It was at the Unic cafe' that I met my wife Doreen Burton, she was in the cafe' and needed a lift home and one of her girl friends said to her “he (meaning me) goes your way why don't you ask him for a lift."
So when we came out of the back room she asked me for a lift home so I gave her a lift, just dropped her of and thought no more of it.
Then another night I gave her a lift and one thing led to another and we started going together, I was 25 at the time and Doreen was 17
Reggie had also started courting with Sybil Mayley, I think we only went out once as a foursome because Doreen did not like Sybil. Doreen did in fact have a fight with Sybil outside the Monica pub because Sybil thought Doreen was after Reggie when in fact Doreen was not interested in Reggie at all.
Brian was courting Janet Groves so that you can say was the end of my drinking days and the start of my courtship. Doreen was working then at Pitsea for the Basildon Corporation as a clerk (and she used to cycle from Canvey to Pitsea every day) but later on she got a job in the city (London) working for a wine importer (Halgartens) and travelled up to work every day by train with the rest of the Canvey girls most of the Canvey girls worked in London as there was not much work on the Island only Egans the electrical firm and Neales the book binders.
I still had the Ford Pilot and we had many a good time together in the front and the back seats, (mostly the back)we used to go up to Hunstanton in Norfolk to stay with Doreen's sister Floss and husband Jess who was the local postman (he had smelly feet, that I can remember).
Hunstanton is a very nice sea-side resort and we visited all the local places of interest
Just as a matter of interest Hunstanton is the only East Coast resort that faces west.
Including walking right along the beach and back via the cliff top. Now Doreen's mum did not like me when she found out that Doreen was going out with me as she thought I was cradle snatching and was too old for her daughter (and I suppose I was a bit of a lair)l remember one New Years Eve Doreen asked her mum if she could go out and her mum said yes but be home by eleven Doreen said yes with no intention of being home by that time, I drove her home in the early hours of the morning and was having a snog at the end of her street(which was a cul-de-sac) when we heard her mum coming along calling out "is that you Doreen "when her mum got near us Doreen jumped out of
the car and ran down Lakeside Path to her house, in the meantime I was trying to get the car in reverse and back out of this dead end road and all the time Doreen's mum was chasing me down the road hitting the top of the car with a piece of wood, I finally got the car in gear and backed down the road until I came to a spot I could turn around then I was off like a rocket leaving Doreen to her own devices.
By this time Doreen had got home and jumped into bed fully clothed and was laying there when her mum came in, she threw Doreen's fish tank (complete with catci and rocks )at her in the bed and Doreen just lay there until the morning, Doreen's mum was a bit of a terror, When her son played up (and he was nearly six feet tall) she stood an a chair and hit him on the head with a frying pan (he stood and took his punishment because he knew he would get it some time so he might as well have it there and then).