Be Careful What You Wish For!

We arrived at Torquay about 3.30pm on Saturday, 9th August 1975, having travelled about 255 miles south from Warrington, and it was a boiling hot day. Most of my thoughts on the way down were of a girl from school who I was absolutely mad on and who I just couldn’t stop thinking about no matter how hard I tried.

When we eventually arrived at Torquay my dad was unable to find the hotel where we were to stay. We were driving round and round for quite a while unable to find our accommodation when eventually my dad asked a taxi driver to direct us to the hotel, which he very kindly did. The taxi driver asked my dad to follow him and after about 5 minutes or so we arrived at the hotel which was up a very steep hill not far from the centre of the town. The hotel may have been called the Hotel Cecil but I may be wrong. I can remember The Wings song, Live and Let Die, from the James Bond film from the previous year being played on the car radio.

After we had arrived at the hotel and unpacked, I couldn’t wait to have a walk round and explore this lovely seaside town. Being 15, I tended to wander off and do my own thing rather than hang about with my parents all the time. As any 15 year old will tell you, you’re just not a kid anymore.

My thoughts were occupied with this girl from school, I was besotted, infatuated and at the time, in love, and wishing with all my heart that she could be with me in Torquay. There wasn’t a waking day when I wasn’t thinking about her.

It must have been about 7pm and the evening was bright and cheery with a slight breeze. I headed for the harbour, and the arcades where I thought all the fun was. As usual I was daydreaming about this girl from school not noticing much happening around me. As I approached this arcade near to the harbour I happened to look in through the big window of the amusement arcade, what I saw at that moment made me stop dead in my tracks. For a split second my emotions ranged from shock to supreme happiness, because the girl I had been thinking about from school was there just a few feet away from where I was standing separated only by a pane of glass!!! The girl of my dreams was playing on a fruit machine in the arcade with her friends. I couldn’t believe it at first, I had to rub my eyes and take another look, I thought at first maybe I’m  seeing things or dreaming but after a few moments I realised that this wasn’t a dream and she was definitely there.

How could the girl of my dreams be on holiday hundreds of miles away from Warrington in the same town as me! (Well I thought Torquay was the other end of the universe then). So I closed my eyes for a few seconds and opened them very slowly and she was still there. I stood there for several moments in total shock unable to move, my feet seemed stuck to the spot where I was standing.

When I regained movement in my legs I decided to walk a few yards passed the arcade hoping she hadn’t spotted me, because I was extremely shy of girls especially the ones I was mad on. I crossed the road in order to keep my distance so she wouldn’t see me and coyly looked into the arcade from a safe distance. To my delight she was still there playing on the fruit machines with a group of friends.

What was I to do?, I really wanted to speak to her, but I was far too shy and if I did pluck up enough courage I was bound to fumble my words and make a fool of myself. So I kept walking past, looking into the arcade making sure she was still there and thinking hard almost desperately, what I should do next, I wanted more than anything in the world to speak to her. My mind was in a confused state of emotion, I began to feel sick and my heart pounded like a drum.

What a commotion I thought. After about 15 minutes I slowly walked off and headed towards the sea. Thinking all the time, trying to get my head round it all and maybe, just maybe, pluck up enough courage to enter the amusement arcade and speak to her.

Then something happened! I came over all queer, I did something that I rarely do; I made a decision. I decided to enter the arcade and chat to her, that’s what will I do I thought, after all I’m a real man now, I‘m 15. So I headed back to the arcade determined to speak to the girl, after all if I didn’t I would probably go mad and regret it for the rest of my life.

So I confidently set off in the direction of the arcade again after crossing the road. When I got there, I peered in to the arcade and much to my disappointment, she was gone, she was nowhere to be seen.

I felt a deep sense of relief but also of regret that I didn’t go into the arcade straight away when I first saw her. I also felt a huge sense of disappointment.  This incident dominated the rest of my holiday, and questions like, should I have gone into the arcade straight away? What would she have said? Would she have liked me? And a thousand other questions and scenarios raced through my mind and if only I wasn’t so shy etc. etc.

Then 35 years later, I went to a school reunion and the girl in question was there. I asked her if she was on holiday in Torquay in 1975, to which she replied in the affirmative, so I explained my story to her. she said she didn’t know who I was at the time and that I should have come into the arcade and introduced myself. She found the whole matter very amusing.

Well there we have it, sometimes if you wish hard enough your wishes will come true, it’s just a pity that when they did in my case, I was too shy to do anything about.