Monday 13th June 1938
Before we both went to a CHA Committee Meeting, Lois gave me a photograph, which she had had taken, just because I’d said I wanted one. The envelope in which her picture lay was inscribed:- 13th June 1938 Stephen From Milady. Little did either of us know then, that the 13th June 1938 was to be a significant date in our lives!
After an uninteresting Club Meeting, Lois and I were alone again. The car, which has just had more repairs, boomed joyously along the arterial road. Lois had to be home by 11 o’clock but the Battered and Ancient rushed past Bellhouse Road and on into the summer night. Windows open, the breeze blowing into our faces, ruffling our hair.
In this exhilarating way we sped towards the end of the first chapter of the book we are making together. Lois showed me the way into a rough lane known, I think, as “the back road”. I stopped the car and we sat side by side, lights out, engine silent.
1938 Proposal of Marriage!
I said I wanted to try and settle down, have no more dramatic love affairs – except one. “Now if we were engaged,” I said, “it would be so much easier to keep to the code…” Silence. “Don’t you agree?” “All right Stephen, I don’t mind helping you.”
“Then you’ll - ?” “Yes” With my lady in my arms I laughed for joy. “Oh Lois, you don’t realise what you’re taking on! Think it over for a day before you decide.” “I have thought about it often.” “So have I.” A few minutes later she was running across her garden. I called her back, put my hand across the gate. “Pinch me. Yes, I can feel it! Are you really my fiancée now?” “Yes.”
After supper I checked my Bank accounts carefully and discovered there was still a balance of £7. Seven pounds! I could get a ring for six. I knew I’d be unable to fall asleep quickly so afterwards I sat in my bedroom writing to Lois. Through the open window I could see the full moon riding through clouds… Sat there until 3 o’clock.
After an uninteresting Club Meeting, Lois and I were alone again. The car, which has just had more repairs, boomed joyously along the arterial road. Lois had to be home by 11 o’clock but the Battered and Ancient rushed past Bellhouse Road and on into the summer night. Windows open, the breeze blowing into our faces, ruffling our hair.
In this exhilarating way we sped towards the end of the first chapter of the book we are making together. Lois showed me the way into a rough lane known, I think, as “the back road”. I stopped the car and we sat side by side, lights out, engine silent.
1938 Proposal of Marriage!
I said I wanted to try and settle down, have no more dramatic love affairs – except one. “Now if we were engaged,” I said, “it would be so much easier to keep to the code…” Silence. “Don’t you agree?” “All right Stephen, I don’t mind helping you.”
“Then you’ll - ?” “Yes” With my lady in my arms I laughed for joy. “Oh Lois, you don’t realise what you’re taking on! Think it over for a day before you decide.” “I have thought about it often.” “So have I.” A few minutes later she was running across her garden. I called her back, put my hand across the gate. “Pinch me. Yes, I can feel it! Are you really my fiancée now?” “Yes.”
After supper I checked my Bank accounts carefully and discovered there was still a balance of £7. Seven pounds! I could get a ring for six. I knew I’d be unable to fall asleep quickly so afterwards I sat in my bedroom writing to Lois. Through the open window I could see the full moon riding through clouds… Sat there until 3 o’clock.
posted by Paul Wilson at 5:25 pm
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