It has been a week of reminiscing ! 20 years ago on May 29th I advised GASP he was dating me and decided I would marry him ! GASP ( Gorgeous, Adorable, Suffering and Patient) arrived innocently to a 29th birthday party No Longer Single and I held in our home at that time, a gate lodge of Slane Castle no less ! On New Years Eve that year we had committed to finding husbands and our 29th party happily coincided with my plan. GASP didn't stand a chance. I had met him on St Stephen's night for the first time, we were both sick early in the New Year ( him flu, me pneumonia) and by about Easter I had set my sights on him. I invited him , along with his two friends, to the party, and when he arrived with a bottle of Dry Martini ( my chosen tipple in the 90's) , a bottle of Chablis ( yes!) and a very large box of Milk Tray I knew I had chosen well. He was , apparently , completely unaware of my intentions ,being totally blind to me advances, and on arrival at the party remarked there were alot of single men. " Are you with anyone ? " he simply asked. " Yes" I replied...." You !" A couple of Aftershocks from My Local Councillor had given me all the dutch courage I had needed and that, as they say, was that. The Bodyguard ,who was at the party, looked in disbelief as I advised him that GASP would phone at exactly 1.00 pm the following day and that I would marry him . He did and I did ! Not only was it our anniversary but I would also reckon the anniversary of the single greatest party ever thrown in the village apart form the rock concerts. Totally separately it was also the night the bookies burnt down ??
34 years ago on June 1st 1985 was the greatest concert in Ireland's history....Springsteen in Slane...THE BOSS ! The Financial Controller and No Longer Single were 14 and 15 as were The Mad One and I. Our mothers (The Duracell Bunny and BMM ) had a chat and each decided that if ones daughters were going then the others could too so we headed off from our home and walked the 3 miles to the concert field in 26 degrees heat...in the days before sun screen...only aftersun in our bathroom cupboards. I think I wore ( hot and sweaty) jeans and a t shirt but the Queen of Baking distinctly remembers wearing yellow and cerise pink towelling terry shorts...she was classy even then ! It was the most exciting, exhilarating, nerve racking, fantastic experience of our lives . The heat was serious, the crowd immense ( 95,000) and we sat together on the sloped section no longer allowed to be used. We danced and laughed and partied on that crazy summers evening and it still ranks as one of my all time favourite events.I still remember swaying to the beautiful raw strains of The River as we watched the Boyne flowing behind the Boss. My love affair with Bruce started that day and persists 34 years on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HehJDZOwlOs
Comments
Post a Comment