"Who!" Brian asked, and I pointed down the bar only o be rewarded wih peels of giggly laughter from Brian!
"whas so funny!" I asked, indignantly.
"Thats my cousin Derek!! and if you can hook him girl, you have got the richest guy in Duston!!"
"Sod the cash!!" I answered, dreamily...."He is amazing looking!!"
Brain was making to shuffle on his feet and announced...
"I will introduce you!!"
Horror struck I grabbed his arm and held him firmly. "Nooooooo!!!" I realised I was shaking "Dont!! I dont know him!!" and without another word I darted to the ladies and sat on the loo, lighting a cigarette with shaky hands. I was right!! I should have gone home. Perhaps the strong lager was having its effect on my brain. Vicky your making a fool of yourself!!! I berated myself. Several minuits later I left the toilet only to come face to face with Brian happily chatting to my Mr Gorgeous!! It was one of these "ground, open and swallow me now" moments and I felt my cheeks flushing furiously.
"Vicky!! this is my cousin!!" Brain beamed
"Derek!" mr gorgeous said in a very gentlemany voice. He extended his hand and I shook it, causiously "can I get you a drink?" he grinned a wonkey toothed smile a me. I dident feel like anoher pint so I opted for a bottle of lager instead, which he ordered while I took stock of this new handsome man. He was wearing a T shirt over a sweatshirt. It was as if he was showing off his t shirt which said "Singha Beer, Bankok!"....as we chatted it turned out to me that he was somekind of obsessive adventurer! At first I was delighted as he told me about the amazing adventures he had been on....cycling across the full length of Canada, cycling on the Great Wall of China and various hiking trips in China and Tibet. I was absolutly fascinated as I had never met anyone who had done anything as exciting as this before and I found myself asking many questions...but then the bombshell dropped.........
" Next year I am planning a two year trip around south east asia!" He announced quite suddenly. My heart sank a million fathoms..........Typical!! I was thinking...just my freaking luck...I had only just got over falling for my very closetted friend who I ran the pub with and now I meet a lovely bloke who is a obsessive traveller!! Time had been called and I slid of my bar stool to go and phone for my cab. Quite tiddled, I gave this new man a small kiss goodbye and said goodbye to Brain, and sulkily I made my way outside to wait for the taxi. Oh well! I thought, back to realtiy.
Only a couple of days later though, and much to my unexpected delight, that new, but now familier face suddenly appeared at my bar!! I asked Tracey, one of my barmaids, if she could finish my lunchtime shift for me, for which I was greatfull she said yes, and Derek and I drove back to the now very quiet Melbourne arms for a drink. A week or so passed before I realised that we were actually courting, after two trips to the pictures and a couple more drinking sessions. Things in my professional life, however were moving at top pace and so was I...moving that is...I moved from the Rifle Butt to the White Horse at Kingsthorpe, about 10 minuits drive away and this was to be my very first "relife" managers job I was to do. Derek was on hand to help me move my things to the new pub, but as it was on a main road and parked at the curb, he almost got a parking ticket while trying to unload my things from his brand new, red Vuxhaul Belmont...the new pub was a doddle to mangage as it was so very quiet. There was no lunctime menu and no kitchen apart from my little kitchen upstairs and I was lucky if I was to sell 3 pints of a lunchime. I had been for-warned that it was quiet, by Andy, my area manager. But with my blossoming new relationship, I was greatfull. I had arranged to have an evening off one Thursday as I had some staff cover, and I had asked Derek over so he could sample my cooking and to have a night in. I was downstairs in the bar when he arrived, brandishing a carrier bag. For our dinner I cooked us seak, jacket potato and a tossed salad to share as well as a bottle of wine, of which I drank most because Derek was driving. While I cooked dinner Derek began to lay out somthing on the table that he had, had in he carrier bag. It appeared to be lots of ivory white tiles with Chinese leters on them.
"Its Mahjong!!" He explained "I thought I would teach you how to play!"
Well this was certinly an amusing slant on the evening, and an enjoyable one too as he taught me how to collect as many "winds and dragons" to get big point scores and I even managed to beat him on a couple of occasions. But this first evening was to set a presedent for a years worth of evenings off, which, if we were saying in, we would play mahjong and he would bring his photo albums of his travels so I could have a look at them. We dident always stay in though. On the final week of my relife Derek and are were due to go back to the Melbourne for drinkies. As my pup dident even have a car park, he had to park in he carpark of the pub oppesite mine, across the road. It was on one pertiucular evening that he was carrying a large brown envelope that looked rather bulkey. As I trotted after him, across the busy road I asked him what it was and he just turned back and smiled at me saying I would find out when we get to the car. I got in and he passed the thick brown envelope to me...I must have looked at him baffled as he just said "well open it then!!" like it was a present. His smile was mischievous to say the least. Carefully I pulled out the wad of A4 paper the envelope contained and found it to be page after page (about 30 in all) of a very detailed itinarary for a 2 year trip around asia. I looked at him....was he teasing me??.....this was the trip he had talked about the night we had met...
"Will you come with me???" he said
Without a seconds thought on my part I squeeked "YES!!!" and flung my arms around him.
But I really should have though about it!! We opted to go for a drink at a pub in Kingsthorpe village so I could study this more carefully, and we could talk about this, but I was far too excited to be thinking rationally. Two days later I was brought back down to earth with a heavy bang, thanks to my mum. During a quiet period during lunchttime I scuttled off upstairs to phone her and tell her what had happened......
"Your GOING TO DO WHHHHAATT!!!!" my mother screamed down the phone! "I have never heard of anything so stupid!!!" she carried on with a heavy smattering of 4 letter expleatives! "you hardly know the bloke" she continued saying that for all I knew Derek was the mad axe murderer of Northampton!! I have never heard hre shout so much since I was little and it was so loud I had to hold the reciever away from my ears by about a foot. When mum did eventually meet Derek some months later her opinion of him had altered dramatically. She adored him!! His mother, however, a strict tiny red headed Irish Catholic, instantly took a dislike to me, mostly to the fact that I am not a Catholic, but a baptised Methodist. Somehow she would always show her disaporval of me during sunday lunches when I was invited around there. Dereks auntie Kitty was much more welcoming and we got along splendidly. His mothers opinion of me never changed though, sadly. To her I was a gold digging tart who ran a bar (which may as well have been a brother for all the way she carred on!!) and the distaste was always heavy in her eyes and manner. She was to die while we were in Kerala, India in 2000.....
And so the preparations for our trip began in earnest, a year in advance! Our departure date was set for the 3rd of January 1995!!
London Heathrow to Bombay (Mumbai as i is known now)
First off Derek leant me a ton of books on travelling. Mostly Lonely Planet guides. and he asked me to study them carefully. By spring 1994 I was to find myself in White and Bishop out door shop trying on my very first backpack! A green a lilic "Lady Equador 60 litre" Back at my new pub, The Wheatsheaf at Dallington I had tried it on in front of my bathroom mirror and tried my hardest to look like a backpacker. I just looked daft, I concluded. My boots were got for me by a regular, from a factory shop at cut price. Brasher size 4 hiking boots, which I wore while I was working, everyday, to wear them in. Most of the regulars thought it was hyserically funny that I was going off to exotic climes!! For this I earned the nick-name "Yakkie!!" a micky take of cross between my name, Vicky and the animal of Tibet, the Yak! I took it all in good fun. I had too!! They were the ones puting money in my tills!!! By summer I had a week off booked as Derek has suggested going hiking in Derbyshire as a kind of training trek in preparation for doing the Everest base camp trek. I eagerly agreed but I really had no idea what Dereks type of hiking was...bloody hard work!!...I had convinced myself it was just going to be a "walk in the park" so to speek. But it was nothing of the sort. On the very first day of our trip I hauled on my brand new backpack at Buxton train station and to my horror I almost toppled over backwards with the weight of it. How the hell was I going to carry this around Derbyshire??? let alone the Himalayas!! I was begining to get my first incling of what I HAD let myself in for. After a couple of miles walking just outside Buxton I began to feel quite pleased with myself only to have my confidence suddenly shattered as the ground benith my feet vanished, only to become a very steep, almost vertiacally sided dale!! I scrambled about clumsily grasping anything I could ballance myself with and this was perhaps the first time Derek had ever heard me swear!! He was to hear me swear much more on our trip. However, after scrabbling about for about an hour I reached the bottom, where bumble bees were buzzing around the wild flowers in the sunshine. My legs wer burning with pain and it was nearly 6pm!! we had been walking for 5 hours!! and I was exshausted!!! Derek on the other hand looked so glum when I sat on a large rock and announced that I was "knackered!" while rummaging around in my backpack for a quater of a bottle of vodka I had smuggled on our trip. I greedily gulped it down, in the early evening sunshine, and lit a fag as I lazily watched a hurd of cows following our path through Deep dale (that was actually the name of the dale) Derek was miffed as he had planned to go on for another 4 miles. Heck!! was he kidding!???? he may have been used to it but I wasent, and the walking that week was to get much worse. We agreed to disagree and made our way to the nearest village, Chelmorten and a little pub there. Derek had found a spot not far from the pub, in a small thicket, where we could pitch his tiny, Vango tent. Unhappily I helped if only to appear usefull, but I just wanted to get back to the small village pub and have an evening meal as the walk and indeed the inpromptu swig of vodka, had indeed made me very hungry!! I got back first and ordered us a pint each and Derek appeared soon after and together we persued the menu. When we got back to the tent that night I stupidly realised I had never slept in a tent in my whole life and I suddenly felt vulnerable. But Derek helped me to snuggle down and as I settled down to sleep in this tiny cramped tent I heard a snuffling and a sniffing sound outside and breifly became nervous. By morning I realised the noises were coming from a lone cow and a donkey in the same field!! The rest of the week was bloody hard work, I can tell you!! My legs and hips ached in places I dident even know I had "places" and my feet burned. By day 3 Derek was pushing me hard at 12 miles a day, hiking and several times I was nearly in tears but was determained to hide this from him. My abillity to do this trip was the only thing between me and his trip of a lifetime, and if I showed him I was incapable of doing it, I was terrified he would withdraw his offer....so I trundled on after him, stairing at his ever padding boots, farm after farm and mile after mile. My theme for the week was "Things can only get better!" by D-ream!!
The final day we conqured Lose Hill and Mam torr, but coming down from Mam tor I felt a crack in my knee and almost collapsed. My knee had packed up and I had to limp the rest of the way to Speedwell cavern and the bus stop. Derek dident offer much sympathy as he had planned to camp that night, but I was desperate for a knee bandage and a real bed!! We got the bus to Bakewel and booked into a small b and b there! Relife at last. On this first trip Derek and I had seen each other in the raw light of day!! I saw his passion for hiking and in me he saw a lazy mare who moaned at the slightest incline...but we were learning from each other...and the next week I was back at work...thankfully!
My birthday came and went and very soon the nights were drawing in and it was November. I was rubbing my hands to keep them warm while I took the pub shutters off every morning and just wishing the 5th of January would come faster, and I could feel sunshine on my skin.
Derek and I went back to Warrington at Christmas to spend it at my mums. However Derek was to go back to Northampton and sell his new car shortly before new year so we had arranged to meet at Northampton station on the 2nd of January as his friend was giving us a lift to Heathrow on the morning of the 5th. We spent our last ngiht at his friends house, cramped together in a single bed. Just before we settled I got out and had a ciggie, blowing smoke out of the window. Adventure lay in the future and there was no turning back.....
As we hurried through check in that fatefull morning, and then hurried even faster to the gate I caught a glimps of our gleaming while Singapore Airlines 747 sitting on the tarmac waiting for us....something inside me snapped as Derek ushered me along.
Hot tears began to sting my eyes as the full thought of what I was about to do, suddenly dawned on me. ANYTHING could happen to us out there!!! and by the time we were edging nearer to our seats at the back of the aircraft I was crying like a baby...I have no idea if it was fear, but it certainly felt as if somthing was ending...What I failed to realise as we sored over the white cliffs of England, was after an ending, there is always a new begining...what worried me was, would I like this next chapter of my life???
