Despite the small increases in my sexual activity, it had all taken place in the rooms of my conquests! Well, I say 'conquests' but, if you're following my story, you'll know that my first attempt ended in an embarrassing disaster! My bedsit had seen no action at all but that was soon to change.
The bedsit was nothing to shout about. The landlord hadn't exactly furnished the place with luxury items, more like old furniture from auction rooms and, of course, nothing matched! There was a wardrobe, a small table, a faux leather sofa with a hole sliced in the arm, a couple of shelves mounted on the wall in an alcove one side of a chimney breast and my bed filled the other alcove. The bed was a double but was only a basic wooden frame with a 5 inch thick piece of foam lying on the springs. The kitchen behind the shop doubled up as my bathroom, although thrre was no bath or shower and the toilet was in the yard outside! In all, it was classic 1970s poverty living. But, for the next two and a half years, it would be my home.
Although I had changed my job, I was still going to the same pub near my old job. After all, I had met a kindred spirit who loved the music that I loved and I had built up a circle of friends who were also regulars at the pub. The disco was good, the regulars were friendly, what else did a young man need?
Although I didn't see Mike the DJ as a father figure, I did turn to him for advice on a few things. He was a few years older than me and he had lived in London for quite a few years so, as far as I was concerned, he knew his way around.
It had been a few weeks since my glorious liaison with Lisbet. Now, my Saturday nights had been an occasional visit with friends to the West End, when we would all chip in for one of our crowd to pay the entrance fee to a club. His first job was to come to the emergency exits and let the rest of us inside! But we were not rich enough to buy drinks and pick up girls so we just wandered around, listened to the music and have a dance.
At closing time, we'd all go to a local kebab shop. Having spent our last money on a kebab, it did mean most of us had to walk home! The kebab shop in Tottenham Court Road was nicknamed 'Johnny Dinosaur' as none of us could pronounce the real name, 'Dionysius'. Hahahahaha! For me, the walk from the West End to my North London bedsit was five miles!
So, Saturday night came around again and it was back to the disco pub. Part of my Saturday night routine was to listen to the Greg Edwards soul music show on London's Capital Radio to hear the latest tunes and Mike the DJ would often be playing those very same tunes! He really did have his finger on the pulse of my night life! And more ...
"It's really busy in here tonight, mate," he said. "There's a big crowd in from up north for the football!"
"Oh, right!" but I didn't really understand. And then I figured it out. The pub was near the mainline train stations and so sports fans would come down for matches and make a weekend of it! People from all over the North of England would pour in to London for big games at any of the six top league teams in the city and also tournament finals that were played at Wembley Stadium. And this contributed to the appeal of this disco pub, most weekends filled with out-of-towners, all up for a good time!
After an hour or so, Mike called me over. He had many people around his booth, asking for song requests to dance to, but one particular lady asked Mike if he knew me, what was my name and could he arrange a meet? So this is how I met Joy, a very pretty lady who seemed to be around my age. She told me she was down visiting family who lived nearby.
I said, "Not down for a football match, then?" She replied, "Oh no, I don't really follow sport. My aunt runs a bed & breakfast near the station and I'm just visiting."
We found a table, sat down and began to talk. She said she came from Blackpool. "Have you been?"
"No, I haven't," I said, "but I have family in Yorkshire so I've been to Scarborough."
We continued to chat and have drinks. Although I couldn't afford nightclub drinks, pub beers were quite cheap back in the day. We got up and danced a little, chatted some more. As I said, she was very pretty and about my age but ... she wore glasses. There's an old saying that says "men don't make passes at women that wear glasses"! But she was so pretty and I started to wonder what she would look like without her glasses! Believe it or not, I went over to Mike to get some advice.
"Mike, have you heard the saying 'men don'tmake passes at women who wear glasses'?"
"Hahahaha! What are you talking about? That's so old fashioned! Look, man, she really likes you ... go get her!"
Back to the table and I pulled Joy up to dance. We danced for most of the evening and, in some of the mid-tempo songs, I even held her for a kiss. And then, as was the tradition, the DJ played the last three songs which were all slow. We held each other close, smooching to the slow tunes Mike was playing. As we did so, we were kissing more passionately, trying to get as much passion in before the lights went on. She was truly a beautiful kisser. And then, the lights went on ...
I was sad that the joy I'd been having with Joy was over. But there was always that awkward moment that occurred at the end of a disco ... what are we doing? Where are we going? Is it all over? I felt Joy watching me as I was chatting with Mike.
"She's waiting for you, off you go." he said, "see you next week!" And so I left him and walked over to Joy.
"What do you want to do now?" she said. Well, my finances wouldn't allow for an early morning in the West End so my reply was "I normally go home".
"OK. I've just got to check-in with my auntie and then we'll go to yours!" My first thoughts were that I hope I'd tidied up!
We walked the short distance to her aunt's B&B, Joy checked in, then we left to catch the last tube to my bedsit. On the way home, we sat together, arm in arm with the occasional kiss but, all the time, I'm worrying about bringing this girl back to mine, a grotty bedsit above a dingy shop in North London.
We finally arrived and, as soon as we reached my door, it seemed as if Joy couldn't wait to get inside and carry on what we'd started in the pub. Straightaway, she sat down on the bed to take off her shoes whilst I put on the latest soul music to fuel the mood, something I'd learned from previous experience. It was the latest Barry White album - yes, it sounds a bit of a cheesy move but Joy was impressed with my musical tastes. By the time I had taken off my shoes, Joy was already undressed to her bra & panties and had got under the covers. I undressed and stood by the bed, still wearing my pants.