Back to Iris

That very last day in January (see Blog, “I love you, Iris”) made up for all the heartaches and doubts that had been plaguing me since the New Year. The very next day, I told my secretary, Andrea, what had happened and she was overjoyed! She told me that she had been talking to Iris when they had last met at the engagement party a week earlier. (Gawwdd, was it only a week ago?) She said Iris had told her that she was so very frightened of being hurt again, she didn’t want to commit herself until she was sure of her feelings towards me.
Andrea was a no-nonsense type of girl; she said to her that I was, in her words, “Bloody crackers about you, so get in there!” Whether or not Andrea’s words did the trick, I couldn’t say but when I told her I was in love with her, she didn’t appear to be all that surprised! Her reply, “Give me time”, showed definite promise.
I didn’t see her for a couple of days as I had to go out of town to Coventry to attend a conference there but on Saturday night, I had a booking at a club in Rotherham. I took Iris with me as several of my work friends, including Andrea, were coming along to see my act. They usually did when I was working locally. I was sharing the evening with another act, a vocal duo, who were very popular at the time. It made it even more of a night as the duo comprised of the husband and boy-friend of two of my staff.
We were in high spirits that night and I remember that we all went to a Chinese restaurant after the show. Andrea was a little merry and suddenly proposed a toast to “The Happy Couple”! Everyone, including me, wondered what she was on about and she continued… “Graeme and Iris are now an item!” (pause) “And if they aren’t, then they soon will be!” I could have bloody strangled her! Iris, however, took it all in good part.
It was late when I dropped Iris off home and I only had time for the briefest of farewells. However, I detected a world of difference in her embrace as we parted.

Back to reality in 2006 and I’m still feeling so very bored with doing virtually nothing. I decided to rearrange my library and invest in another set of bookshelves, as the ones I had were crammed to capacity and then some! At least with more bookshelves, there is less decorating to do on the remaining walls!