Sweet Sixteen

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The trouble with school is that you never fully appreciate it until you no longer have it.


It was around this time that I realised I probably wasted a good few years of valuable time and education looking out of windows at the playing fields, thinking about boys and having fun with my friends. "Easily distracted" and "Doesn't realise her potential" were words frequently written on my reports. Oh well, what to do now?


The option of going to art college was fading as another idea formed. No matter that I had spent the last two years building a portfolio of artwork, the new idea seemed much more exciting. It all started in the last few weeks before study leave. I found myself in the 'careers corner'. Definitely a corner, and also under the stairs to the first floor. Not exactly a place I'd spent much time, as I thought I knew where my future lay.


To this day I do not know why I picked it up, it was one of those times when a book leaps out at you. 'ROYAL NAVY' it said. There were 'Army' and 'Royal Air Force' ones there too, but only the Royal Navy appealled to me. I didn't have any connections to the sea, no relatives or friends in the Navy, nothing other than a very strong impulse to join up and see the world. Funny that eh.?


I took the book home and within 48 hours (and no discussion with my parents) I had an appointment at the RN careers office in Blackburn. Both my parents worked so I took myself off on the bus to join up - or not as the case turned out as it was just a preliminary chat!


From that day on, it was all I could think about. When I got the letter to go for initial tests I decided I ought to tell my parents about my plan, although had I been able to avoid getting their signatures for permission and pay for my own bus fare I may not have at that point in time for fear of them being awkward or saying no.



Visualise the tea table...... Mum, Dad and I sitting eating a meal.


"Er, I'm going to join the Navy"


"cough, splutter, choke, snort - you-are-going-to-do-what????"


"Er, join the Navy?"


There followed something along the lines of the Spanish Inquisition, leaving me and Mum with stone cold plates of food a good 30 minutes later. (Dad didnt let anything get in the way of his dinner!)


"Well it's a good job I suppose and it's not like there's a war on or anything" was the one comment I remember my Mum making. (NB. remember this, it's significant!)


So with a resigned blessing, I was sent to the careers office and the start of my journey into a world outside the small, quiet Lancashire village where I'd grown up.

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