Page 70 - It's a Rum Life Book One "In the Beginning 1947 to 1960"

because our ideas for a wedding conflicted with those of my
mother. But it wasn’t just that..........there were grave concerns
that we knew nothing about!

MORE FRICTION and revelations..........
I suppose all this, plus the fact that my parents must have
been fully aware that the issue of my not having a valid birth
certificate would soon be brought to the fore, caused my father
to have a heart attack. The friction increased between my
mother and myself with the result that I decided to move out
and live in the flat that Ruth and I had found in Boston as our
first home.
I must add here that the flat was found purely due to the fact
that part of my responsibilities at the newspaper was “reading”
the classified pages on the evening prior to printing, to ensure
they were all correctly classified.
I was able to see our potential landlady on the morning of
publication of the paper and successfully secured a decent flat in
a good part of the town, before the paper was printed. When
looking for second-hand furnishings and household goods the
same “personal advantage” helped us enormously.
Back at Swineshead Bridge, father had returned from
hospital and I had confided my intentions to him. Still being an
early riser I was able to move three car loads of my personal
possessions to the flat in Boston before “abandoning” the car in
the town for mother to collect “at her convenience”. This did not
help relations at home but at least came as no surprise to my
father.

THE WEDDING
My being still only 20 years of age meant that my Mother
could refuse us permission to marry. This she did, but still
unbeknown to Ruth and me; largely because of the issue with

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