During the long Winter of 1978, Britain was undergoing punishment, left out in the cold after the widespread strikes of the trade Unions. I was living in Southampton, right on the corner of ‘London Road’, with Elaine, my pregnant fiancée who was eight months gone at the time!

The heavy rain was constantly lashing across the empty street leaving coloured
liquid transparent puddles of oil rushing towards the drains. ‘My name is Joshua by the way, I am currently working in an electrical store on Bank Street, Sago. Their corporate name is Technologies; they are a small company dealing in new and used televisions, cookers and hi-fi equipment. I don’t like working there, but the money pays the bills and gets food on the table.’

Elaine was at home, just finishing cooking the evening meal for Joshua and she was looking forward to him coming home. The rain was really lashing down now and she could hear the comforting splatters on the windows as the wind lashed the front porch, tossing a bucket into the street!

Elaine cooked really nice meals. She once worked as a dinner lady at the local school cooking for bunches of screaming kids. She chuckled to herself as she remembered how the children would always sit on the edge of their seats, plates at the ready, desperate for the magic word.. ‘Seconds!!’

Then fifty fighting kids would bundle towards the canteen all at once!! There was one particular boy whom she found very odd, ‘William’ he was so funny, she thought. William would always try to balance his food on his fork, he never attempted or used a fork in the correct way; did his parents not show him the proper way to do it? Was he just inquisitive? Crazy even!!

I arrived home. I was drenched from head to toe, my anorak was saturated from the November storms and I was looking forward to seeing Elaine, sitting down and having some tea! I opened the front door and slammed it shut abruptly, shielding myself from the violent winds.
‘Elaine, I’m back’ I shouted through to the kitchen,
Elaine came through and gave me a kiss.
‘God Josh, your drenched, better get out of those wet clothes!’ she said, concerned.
‘Sure’ I replied, and took off my trousers.

I placed all my wet clothes on the radiators throughout the house and changed into something more comfortable. Elaine turned on the telly and it was ‘Top of the Pops‘, ‘Quo were on tonight’ I thought, excited! I am really into the Quo, I have followed them since the early seventies with songs such as ‘In my Chair’ and they are of course the unstoppable ‘Frantic Four’. Then I chuckled to myself.