1996

So we rolled into 1996 on the crest of a wave, both happy and busy at work, properly settled into our home and with Abigail content with her childminder, Val. I had seen an advert on the internal RR/NEI job vacancies board and decided a change was needed so by the end of February my daily commute had extended north of the Tyne and back to part of the old Parsons site in Newcastle. My leaving do from NEI Control Systems was on 21st Feb, more of that later. This didn’t really change anything family wise, other than a pay rise, but it did remove the ever present pressures to be involved in long term site based work away from home.

After a few weeks of enduring the city centre traffic significantly extending my commute I some how convinced Jackki that the sensible thing to do was to get my bike license. She clearly saw right through this fiction but could tell it was something I wanted to do and would never stand in my way, even if she had no appetite for motorcycles whatsoever. The seed of this inspiration went back to working away in Harrow the previous summer when I’d been given a lift to Wembley on the back of a colleagues bike, shirt sleeves and a warm summer ride had me totally hooked. A CBT and a few lessons later I passed my test in May and was now proudly commuting on a shiny old Suzuki GN250.

We had an incredible summer holiday in Scotland that year making memories that still bring such ridiculous happiness today. We made our way up the west coast with camping stops at Blair Castle and Gairloch with suitably great weather for beach fun. Every time we drove over a cattle grid, a little voice from the back seat would call out “What was that?” and we would reply in unison “A cattle grid”, there was subsequently never a time that Jackki and I crossed a cattle grid without repeating this exchange, even 25 years later. The second week was spent in a lodge with my Mum & Dad, aka “Mandy Lucy Grandma & Grandad” located near to Kylesku Bridge. Dad would cook breakfast in the mornings with Abi ordering her fried eggs to be “pink on top but yellow inside” to the daily amusement of us all. Abi loved her Grandad and that shines through in the photos.

There aren’t many photos of Jackki that summer but the big news of course was her growing baby bump once again, I don’t recall that being pregnant changed much but I guess she was mostly off the wine during that holiday. We were still regularly popping across to Morecambe and Heysham visiting both my grandparents and our much loved Auntie Elsie and Uncle Charles. Aunty Elsie was another of Abi’s favourites and what the rest of us saw as her eccentricities were just adored by her. I was therefore beyond shocked when only a few days after we had paid them a pre-baby visit in late October, I returned home from work to be told that Uncle Charles had died. Charles was my City supporting inspiration who took me along to Maine Road for my first game in 1976 and always accompanied us on Junior Blues trips as kids.

Michael Anthony Coe entered our world 9 months, to the day, after my leaving do from NEI Control Systems, we had been talking for a while about having another baby but nature and a bit of drink took care of the exact timing! His birth was a lot less traumatic for both of us, although when the midwife showed me the loose knot in his chord it was a gentle reminder of the fine line we all tread, and much to my surprise they both came home that same day. Our perfect little family was complete although looking back at the photos of the dark bags under eyes it was clearly harder work than the memory chooses to store.

Just a month after giving birth we had the whole family in Sherburn Hill for Christmas which this year included my grandparents and also Aunty Elsie. We had a very excited Abigail having her Aunty Elsie sharing her bedroom and other than that I simply have no idea where we put everyone with only 3 bedrooms available. Unfazed as ever, Jackki fed us all and made sure we had a great, if chaotic time. I do remember my Dad saying something along the lines of “its been great Adrian, but never again” as they were packing up to leave. Words that have haunted me ever since!