The early days…
Imagine a horseshoe of houses in Hemel Hempstead in the 1960’s. Mine at the very peak of the shoe. Two houses to the east, Mick’s. The rear of our houses overlooked each other. Proximity made it easy to celebrate young birthdays and dress up for birthday parties during our infant and junior school years. Easy to ride bikes together. Easy to meet up and play in the Lockers Park School grounds, making camps, collecting conkers and hiding from the school staff.
By happy coincidence, our bedrooms were at the rear of these houses. We overlooked each other. In an era without cellphones, as we hit our teens, this became vital to our communication. Each challenging the other to play our newest and greatest vinyl collections very (very!) loudly, with windows wide open. It was a way to see if we were available to hang out, to announce a coveted new single or broadcast our current mood.
Woolworths didn’t carry the music we liked. Mick became my supplier. His first Saturday job was at Old Town Records. He fed my need with hot-off-the-press singles, Sex Pistols, The Damned, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, picture sleeves, 12” limited editions, coloured vinyl. All to be played deafeningly to each other, across a hillside in Hemel Hempstead.
When bedroom window communication dictated that a visit was possible, with leather jacket creaking, he would bound up my stairs, always taking them in twos, to share the latest events in his world. Sneaky cigarettes were puffed out of those windows. Dreams were developed. Laughter rang out. A hanging shell wind-chime became an instrument vital to our song writing as we hit it to keep the beat. The birth of Vi King and the Vandals. Our first band. Our first song was Tulips and Lilacs, with intricate and heart-wrenching lyrics – “Tulips and lilacs and tulips and lilacs and tulips and lilac and tulips and lilacs…” For some reason, we remained a bedroom band…
So many memories. We lost touch during our “grown-up” years as work took precedent and we reconnected when dreams were becoming fulfilled. Mick in Portugal and me in Canada. Both a long way from Hemel Hempstead. So glad to have still had him in my life and to have shared parts of it with him.
Miss you Mick xx
Fiona Sizer (née Keen)
