1992

As part of our Metro Centre shopping trips while in Gateshead our family had been extended by two budgies, Mork and Mindy, and they were moved to Sherburn Hill along with our growing pile of stuff. The house was sitting within a building site so initially we had no neighbours but as houses were completed this started to change, not before I had boarded out the loft with ‘surplus’ timber from the building site though. Within weeks of moving in we were joined by our first border collie when puppy Duke was adopted from the rescue kennels, he was 4-5 months old approximately and had a broken toe so had been discarded as damaged by a local farmer. We were supposed to be careful while his damaged foot properly healed but just try explaining that to an excitable collie pup so his recovery took quite some time.

We had loads of visits and help from friends and family to get us established including my Grandad paying for some “good meadow grass” turf for the back garden and spending a weekend helping me to lay it. While watching Duke tearing around on the new turf I met Gareth over the fence who was a few weeks away from moving in next door with his wife Jane. By the time our part of the street had filled up we became quite a lively group of neighbours who went on to become great friends, a few very special ones are indeed more like family.

Jackki was completing her teaching practice for her PGCE at schools around Newcastle and Gateshead so we would make the short hop up the A1 together each day. She was also busy applying for jobs to start in September and we were definitely looking forward to having 2 incomes since cash was tight with our mortgage rate fixed at a whopping 10.8% and all our savings had gone into the deposit. After a few interviews she secured a job in Darlington which would mean she would need her own car as we would be off in different directions commuting on the motorway.

For our summer holidays we decided on a camping trip to Scotland that would include a few nights of overlap with my parents who were also camping light again after years of large family tents and trailer tents. I think we met them in Blair Atholl on our way north and then again a week or so later in Durness which gave a nice balance of seeing them but not invading each other’s precious holiday. Our route included a number of other favourite Coe family spots including the always amazing Sands Camping site in Gairloch where we camped in the sand hills and went kayaking in the secluded bay. Duke wasn’t very keen on swimming but was so determined to join Jackki in a kayak that he braved the water and tried to clamber on, they both got very wet.

Somewhere on the road between Gairloch and Durness we pulled into a layby for a short break and a map check, no sat-nav in those days. While closing the boot on the trusty Nova I managed to drop the keys, they fell almost in slow motion and directly into a drainage grid with a quiet splash. They didn’t float. We were screwed and in a mild panic, middle of nowhere and the only set of keys for the car and house were down a grid. Once the panic subsided and with encouragement from some lads on a fishing trip, I quickly downed a can of beer, because beer always helps, and then hacked the top off the can. This was then combined with a straightened-out wire coat hanger that had been the radio aerial for the Nova to make a long-handled scoop that I used to empty the water out of the bottom of the grid. It took ages but eventually the keys were spotted and hooked out of the grid, panic over and another family tale was born. Literally every time I dropped something or opened the car boot for at least 10 years you would hear “mind the grid”.

On arrival in Durness we set up camp next to Mum & Dad and let Duke enjoy himself with his best doggy family, Mandy & Lucy. He had been sleeping in the boot of the car all week since our tent was tiny and had settled down without a problem, however the presence of his two favourites so close by had clearly made him less keen to be alone at night. I would settle him in the car, climb into the tent, wriggle into my sleeping bag, turn out the light, then the barking would start. So I would exit the nice warm sleeping bag, clamber out of the tent, open the car, yell at the dog, close the car, climb into the tent, wriggle into my sleeping bag, turn out the light, then …… you guessed it! The process was repeated numerous times with the whole campsite listening and laughing. I eventually relented and moved Dukes bed into the small porch area of the tent so everyone could get some sleep and he settled down. When we woke the next morning, something seemed a little odd with the tent, Duke had crawled between the inner tent and fly-sheet and curled up nice and warm on our legs, pretty much collapsing the tent in the process, thankfully it hadn’t rained.

After a great summer we somehow found the cash to buy Jackki’s first ever car, a nice G-reg Vauxhall Nova, matching cars are okay but not anoraks, and she started her first teaching job in September at Hummersknott in Darlington where she was pretty much adopted by her colleagues in the science department. She loved this job and stayed in contact with her colleagues and friends there long after leaving.

Our friendship with our new neighbours in Sherburn Hill continued to grow during the year with so many excellent nights spent in The Moor Edge drinking, chatting, laughing and joining in with the pub quiz and playing darts. We both felt completely at home within the local community and happy with our little spot on the edge of the moors to escape for walks. Later in the year with 2 incomes finally leaving us with a bit of spare cash we could relax and enjoy these nights and plan for our first Christmas in our own home. We had our Christmas lunch with Jane and Gareth and also did a quick trip to the pub for a lunchtime pint before commencing visits to see friends and family over the rest of the holidays.

1993

At some point early in the year I was introduced to 1st Durham Scout Troop through Jackki’s boss at Hummersknott and took over as the scout leader. I was always looking for things to do and this seemed a great chance to give back some time to an organisation that had given me so much during my own childhood. I suspect Jackki was happy to get rid of me on a Tuesday night although the monthly church parade services didn’t fit well with our tendency to party hard on a Saturday night.

We were working hard and living life to the full without a care in the world, there was no need to be thinking and planning, we had our lives together all sorted, extended families who we adored and visited regularly and a network of friends covering the whole country. Starting a family was not even close to being on the agenda……