Chapter 2-2

I laid in bed watching a stream of light pour through the crack in the curtains, it had been three days since I had slept properly, and once again I was awake to greet the sunrise. As I looked around our little room it started to dawn on me how big this 12 foot by 12 foot room would have been without her. We had been in our little bedsit now for 12 months, well I say bedsit, it was a room in a big Victorian house, right at the top of 8 flights of stairs, we had a window and a sink, we shared a shower room with the other 5 people on our floor and a kitchen with the rest of the house. £55 a week it cost us, I was still an apprentice with Rolls-Royce on £70 a week and Jane was still at 6th form, although she did have two jobs during the weekend, Saturday's during the day she worked at a record store and in the evening she was a waitress at a cocktail bar in the west end. We didn't have much, I managed to pick up some basics, a double mattress and a 2 ring electric hob. I made us a bed base and a couple of chairs out of some old tea chests, it was basic, but we were together.

I slipped out of bed as quietly as I could and headed to the shower room with our one and only saucepan, you see I couldn't fill it in the room because the cold tap made one hell of a racket, I returned to the room and put the water on the hob for my morning coffee. I quietly slid open the big sash window to get the milk from the window ledge, we couldn't afford a fridge and it kept quite cold overnight outside. As I waited for the water to boil I watched the world go by, people rushing to work on this bright but chilly December morning. Ah Saturday's how I loved them, in a few hours Jane would be up and panicking over where she put her work skirt and then I would take her to work on my bike, it was only a little 125 yam, but it was cheap to run. I sat with one leg hanging out of the window quietly slurping my coffee watching Jane sleep, she looked so peaceful. She never asked for anything and yet I wanted to give her the world. In a few more months I would get a hefty pay rise and then we could get out of this dump, maybe get a place with our own bathroom and kitchen, oh how good would that be, I turned to look out of the window across London.

"You daydreaming again, Jonesy" she said from across the room, I turned to face her. "We will get out of here you know." I replied. She smiled, that sweet loving smile, "I've told you a million times." she said in a serious tone, "I don't care where we are, as long as we are together." What response can any man give to that, I smiled and sat on the bed beside her stroking her face. "Coffee?" was what I came up with. I put the pan back on to boil and got the post while Jane had a shower. I watched her naughtily as she walked back in with just a towel wrapped around her; "NO!" she said sternly, "We haven't got time." I grinned a big grin "What" I replied in a high pitched voice. She sat on the bed and dried her hair. "Any post?" She said, trying to get the subject chanced. I reached over to the floor and picked up a letter and gave it to her. As I made her coffee she opened her post, slowly a big smile spread across her face, "I've got it, I've got It." she kept saying again and again. I sat on the bed and read the letter over her shoulder, she had applied for a position with the council as an admin assistant, it was good money and they would let her continue with her final year of A levels. We both smiled and hugged; this was the break we needed; now we could start our future together properly. “This” I said triumphantly, “deserves a treat, how much have we got in the savings?” She bent down and reached under the bed for ‘The pot’ and pulled out a small wodge of notes, “um 38 pounds an a few pence” she said. We both looked at each other and grinned “Garfunkels” we both replied in unison. Garfunkels was our favourite restaurant, it wasn’t expensive or cheap, but it was better than McDonalds. “Bugger, look at the time.” She said in a panicky tone, and jumped up of the bed, suddenly she stumbled and grabbed her head, I steadied her and put my arm around her, “Migraine, again?” I asked sympathetically, she nodded slowly, “Don’t worry” she said bravely, “it, will pass it always does, come on we have to go.” After a cut through Hyde Park, I got her to work on time.