How the world has changed since the heady days of 1966
ONE of the intrigues of this neverending lockdown has been the amount of time I seem to have to reflect on the many years that have now passed me by. For so much of my life I have been involved dealing with the present such that I rarely found any time to reflect on the years past, no matter how interesting they might have been.
This week I found myself contemplating what was happening in March 1966, the date when I finally completed my studentship and could start looking for a promotion to a permanent post.
I can remember the weather was getting warmer and night work on site did not seem as cold as the winter months. I also could start that year’s cricket season for another hoped-for fine weather spell.
That year was also one that included our planned wedding day at the end of the cricket season! I was anticipating the merger of the Eastern and North Eastern Regions of British Rail and this would move my job from London up to York.
I think senior management was actually looking forward to this change of season as well as her wedding, but we had so far just accepted the inevitable (the move, not the wedding!)
In that era, the major month of weddings was March for the tax benefits, but eventually I was glad we had opted for September to avoid the cricket season. The extra six months we each spent living with parents proved to be a godsend when we reached that special day. It was not the fact England won the
World Cup that year that provided the excitement.
In the early summer I had noted a vacancy within the technical staff on the Watford Divisional Civil Engineers, and I applied for it, but I was gently advised that bidding for promotion to a prized positon on a London Division was judged as tilting at windmills, so my expectations were not that high and I continued to plan my possible future life in York.
I was pleasantly surprised to be summoned for interview, but the boss, I knew, was an old boy of my grammar school! I thought the interview went well, but as I left he advised that I was short of experience. I thought that marked the end of my hopes of moving my job to Watford. I continued to plan my wedding and move to York until in July when I was asked by my supervisor where I lived. I advised I was still at Watford to be told that some people are born lucky!
After a memorable departure celebration from Kings Cross station, I presented myself at the Watford Divisional offices on August1 – and was to remain there for almost 11 magic years.
In those days, employees of local authorities were often allowed a tenancy of a council property. Given our expected move to York, we had not given any thought to finding a new home in Hertfordshire, but as soon to be senior management worked for the county council, it seemed worth asking the question.
We duly moved into a “New Town Commission” maisonette in Hemel Hempstead six weeks after our wedding!
The general consensus was that we had fallen neatly on our feet at the start of our married life. It may be silly to complain but the sheer speed of all this meant sorting out incidentals like furniture and a cooker took a lot of time.
We managed the basics, but things like carpets, easy chairs and a fridge and TV had to wait for quite a while. That flat was our first home and we still retain some fabulous times we shared there.
We were fortunate! In the 21st century our fortune seems even frightening when compared with the problems that face the youngsters today who wish to build a home together.
The general consensus was that we had fallen neatly on our feet at the start of our married life