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ever had. We had both recovered our form, at least to the extent possible, the head
waiter looked after us as he would with his own children, I was introduced to the
Manhattan cocktail, and the prime rib, a beef-cut of which I had never heard, was
surpassingly good at medium rare, again something with which I had not before
been acquainted. If I recall correctly, this wonderful experience cost $17.50.
Life settled down. I needed a job, and Judith, in HR at Eatons, Canada’s
premium department store, found me employment as a parking lot attendant in
the downtown core, from where I made enquiries about getting some education.
Again, not too difficult, as I could attend a Community College commencing in
January, completion of which, after two terms (semesters), would comprise the
first year’s university (four years being required in Canada).

Christmas came and went, but it had become relatively routine for me to
be in strange places at this time of year, and we took the opportunity to slowly
become familiar with each other’s domestic foibles. Very shortly afterwards, I
was able to start on the first year’s courses. I chose what I liked and what was
mandated, but most courses were ridiculously easy; History, for example, “Does
anybody know where Serbia is?” and economics well below what I learned from
David’s set books from his university days.
Life settled down quite nicely, and I found that not only were we getting on
well, but that love had reared its stately head. So, what better than to propose on
Valentine’s Day – what could go wrong? Well, what could go wrong is that I was
turned down, though apparently, I just chose a bad time (which showed that my
antennae needed repair!). Thinking that the next day would be a better day, I
prepared escargots, fillet steak with béarnaise sauce, and served a good sauternes
(sic!). This time no mistake … immediate acceptance!

The ring was not so easy, as Judith was inclined not to want one (though I
believed it an insurance policy!). But a Ceylonese classmate told me how to have it
inscribed in Sinhala, a geographical coincidence that went down exceedingly well.

Meanwhile, Eatons had turned up another job that suited me very well; a
Saturday parts-man in appliances. I knew nothing of refrigerator parts, but a
supervisor was always to advise, and things were even better than that sounds,
for I was ‘assisted’ by three nubile young girls, all daughters of other employees
of the company (I actually never found out what they did at their desks, besides
filing, but they certainly assisted in making my Saturday workday – which paid
for our groceries – pleasant enough).

We had decided that the wedding was a no-brainer. As the Shepherds were
resident in Jamaica, and that was the obvious place to enjoy both a holiday
and the nuptials, Mr Shepherd began to arrange things. Being an instructor at
the hotel school, the venue was obvious, the school being located a mile or so

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