An Encounter in the Haymarket

By Margaret Lomas

My husband, Brian, had been a penfriend from 1943 until his first leave from abroad during the Second World War. In November 1945 he had a month’s leave and he telephoned from France to say he was waiting to cross the Channel with a lot of other regiments and we could meet. We agreed to meet outside the Odeon cinema. As I had not met him before, I was a little concerned as I had only 2 photographs from before he was called up, so I told him what I would be wearing and set off with one of the photographs; one taken in Rome. However I need not have been anxious as I recognised him the instant he turned the corner. We walked up to the church in the Haymarket where we sat and talked for ages. We then decided to walk to Gosforth Park, talking all the way, lost in our conversation. When we arrived I was horrified to realise I had left my handbag in the Haymarket on a seat outside the church. We then got on a tram from the terminus back to the Haymarket and looked nervously to see if it was still there. Amazingly and thankfully it was. Coming home a good many years later, we were on a bus and Brian pointed out the very seat asking if I remembered our first meeting. We were married for sixty years.