It was forty years ago today, part the second.

If you don't like slush, turn away now.

So, where were we? Sergeant Pepper had just come out. It was June, the weather was perfect, I was young (gosh, was I young!) Within a week, the tracks on the new album were learned and meaningful. Most people were claiming "Lucy in the sky with diamonds" as their favourite track.


Picture yourself in a boat on the river...

And there I was. It was somewhere around midnight, I think. I do remember it as being pretty dark, and by 7 June, we are nearly at the longest day, so 11pm must have passed. It had been a warm day and a balmy evening, so it was still pleasantly warm on the river, in the punt. I don't remember there being any other boats around, or people walking for that matter, although there could have been. I had Lucy in the Sky running through my head.

To make the tale more romantic, we had been playing croquet. (To make the story less romantic, that croquet lawn now lies under a car park, although I seem to think that it may be going to be restored to former glories sometime soon.) I can't remember if there were four of us and four of them, it could have been three of each. I do remember going indoors to the loo, and pausing by an open window with the friend I was with, and both of us agreeing that we thought the tall one with the dark hair was probably the most interesting. I had played croquet once before, when I was at college, so I did have some idea of what to do. But it didn't matter. We all had a good time, anyway.

And then we did go on the river, and I can still remember how truly romantic it felt, the soft night air, that barely more than teenage thrill of meeting someone who might just become special.

Reader, I married him.