Bopping at discos

We had a very pleasant day visiting my friend and her sister and husband in Devon. I’ve known them for a very long time, in fact since I was nineteen and she was seventeen. I was at the Polytechnic in Manchester and among the friends I’d made was a couple of lads from Leeds. Our main entertainment at weekends was to go to clubs and discos, a completely new thing for me! I thought they were very sophisticated and knowledgeable about the scene, and music and fashion and style. I felt a real country bumpkin!  They spoke of two friends from where they lived who were very fashionable and trendy (yes it was a word then)  At last these two fashion and style icons came to visit – and they were the nicest pair you could imagine, and one of them is the friend I visited today.

We have kept in touch over the years – when she moved down to London and I moved first to Oldham and then to the west country.  Coincidentally she and her husband also moved west, to Devon, just over an hour and a bit away from us. It’s always such a pleasure to be in their company – sometimes we visit each other as we did today for lunch, or sometimes we meet for a coffee at a place between where we each love, or sometimes we go to somewhere of interest such as a stately home. She, like me, was a teacher – I taught English and history, she taught home economics – what is now called food technology, I think. As a result when ever we visit her, we have most delicious refreshments – today she treated us to a beautiful roast dinner.

When I think back to how we first met, it seems strange in a way, that the two original friends I was so very close to are no longer on the scene. One became estranged, for some reason not wanting to have that friendship any more, after we had known each other for over ten years – and had known my Devonshire friend for more than twice as long. The other very sadly died. My friend and I often talk about when we first knew each other and went “bopping” at discos – bopping, what a word!!!

PS – I think bopping at discos needs a whole new post!