London is a strange place, it seems huge, and from the tourist point of view it is, greater London covers approximately 610 square miles. Living there however is a different matter, it's only one big city by name, and truth is, its lots of little communities. Walk up Edgware road; starting at marble arch during the 80's and it was mainly Arabic, shops and hotels all with Arabic signs and goods, that is until you get to the A40 flyover. After that you will find it's mainly English, then a few miles on it turns into the Irish sector. London has its cosmopolitan areas, such as Earls Court, but generally each area has its own community of people. We were in Paddington, yes where the bear was found. We had moved into a small flat that came with dads new job, it wasn't the nicest place we had lived but it was a roof, and the one thing mum and dad were good at was doing up houses, within 6 weeks they had made it look lovely. They did have some trouble though with finding a school that would take me, eventually they managed to get me into a small church school in Fulham, south of the river.
I clearly remember setting off for my first day, bag over my shoulder and heading for the London underground. The sights and noises overwhelmed my senses, people rushing about like headless chickens, so much drive, so much energy, I loved it. It took me about 40 minutes to get to school and I was to meet my form teacher at the gate, his name was Patrick. The arrangement was that he would cut me some slack on uniform and attitude if I promised not to start anything, keep my head down and get through my last year. If I had any issues I was to speak to him first. It went very well, even when one of the bullies found out I could not hit him back, Patrick dealt with it in a very unique way. He told the bully that unless he stopped he would put us both in the gym, with boxing gloves, and lock the door. Guess what? He stopped. I owe that man so much, he taught me how to turn my arrogance into confidence, and rekindled my love of learning, and even though we have lost touch I am still learning from him now.
Up until now girls had not been a very big part of my life, until one day at break. I had made friends with a boy in my year called Stan, he lived in Hammersmith. "Oi" I said as I tugged at his blazer sleeve, "Who is that?" I pointed across the grass to the main gate, at a girl walking in. She was amazing, she had curly mousey blonde hair that bounced as she walked, stunning green eyes, and oh boy was she beautiful, for the first time since I was nine, I was speechless. "Oh that's just scab" he replied casually. "Scab" I responded indigently, "I can't call her that, what's her name?" I found myself straightening my tie and sweeping back my hair. "We just call her scab." He repeated. I got up and walked towards her muttering under my breath, "Don't call her scab, don’t call her scab." As I approached her we caught each others eyes, in an instant I was caught up in them, they were the deepest green, and I had never before been taken by such beauty. "Hi, I'm David" I said nervously. She looked shocked that I had spoken to her and later would find out why, "Hi" she replied "I'm scab, err, I mean Jane." we both giggled a little. "Can I walk you to class" I continued, but in my mind I was screaming at myself, "Ask her out. NOW!!".
Was this love? I believe it was. The following year flew by, Jane and I got closer and closer, we spent every moment we could together, by the end of the school year she stayed on for A levels and I got an apprenticeship at Rolls-Royce. We decided to move in together, so we rented a room in a house and started our lives together. Life could not have been any more perfect.....
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