Ireland calling

I probably need to drop back a year with the story.

1987, I had been expelled from college for general indiscipline and drunkenness then got a number of jobs. My first job only paid £37 per week! I had to keep my Saturday job on a market stall in Romford selling girls shoes just to make ends meet.

I then landed a great job with some friends, I became trainee works manager of a company that only had 3 employees but was going somewhere, it now has over 80. Good job with loads of potential. They were really nice people to work with. Good pay and I even got a bankcard and cheque book, which is cool when you are 17.

Woke up one August it was a bank holiday Monday, the first one in August.

Well I walked into Grays town centre I was feeling a bit flat, and started talking to a friend called Joe, Joe was year older than me he was black Rastafarian with the top of his hair bleached white, I was a slightly skinnier version of who I am now.

I said to Joe “do you fancy going somewhere?” He said “where?” I said “lets go to Ireland” he said “alright.” So I went straight home got my chequebook and a carrier bag with some clothes in it, he went home found an old tent he had in his garage and then we both got on a train.

His mum was a hippy so she was very chilled, gave us £10 and a camera, and said “see you later.”

I didn’t tell anyone that I was leaving, this proved to very stressful to my dad as I was only 17, we just jumped on the train that afternoon and went.

To this day I am not overly sure why I did it!

My job was good and my future looked bright but something in me just clicked. Possibly I felt trapped or maybe just needed some space. My mum had been dead six years maybe I was still working that through. Council flats can feel like boxes especially when there are 7 of you in a small 3 bedroom one. I couldn’t cope with my step mum she had a hard job to replace my mum, actually an impossible job. I was from Ireland and had lost touch with my roots; Ireland could have been calling me!

Not sure, 19 years on and still not sure?