Looking Back: Sheffield Girl - The First 19¾ YEARS

FINALLY, A DATE WITH EUGEN - BUT, OH!

Ted is one of those rare people who have a car, and when I told him I was going home to Sheffield for the weekend, he suggested driving me home. Ted is just a casual friend, and I don't want anyone - not Ted, nor my family reading anything into this, but the thought of being driven home instead of catching a draughty old train is very tempting, so I accept.

Sunday 6th - Right at the last minute Ted says he doesn't want to drive after all and that we should go by train - I am not best pleased, quite frankly, Ted without his car, was never an option! We have a very pleasant day, but there are nudge, nudge, wink, wink remarks about me'n Ted, which he does nothing to put right. When I get Mum in the kitchen, I make her understand that Ted is just a friend. Honestly, folks will have you hitched up for the flimsiest of reasons! The journey home turns out to be a complete nightmare, what with waiting in sidings for hours on end, and changing engines, we finally get back in London at 4.30am!

Monday 7th - Didn't get up until 12.30pm, luckily I'm on the late shift, but feeling dead tired, all I need is to find that Freddie Cannon is back! He gives me several photos of himself, (whether I want them or not!) and says he's taking me to a show at the weekend...Asked Eugen if he wanted to come over to Ashley Court to collect his sweater (God - you really don't stop trying, do you!!) he says he's coming over tomorrow and that we should go out to dinner. I'm just over the moon - a date at long last!!

Tuesday 8th - Dead excited about tonight, but when I asked Eugen what time he was coming over, he said he couldn't make it tonight. I'm just too choked for words! Singer Ketty Lester, who had a hit with 'Love Letters Straight from the Heart' is staying here.
(I note the name 'Dick Rowe' in my diary, as another 'celeb' staying here - wonder who he was?)*

Wednesday 9th - Brought Eugen's sweater in to work for him, we're on opposite shifts this week, so no point in getting all excited again about us going out.

Thursday 10th - Eugen took the jumper home to try on - it fits ok except for it being a bit tight around the rib. I've told him to bring it back and I'll re-knit it a bit looser. One of the guests has been chatting me up over the phone, he sounds very nice, but I'm not falling for that one again!

Friday 11th - Mr King, the guest who's been chatting me up, came in the switchroom to introduce himself, and he turns out to be rather nice. He says he would like to take me out, and that I can choose wherever I would like to go! I have always wanted to go to the Beachcomber restaurant at the Mayfair Hotel. It's decorated in a lavish Polynesian style and a very popular place to go - but expensive, not for the mere hoi polloi. Mr. King books a table for two, now I have to decide what on earth I am going to wear to such a posh place - drinks start at a £1, that's a tenth of my wages! Bought Craig's latest record 'Oh Lonesome Me'.

Saturday 12th - Dead excited about going to the Beachcomber tonight, Jenny says I can have the freedom of her wardrobe, if it helps! I suddenly realise that being a poorly paid telephonist and hob-nobbing with the 'glitterati' can be a difficult mix. Then Eugen upsets the applecart by coming in and saying it was all on for tonight! I told him that I'd already made arrangements for tonight, how dare he assume I'd be available at the last minute on a Saturday night - what a cheek!

Never the less, I have waited a long time for this, so I ring Jenny for her advice. We finally decide I should switch dates, and I tell Eugen it's ok for tonight. I apologise and ask Mr. King if we could change our date for tomorrow night instead (my gall obviously knew no bounds!) he proclaims to be very upset but tells me not to worry, as he'll make other arrangements.

Freddie Cannon is back and wants to take me out - there are approximately 52 Saturdays in a year, so why does everyone have to ask me out on the same one?? I'm not sure I can stand being this popular!!

Stopping at a coffee bar on the way home, I overhear a group of lads sitting at the next table, saying that they used to be Craig Douglas's backing group, back home on the Isle of Wight, when Craig was still called Terry Perkins. Wonder if they are in town to look him up?

8.30pm - Thought Eugen wasn't coming, it did not occur to me that he hadn't been to Ashley Court before; it turns out that he's been wandering around for more than an hour. (Won't somebody please invent mobile phones??) He looked simply wonderful - that man certainly has taste! He was wearing a very smart suit in a greeny-brown mix, and a brown mohair overcoat, he looked extremely handsome. As we walk along Kensington High Street to find somewhere to eat, somebody up there must have decided it was 'pay back time' - the heavens suddenly open, we dive into the first place we come to - the 'Presto Mocha', a small corner coffee bar cum restaurant, not quite what Eugen had in mind, but already I'm feeling like a drowned rat. Eugen sorts out a table whilst I make a dash for the lady's, I feel rivulets of displaced makeup trickling down my cheeks. The mirror in the tiny lady's toilet tells a sorry tale, the hair, that I'd spent ages on, now hung in wet rats tails around my shoulders, my makeup - what was left of it, wasn't in quite the same place that I'd originally put it...

I did what I could to tidy myself up, but without a hairdryer and a whole box of makeup, there wasn't much I could do. By the time I got back to our table, Eugen had taken off his wet overcoat, and was sitting there looking immaculate, the rain had simply turned his well cut hair, slightly curly. I couldn't remember having felt so utterly wretched in all my life. Heaven only knows what I ate, I just wanted to get the evening over with as quickly as possible, so that I could retreat to my little garret room and wallow in abject misery!

At least the rain had eased up by the time we left, Eugen made an effort at conversation as we walked back, but my spirits were decidedly soggy. We stood on the steps of Ashley Court; I thanked him for taking me out, he took my hand, shook it firmly and said a polite goodnight.
(That was the first and only time, that any feller has said goodnight to me in quite that manner!)

Sunday 14th - Met Ann at the bus stop on the way to do our early shift, (working over time), instead of being able to talk excitedly of my first date with Eugen, it was she who related what a fantastic evening she'd had - at The Beachcomber - with Mr. King!! I'm dead choked - not only because she had the evening intended for me, but also because Mr. King could switch so easily from asking me out, to asking someone else! (I know, I know, but we females have our own kind of logic).

Had in-depth talk with Jenny about last night, which depresses her as much as it does me!

Maybe I should be grateful to Freddie Cannon, he seemed to spend my entire shift in and out of the switchroom, being his usual effusive self, at least he took my thoughts away from last night's fiasco. Mr. King also came in to say hullo. He rang several times to chat, I'm assuming we are going out tonight, so when Freddie pops in to ask me out, I tell him I already have a date. By the time I finish my shift, Mr King has not made any specific arrangements with me, I ring his room to tell him that I am now going off duty - it does not bring quite the response I had hoped for...Perhaps he will ring me at Ashley Court...

Mr. King did not ring me, so instead of having two dates for tonight - I have none!! But then, perhaps I should be grateful to Mr. King, if I hadn't assumed that we had a date, I just might have been tempted to go out with Freddie Cannon! Anyway, it's about time I had that early night I've been promising myself for long enough. Went in the T.V. room, ostensibly for just a little while, but John M and Johnny R, porters from Stratter's, are in there, they decide that they are going to teach me how to play snooker...

Monday 15th - Eugen and I are on opposite shifts, but we meet at change over time, the only reference to Saturday night, is when he asks if I managed to get up all right on Sunday morning. I'm grateful not to have to discuss it. Let it fade from my memory soon. (So how come you detailed it so graphically in your diary??)

* Dick Rowe was the head of Decca Records. He is most famously remembered for being the person who turned down the Beatles with the comment: "Group's with guitars are on their way out." Paul McCartney later said, "I bet he's kicking himself." John Lennon, in typical fashion added, "I hope he kicks himself to death!"

Continued...

Copyright © Freda Brown.