Another Twist in The Tale

We went to bed by about midnight after getting the kids to bed much earlier and we both
found it very difficult to adjust and I'll never forget saying to myself how difficult it must have
been after the last war when some soldiers, wives, girlfriends etc had been separated for 5 to
6 years continuously... I then realised why so many marriages and friendships never survived,
as these couples had lived totally different lives for 5 to 6 years.
My dream of celebrating my first night with my wife, getting her up on the chandeliers, never
materialised, things were quite cold. But life soon hotted up at 7 o'clock in the morning, I
heard Valerie screaming but I couldn't see her, she was in the bathroom, so I rushed in and
she screamed at me “I can't stand this, there's rats been eating the soap on the soap dish on
the sink... and look there's rat poo on the floor of the bathroom”!! They had also eaten most
of my underpants.
I was absolutely flabbergasted and we had a row there and then when she said “I can't stand
this we will have to move out”. I was broken hearted, I really was and I thought oh my god,
instead of pleasure we had agro, we hadn't even been there 24 hours!! I said to myself, if she
is going to get so upset over a couple of rats, this cultural change which was about to hit her
as she landed in Ceylon could destroy her...
I say that because Valerie's trip from Rotterdam to Colombo took 7 weeks (and we had not
seen each other for about six months) and in that time the cultural shock really hit me,
however not in a negative way but in a very interesting intellectual understanding of how
different cultures survive and exist.
Whilst waiting for Valerie to arrive I met John Hunt, who I've already mentioned, and we both
found that in those 7 weeks with me visiting the club daily and all weekends I soon realised
how many male members of the club were on their own without a wife and then I realized,
like John Hunts wife refused to join him in Ceylon (which he was very happy to accept), many
ladies and girlfriends soon left for home because they could not accept the different way of
life to what they had been used to in the UK. Asia is the opposite of visiting Eastbourne and
Brighton beach for example, and it's this strain which caused many broken marriages.
Christmas Eve, Colombo Swimming Club, 1968, 7pm
The club was absolutely packed, everyone drinking, dancing, swimming, diving, really in the
Christmas spirit when suddenly that spirit was ruined because Johnny boy, who was I think 6,
suddenly appeared screaming his head off and everybody rushed around to see what the
problem was, it was something to do with Peters arm.
They had a contest “Slippery Pole”, which was two children straddling a greasy pole and
hitting each other with pillow slips to knock each other off. Unfortunately it was put over the
stone dance area and Peter fell off onto his elbow, which was fractured.
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