That’s not the last you’ll see of him

By Madge Atkinson

It was in July 1949 and my friend, Muriel, said “Would you like to go on holiday, just the two of us?” I thought that was a good idea so we looked at the holiday ads in the Evening Chronicle and decided on one in Seahouses as neither of us had been there before. Muriel wrote the letter and we soon got a reply confirming the dates.

The day arrived for the holiday and we got on the bus at the Haymarket and soon arrived at Seahouses. We found our guest house and met the landlady who told us that dinner was at 6pm.

After dinner, which was very nice, we decided to go for a walk as it was such a lovely warm evening. We went past a cricket pavilion and saw two young men sitting on a wall. One of them came over and, I was to discover later on, that Stan (the taller one) had dared Bill (my future husband to go and ask those two girls if we could take them for a walk. Of course we said yes and we discovered that Bill was the son of our landlady and he was a dental technician to his father who was a dentist in Seahouses. Stan was a farmer’s son in Seahouses and he and Muriel were soon getting on well as he was quite shy and Muriel was a good talker.

At about 8.30pm, Stan and Bill asked us if we would like to go to the dance at the village hall and we again said yes. We discovered that none of us could dance, so we had a glass or two of orange squash as it was not licenced for alcohol (remember that this was 1949). We left at 11pm after a very pleasant evening.

The next day, Sunday, Muriel and I decided to go to Edinburgh as there was an excursion bus going from Seahouses. We arrived back at Seahouses at 8pm and who was waiting for us but Bill and Stan. So we went for another walk round Seahouses.

After that we saw them every day (or I should say evening as they were both working). Bill borrowed his father’s car and took us to Bamburgh where we visited the castle, which I think is the most lovely castle I have ever seen. Another day we drove to Alnwick and saw another castle (not as nice as Bamburgh).

On Wednesday Bill drove us to Eyemouth a lovely fishing port that was very busy with some lovely boats. There was a lot of seagulls and two seals catching fish.

Another day we went to the Farne Islands. Bill had the day off. The sea was choppy but we enjoyed it very much. Next day we went to Holy Island but this time just Muriel and me. We went by bus from Seahouses and saw yet another castle.

Saturday arrived all too soon. We boarded the bus and got in the back seat and we were on our way home after a lovely holiday. 

And who do you think was following us in his father’s car?

Muriel turned to me and said “That’s not the last you’ll see of him!” And she was right