Sixty Glorious Years

 It was April 2nd, 1962. I worked for the Sperry Gyroscope Company as a Field Engineer. On this day, I drove to Salisbury to look for a hotel as I was to be working at RAF Boscombe Down for initially a few weeks. This later grew to be 5 years.

So, I went into the White Hart Hotel to get a room. The decidedly cute young receptionist told me they were full. I walked across to the bar and ordered a pint of Worthington E. The best beer in the world! The barmaid, Laurie, I found out later, gave me my pint and I mentioned to her that I was surprised the hotel was full  out of the tourist season. “Who told you that?”she said “that young one in Reception? Wait a few minutes and she will be going to lunch. Then, Miss Smithers will give you a room”. A few minutes later,  is Miss Smithers did exactly that.

A few hours later, I went to check in and the still cute young thing reluctantly gave me my key without a word.. Over the next day or so, I chatted with the cute young thing on every opportunity and we became quite friendly. I asked her if I could take her out for a drink when she finished work. Surprisingly, she said yes. So, when she finished work that evening, off we went to a country pub. She told me we had to be back at the hotel by 10.15 as her boy friend was going to call!!!Oops! 

Next day, she had the afternoon off. So, I lied to the Royal Air Force so that I could take it off also.We drove to Bournemouth and spent the afternoon on the beach. Then we returned to Salisbury and  had a just very nice dinner at the Haunch of Venison. That turned out to be a winning choice. She loved to eat at nice restaurants. So this became a regular habit. Our favorite place was the Pheasant Hotel at Winterslow. There followed many, many dinners out for the next eight months. We were married on January 19th, 1963.

Her name was Joy and she has been that to me for the last sixty glorious years. These Sixty Glorious Years  were terminated at 6.25pm on Monday, January 23rd, 2023 when my beloved wife succumbed to cancer

Now, nothing is the same, nor will it ever be.