world and his dog wanting to know if I had made it to “first base”. Being a gentleman I told them that I really couldn’t say how far I’d taken things with Frances, or she with me, and I clammed up then and left soon after. Jim came after me and said he was sorry for that but he didn’t think I’d object as much as I had, otherwise why was I leaving so soon into the evening? He asked me to reconsider and go back inside with him, or at least share his last joint with him.
We sat down on the side of the driveway and he lit up and we shared the joint and talked about everything that was wrong in the world, and the little that was right (at least in our drug fuelled eyes). Once the joint was done, and we smoked every last bit of that shit all the way down to the roach, I told him that I’d be back the following evening with Frances, and possibly her friend Moira, who Ian had had 2 dates with. However, I was tired and had an early start the following day to go shopping with the “folks” and I kept asking to be excused only to be told that there was no way they would do that.
We parted with a hug, and Jim said as long as we were still friends then he could live with himself, I said of course we were and we parted to go our separate ways. I also told Jim that all I’d managed with Frances was to cup her breast through her clothes and her bra felt really full and squishy, so she must have a pair of nice tits. (I knew by doing this that Jim would report back to the others that I hadn’t even made it to first base and held Frances’ tits in my hand).
I really didn’t want any of the girls to think I would grope and tell, or even kiss and tell, which is why I didn’t say anything about how far things had progressed in such a short space of time with Frances. As I said earlier I knew my friends but not the bulk of those going to these “happenings” on a Friday and Saturday night. Anyway, my folks were surprised that I returned home so early as they were both still up but Graham and Paul were in bed, dad was about to go up and mum asked me how Frances was, telling me that she seemed like a “very nice young lady and not like the usual boys I took home at all”. I think, more than anything else, she was relieved that I was interested in girls and just friends with the lads I hung around with.
Anyway, she went up to bed and I settled down to watch the Friday night Hammer Horror movie on the television. (No video recorders, no digital recorders so if you wanted to watch something you had no choice but to watch it at the time it was screened.) During the first set of adverts I went through to the kitchen and put the kettle on while I went to the toilet and then made a coffee before heading back through to watch the rest of the movie.
Saturday morning my dad came in to wake me up at 8, as usual for a Saturday, and told me to hurry up and get moving as he wanted to get into Kirkcaldy and then get back in time for the football at 3 (Scotland were playing England at Hampden Park, I think) so off he went and I got up, put my pyjamas on and went downstairs to go to the toilet, make a coffee and then go up to get dressed before going back downstairs to drink my morning coffee. I was no longer high from the night before so I dropped a tab of acid while I was getting dressed and went downstairs to see what this day would bring forth.
When we got back from shopping in Kirkcaldy, I had a bite to eat with everyone and then said I was going to go and see Frances to see what she was doing that Saturday afternoon. I went round to Frances’ house via next door to see if Ian was okay, he was, and to ask him if he objected to me spending time with Moira and Frances as he had only just recently split up from Moira, he told me it was fine just not to forget that he was still around and I could call in to him anytime. He also told me that the decision to split up with Moira hadn’t been easy but she had objected to him wanting to spend time with his mates and he couldn’t have that. I told him that Frances had met Jim and a few other friends (including him) and she seemed cool with me spending time without her, if that changed though then I would have to kick her into touch as well but as long as she didn’t stop me spending time with Jim, himself or any of my other friends then I was happy to keep things going. I also asked him to keep it quiet about how far Frances and I had taken our relationship and he said that it would be up to me who I told as it was none of his beeswax.
With that I left to call round to Frances and see what she wanted to do that Saturday night. Little did I know what was waiting for me that afternoon. When I got to Frances street there was a crowd of 4 or 5 girls hanging around seemingly waiting for someone to put in an appearance, I walked round them as it didn’t seem they were going to move and they looked like they were ready for any trouble they could find. I knocked on Frances’ door and it was opened almost immediately and Frances’ whispered that I should get in quickly and close the door behind me. I did both of those things and then turned to see Frances white faced staring out the window through the net curtain. I asked her what was going on and she told me that I had eyes and those girls were looking for her friend (one I’d not met) called Sandra and they were threatening to kill her since, seemingly, she had been seen out with the ringleader’s boyfriend. I said that it was a bit of a strange thing to do, surely, if the boy had been out with Sandra then his other relationship was either off or else they were about to break up anyway. Even then I was quite astute for my age.
She said, yes I was right but that didn’t stop those girls from wanting to cause trouble in her street, her dad had called the police station and they were going to send someone round to try and stop any trouble before it started. Frances said then that Sandra had gone out with her folks and wouldn’t be back until later, hopefully much later and the crowd would have disappeared before she returned home, but even so there was only the 3 of them in the street (Frances, Moira and Sandra) to take on these 5 when it looked as though more could be joining them as they had not made any move to approach Sandra’s house.
Anyway, we stayed watching them for a while longer before her parents came through from the kitchen and her dad said the police would be arriving soon enough and they would get to the bottom of whatever was going on and calm things down. I sat down with Frances’ dad and asked him if this sort of thing had happened before, he told me that in the past it was gangs of boys but this was the first time he’d seen a gang of girls ready to start fighting. He then asked me how my parents were as he hadn’t been to church for a while and therefore hadn’t seen them. I told him they were fine and my dad was watching the football that afternoon, he said he wanted to but being the only man in the house (unless I was going to stay) he couldn’t push things with the womenfolk. Just then, before I had a chance to answer him, a stone came flying in through the window and narrowly missed Frances head. Her dad went back through to the kitchen and I could hear him talking to someone on the phone (a novelty then as hardly anyone had a phone at that time). Then we heard the police arriving in the street with their bells going and they came up and stopped outside Frances house. Two officers left the car and while one went round to the girls one way the other one circled round to come up on them from the rear. They then started talking to the girls and said that there had been a report of criminal damage to one of the properties close by, had they any knowledge of who had done anything to any property? (We could hear some of what was said but after the gang had been dispersed two of them came in and told us what had happened after they arrived).
When they threatened the girls with arrest for breach of the peace the gang started to slowly walk away, being followed by police officers on foot as more had arrived in the meantime. Anyway, the situation seemed to be calming down and, the riot had been averted. After the girls had gone and the police were talking to Frances’ mum and dad, we went upstairs to her room and left the door open to hear what was going on (and to stop her dad thinking we were up to no good). After what seemed like ages, but was probably only a few minutes the police left and I asked Frances what she wanted to do that evening, also asked if Moira would be joining us or if it was just going to be us? She told me that she wasn’t sure about going to the school hall with me, she didn’t smoke and definitely didn’t approve of drug taking which she had been told went on there. I said that we didn’t have to go if she didn’t want to (I also kept my mouth shut about my drug taking habits) as we could probably find somewhere else to go, and something else to do. She then asked me if I minded not going as she didn’t want to stop me from hanging out with my friends, I told her not to be silly as I wouldn’t see too much of her once we were back at school as I had to get my homework done before my folks would let me out of the house.
We both laughed at this as she remembered what Miss Stott had been like with her class before she dropped Maths, but she still had Miss Stott for Arithmetic as that was a core subject and couldn’t be dropped. Frances dad came up the stairs at this point and said it was good of me to leave the door open but he trusted both of us not to do anything in his house we shouldn’t do, so if we wanted to we could close the door and listen to some of Frances music, he didn’t like most of it so would rather the door was closed anyway if we were to have it on. I thanked him and asked if the police had found out who had broken the window and were they going to make that person pay for it to be fixed? He told me that he’d advised them not to push it too hard but if they happened to find out who had thrown the rock and could get them (or their parents) to foot the bill he would appreciate it. With that he closed the door and we heard him go back downstairs.
Frances put some music on and we moved closer together, I told her I thought she was looking particularly beautiful today and she blushed at this and cuddled into me and started kissing me. Within a very short space of time I found myself pushed down onto the bed with Frances on top and we were kissing and laughing while removing what clothing we could without drawing attention to the fact we were going to be having sex very soon.
Afterwards, we straightened up our clothing and Frances went downstairs to make us both a coffee and I made use of the bathroom. The bathroom wasn’t like ours at home, with 4 males and one woman using it there was less female stuff around. Frances house had 3 females and only her dad (as I mentioned earlier). When Frances came back up the stairs with the coffees I was still finishing off in the bathroom. I thanked her for making them when I walked back into her bedroom and we sat down on her bed to listen to some more music before I would have to leave and go home for my tea. Naturally, we were talking and whispering while the music was playing so didn’t hear anyone until her bedroom door opened. It was Moira so, although we jumped, we settled down again quickly enough. I asked Moira if she minded me being there for a little while as I had a coffee to drink? She told me that was fine she just came round to see what happened with the girls and the police, she’d been watching from hers and had waited to see if the girls came back but they hadn’t.
We both told her as much as we knew from the Police, Frances’ Dad and what we had overheard or seen, Moira saw the stone come flying through the window but hadn’t known it had missed Frances by inches. Anyway, once my coffee was drunk I thanked Frances with a kiss and got up to go home, saying that I’d maybe see them later on (more a question than a statement) but Frances told me to go round there after 6 and she’d let me know what we were doing. With that I headed off home with my feet 2 feet off the ground.
Later on, after my tea, I went round to see the girls (Moira was back there, or maybe she hadn’t left) and was told that, if it was ok, the three of us would go out for a walk to the park as it was a nice evening, I said of course I didn’t mind going anywhere in the company of two lovely ladies, but did they really want to be seen with a dead beat rocking poet like me? They just laughed and then off we went.
Once we got to the local park: not much there really, a few swings, a slide, football pitch and a seat, (as well as toilets with broken windows) a few areas of grass for sitting on, and a bowling green for the old pensioners to get their weekly exercise in the summer days: I asked Frances if she minded if I held her hand with Moira being there as well and we held hands while wandering aimlessly around the grassy areas on our way to the bench. Moira went to the other side of me and grabbed my other hand so I made a huge thing of being a prick between two roses. The girls started laughing and we all fell into a heap on the grass, me on the bottom and those two on top of me. I laughed and said if that was what it was like to get planted then they could plant me anytime as I was enjoying being under two such lovely young ladies and would they mind explaining why our legs and arms had come off and were lying in a heap over there?
We all fell about laughing at this absurd idea, I knew my mouth would get the better of me if I wasn’t careful so decided to cut down on the wise cracks, but as it was a nervous thing I felt I should explain it to Frances, if and when, I got her alone. As though reading my thoughts Moira said she had to go to the toilet, but I nearly died when Frances said she did too and off they went together to the ladies. I got up and followed them, but only as far as the seat where I sat down to wait for them to return.
They seemed to have been gone for ages but both re-appeared together, and with Moira on one side and Frances on the other, I was at a loss for words, they were both giggling about something when they returned and I didn’t want to ask them what was so funny as I hoped one, or both, would let me in on the joke. Anyway, we sat for a while with them both giggling and me not saying anything in case it started them off on a full scale laugh fest. I put my arm around Frances and Moira moved in closer on my other side. We sat like that for a few minutes until Moira picked my other arm up and put it over her shoulder, holding the hand so I couldn’t move it away. I decided to relax and see what game these two were going to play. Frances then said to Moira (it must have been Moira as I was obviously the subject) “Do you think we should tell him what we were discussing?” and then they both started laughing, again.
Moira replied, in between gulps of air and laughter, that maybe they should wait for a while, so they didn’t spoil the moment. By this time I was beginning to feel as though the world was watching to see what I would do to find out what was going on. I kept hoping one of them would stop laughing long enough to say something to me, but they just kept on laughing. After several more minutes of this I suggested having some time out for the two of them until they stopped giggling, not looking at each other, and I would leave my arms where they were until they told me what was going on. This seemed to work for all of ten seconds but then they both burst out laughing and looked across at each other and that was when they were struggling to stop, until Moira started to cry.
I moved her head into my shoulder and started to pat her back (I thought she may have almost choked on a giggle or done something to her stomach). However, this only seemed to make her cry harder as I could feel my shoulder getting wet. Frances stopped laughing and was watching her friend cry into my shoulder so I grabbed her (Frances’) waist a little tighter and think I must have pinched her slightly as she jumped and moaned. This was enough for Moira to stop her tears but she was still struggling to regain her composure and cover her eyes. (I found out later that mascara, at that time, wasn’t waterproof so girls who cried ended up with panda eyes). I looked at Frances to ask her what was wrong and had I done something to offend Moira without realising it when they both got up, pulled me up onto my feet and the three of us went back in the direction we had come (heading for the swings and not home). Behind the swings was a housing estate with some trees (it was hardly a wood although it was larger than a copse) behind it. I thought that was where we were heading so I didn’t fight the girls. We went under the trees, but instead of stopping as I thought we would we just kept on going until we came to the stream that cut through the middle of this particular group of trees before going underground. Then our direction changed and we followed the stream for a few hundred yards until we came to an area I wasn’t familiar with, the stream had disappeared underground by now and this was further under these trees than I had gone before. I still wasn’t panicking as it was still light and the light was getting through the trees to show shapes around us.
The girls stopped and sat me down then said they had been talking about playing a game the next day, if I would be up for it. Moira’s parents both worked so she would be home alone all day so if I went round to Frances for about 9:30 she would take me round to Moira’s and we could have some play time, all three of us. I looked at Frances and asked if she was sure she wanted to do this tomorrow, she told me yes, she was and she shared almost everything with Moira so they had no secrets from each other therefore I had nothing to be nervous about. So the next day I headed off to see Frances in the morning and when I arrived at hers she was alone and waiting for me. She said Moira had called her and was not alone so to leave it until 10 before going round there. I said that was ok and sat on the sofa with Frances kissing and cuddling until the phone rang about 10 to 10.
Anyway it was Moira saying her dad had just walked in from work and was there anyone at Frances’ house except us two, Frances said it was just us but she was expecting her brother in about 12-ish so we could have about an hour if she wanted to call over. Within 10 minutes Moira had arrived and the three of us went up to Frances bedroom with some drinks. Anyway, Moira and Frances asked me to strip them off while they moved around me slowly and then they would explain the rest of the game to me once we were all naked. I grabbed Frances first and as I was undoing her skirt my t-shirt was pulled over my head by Moira. Then I went for Moira and started removing her blouse while Frances undid my jeans. As I was wearing flares they fell down around my ankles as soon as she had undone the button and zip fly. All I had left on now was my socks as I stepped out of my trousers.
Now I went back to Frances and pulled her t-shirt over her head taking her bra with it as she had undone it while I was undoing Moira’s blouse. Frances was now in her knickers and tights while Moira still had her bra and knickers on, but wasn’t wearing tights. I pushed Frances down on her bed and gripped her tights and knickers together to get them off her, Moira meanwhile had grabbed both of my socks and was pulling them off my feet to leave me naked and with no leverage to pull Frances remaining clothes off her she quickly got up again and they both pulled me off the bed onto the floor where they stripped each other to join me naked and we were all breathing heavily but not caring.
Now, they told me it was going to get interesting from now on until we got dressed again and I should just relax and enjoy the way they were going to use me for the next 30 minutes. First Frances and Moira started kissing me on the face and then started moving around until they were kissing each other. They were both fondling my balls with one hand and each other with the other hand so I tried to join in but they both pushed me away and told me to watch but not touch. If I tried to touch them again they would tie me up and then leave me alone to enjoy each other while I watched.
It didn’t take long before Moira positioned herself between my legs and started rubbing her tits over my cock which was already hard and felt ready to explode. I lost sight of Frances until Moira started moaning and moved off me then I could see Frances eating Moira out and this was really turning me on. Frances then started rubbing Moira and moving herself around towards my face. I noticed her face was dripping slightly but I thought this was heat caused until she came up and started kissing me then I realised from the smell and the taste it was Moira’s cum.
Frances sat up and moved over me to sit on my face and Moira moved to sit on my cock, they both started riding me slowly, Frances was opening up and my tongue started to press home until I found her spot and when she started moaning I thought that was it and she would cum and drown me. I didn’t stop and started moving my head while my tongue was flicking over her pussy lips and Moira was riding me fit to burst my balls open. Before I knew it both girls had cum and I was soaked, face and cock, balls and ass. I still hadn’t cum myself at this point so the girls changed places and Frances sat on my cock and she was still flowing so her pussy went straight onto my cock which slid effortlessly inside her. Moira was still coming but it was no longer gushing when she sat astride my head and positioned her pussy over my mouth.
I was by now going wild with desire and the three of us were riding to heights I’d never known before and within a few minutes Moira came again over my face with my lapping as much out of her as I could get down my throat. Frances came on top of my cock and stopped riding just gripping and releasing my cock for a while with her pussy until she stopped coming and then she started sliding up and down slowly. This was too much and I shot my load as she came again on top of me and all three of us laid down together with me as the thorn between my two roses. Within a few minutes we had all regained our composure and the girls grabbed hold of me and we all went into the bathroom together to get cleaned up. Afterwards we went into Frances’ bedroom and got dressed again, finishing off our pop while doing so.
We arrived downstairs and sat on the sofa in the living room as her front door opened and her brother walked in. I said hello and it was nice to see him but I had to get going as it was almost time for me to get home. Moira also said she would leave as she had a message to get for her mum so would accompany me out. We said our goodbyes to Frances and her brother and then left to walk over to Moira’s then I was going to go home after seeing her home safely. Moira said it was so nice that afternoon but there would probably never be a chance for a repeat performance and I told her I didn’t really expect one as it had been enjoyable but was a one off as I was Frances boyfriend and didn’t want to jeopardise that relationship.
I went home but called in to see Ian first and found Jim was there as well and they were both well on the way to getting high. They passed the joint to me when I arrived and so I took a couple of tokes and asked them what they were doing for the rest of the day. Ian said they were thinking of getting a group together and did I want to join? I told them I couldn’t play an instrument (although I was learning the drums at school) and drum kits were expensive to buy and without a job I wouldn’t be able to even get any for years. They told me not to worry as they had a plan to get a drum kit from Ian’s school so I could have that and they were making guitars for themselves anyway. So there we were, two guitarists, a drummer and Billy was going to buy a bass and amps as he was the only one of us with a job.
I thought this was a wild idea but had no idea how far it would take any of us. The holidays were almost over and we went to different schools (Jim and I both went to the same school but I was a year ahead of him) and Ian was at a different school near where we all lived. Anyway, Ian’s brother Bill had taken it upon himself to sing lead vocals and play bass guitar as well as managing us initially until (if) we started to make a name for ourselves. So we were all in, and the fun wouldn’t begin until we went back to school anyway.
Anyway, the four of us were smoking herb and talking about names to call the group, Bill had drawn a comic book in 1962 called the Barren Nights but that name had been taken (different spelling but sounding the same) so we were racking our brains and flying around so I came up with Planet Tea which no-one found amusing apart from me (the herb we were smoking was sometimes referred to as Vitamin T.) Ian suggested The Vampires, Jim threw in The Damned then we fell about laughing when Bill said why not just call ourselves THE without anything after it. When we thought about it though we decided it was a fairly cool name for a group so we decided to all go home and think how to write it on the bass drum.
On that note I decided it was time I went home so I stuffed a pack of polo mints into my mouth and left the others to finish the herb and talk some more about how we were going to get the instruments especially the drum kit. When I went in next door, my dad had already gone to bed and my mum was getting herself ready to go up as I locked the door the light came on behind me and I turned round to see mum standing there. I started to speak to her but she said she was off to bed and not to stay up too late as she had to go out the next morning. I told her I wouldn’t and wished her good night.
I sat up for probably an hour after mum went up while I had a coffee and thought about the name and how to display it in the bass drum. My idea was simply to draw a heart shape with THE woven inside it going from top to bottom and then to have different colours round the letters.
I went to bed feeling fairly pleased with myself and went to sleep and dreamt of playing drums for a living. In those days drummers didn’t do too badly as there were always a lot of groups starting out without drummers as the kit was quite difficult, and expensive, to get hold of. A small set a la Ringo Starr would cost around the £300 mark and the one I had seen Keith Moon play (and the one I wanted to emulate) would set me back around £1,000. Bearing in mind the average wage at the time was £18 per week that gives you some idea of the expense. A decent guitar could be bought for around the £150 mark and a bass guitar was almost the same. Add in microphone, amp, and speakers and you were talking around £1200 for the entire group to be kitted out. Without jobs we had no chance of getting anything legitimately.
Anyway the next day I went round to see Ian and Bill with my sketch of the logo, Bill liked it but Ian said his was better and showed me the one he had drawn up which was just the letters with scrolls on them spelling out The, Bills was more elaborate with psychedelic lettering and slants on it surrounded by waves. We waited for Jim to call round with his idea of how to put the name on the drum. After putting it to a vote between the three of us we decided Ian’s was good but Bill’s was the one to go with. (Bill said he liked mine better but was outvoted by Ian and I).
Jim came round about 11:30 and said he couldn’t come up with anything apart from doodling different shapes and then spelling out The in the shapes, he hadn’t brought a sketch with him as he couldn’t get one to work. We showed him our ideas and he thought mine was good but Ian’s and Bill’s were better and he agreed to go with the majority and voted for Bill’s design.
With that settled we then started discussing where we could get our hands on some equipment and where to rehearse. Bill said to leave it to him to check out the school and he’d get back to us later on that day. We then went our separate ways, Jim and I went to see Alf and Fido, Ian went round to Noddy’s and Bill left to see if he could find anyone at the school to ask about guitars, drums and a rehearsal room. We agreed to meet up again later on after our respective tea times.
Jim and I went round to Alf’s house but there was no-one answering the door there although his bike was in the back yard, we took this to mean he had either walked round to his girlfriends or she was there with him and they were too busy to open the door. So we called round for Fido and his mum said he was in his room and allowed us to go up to see him. We spent a few minutes round there when Billy turned up saying he couldn’t find his niece so guessed she must have been round at Alf’s but no-one was answering the door there.
Fido’s mum asked if we wanted anything to drink and when we answered no she said ok and that she was leaving to go to work and had left Brian some food in the kitchen when he wanted it. Anyhoo we were all talking about what we were going to do after we finished school and Jim and I said we were getting a group together, so maybe we wouldn’t have to worry about what came later. Billy and Fido said they were impressed but they couldn’t see music offering a way out for them, since neither was as good on the guitar as Jim or made more noise than me when I got behind a set of drums.
After a couple of hours talking to Fido and Billy we decided to return to our neck of the woods and see if anyone was hanging out around the shops. On our way there we bumped into Michael Devlin who was on his way home from the town centre and we got talking to him while accompanying him on his way home. Both Jim and I knew he didn’t find girls attractive but he was still a friend and when two guys stopped him in the street and started poking him in the chest we butted in. Since they were now outnumbered 3 to 1 they backed off but told Michael not to meet them alone or he would get what was coming for him.
After they had walked away I asked Michael what that had been about and he said it was a misunderstanding they had got the wrong end of the stick when he had been talking to one of their girlfriends. We never pushed it any further and Michael didn’t say any more about the subject either. After walking him home we lingered around the shops although it was only the two of us there, after a while we said it was getting near tea time so we should go and Jim said he would call for me later on after his tea and we could go next door and see if Bill had had any luck.
When Jim called round for me I was ready to go out so just shouted out to my mum that it was Jim and I’d be back later, when she asked where we were going I just shouted we were off out and could end up round any of our friends places. With that I closed the front door and Jim and I went next door. We went round the back as the Adamsons were more often there than inside. We found both Bill and Ian sitting out in their garden and they invited us in.
When we got into Ian’s room he closed the door and Bill said there was a problem, he could get us a rehearsal space at the school and we could use their instruments but they had to be left in the school when we left. I said why would that be a problem? We can rehearse there and then later when we were good enough to play in front of an audience we could audition for the school and see what they thought about us hiring their assembly and if we sold tickets we could give them a share of the proceeds until we could buy our own instruments out right.
Neither Bill nor anyone else thought this was a good idea as the school may want us to pay more for the hall than we could generate from ticket sales. We left it there, rolled up a few joints and smoked them by hanging out of Ian’s window so the smoke didn’t filter downstairs and alert his folks to what we were doing.
1968 was also the year that I became aware of things in Science class starting that September that I had been pondering for some time. I learned that every male had different internal organs to females and under the skin we were all the same (apart from said differences). I also found out that the deforestation which was taking place around the planet was very bad for the planet and our survival. Trees provide oxygen which everyone needs to breathe and live, without the trees the oxygen levels would reduce down and the biggest losers would be humankind and animals.
I also heard of people who didn’t eat meat or fish and called themselves Vegetarians. I wondered how they could be healthy without meat or fish to sustain their muscle development and brain functions but never really followed it through. One other thing we did start hearing more and more about though was the draft in the USA. Having an American friend meant that we were among the first to hear of the war in Vietnam, the abundance of a herb that we ourselves had been partaking of for several years and the fact that American GI’s and Marines had been killing innocent people to avoid dying themselves.
What a mixed up place the world was in 1968, on top of all this there was student unrest throughout the Western World, protests against the segregation of black people in the USA, American involvement in Vietnam (nothing said about the Australian and New Zealand troops also there) the American Draft and policies being brought in to stop people driving while blind drunk.
A very heavy time to live through and it seemed to me and my friends the best way to deal with it all was to use narcotics to try and get through it. More to follow in 1969, the next chapter in my auto-biographical tale of debauchery, music and hedonism in Britain from 1954-2018.
barclaydave 