Life Story, Chapter Four: London and Engagement

"My life history", by Michael Riversdale aged 37 and a bit

(from the mikey_boyle Yahoo! Website, all those years ago)

Anything that I may have said about anybody is totally my memory/impression - anyone wants me to change/delete it then I will without hesitation, simply leave a comment If you find any links that no longer work again, just leave a comment.

< Chapter One: The Travelling Years
< Chapter Two: The Monmouth School Days
< Chapter Three: Swindon and How to Survive It

Chapter Four: London and Engagement

In 1992 I met my first true "partner in crime", Judith - well, in reality we were both setup by mutual friends. We met on the steps of the Tate at 3pm (lovey, darling) and to my horror, in we went. Got on fabulously but I thought that was probably it. Andy and I had tickets to see Pop Will Eat Itself in London - well, Andy kindly stepped down and I, after much rubbing of hands and sweating (remember that call Rob?), phoned Judith and asked her out. We got on well ;-). And then we didn't - the Chinese whispers nearly killed it all but we re-met a month or so later at a party and after a train-station we were going out steadily.

We talked about travelling and then the best thing that could have happened did - I was made redundant! With £10,000 cash in my pocket I moved from Swindon to Clapham with Judith and Phil (mate of mine from Monmouth) - and I'd like to say here and now, thanks for putting up with me Phil. I got a permanent job at Marley Automotives and bought myself a car - which promptly drained of water on the first 2 hour trip.

We saved, we had fun and then ... I proposed. I was drunk and asked; Judith was drunk and said yes. It was cool as buggery. We had already decided to go travelling round the world and had a brief flirtation with getting married in Bali (thank god we didn't is all I can say). We booked the registry office in Brixton , sorted out the restaurant and invited all our friends (and NO kids, NO relatives for the sake of relatives - just friends) all within 2 months.

The marriage day was absolutely awesome and one of my all time red-letter days. Those that were there remember it, those that weren't I can't explain it. It rocked and kicked ass.
And then, within in a month or two Judith and I were saying goodbye to the friends and family, boarding a Virgin plane at Heathrow as we jetted off to Boston for the first leg of our round-the-world trip. I won't bore everyone with the details so here is, possibly, the longest line I will write for a while to try and capture the times ... [deep breath]...

Boston - spending - New York - tall - Empire State Building at midnight - trains - Washington - dead - barmaid at hotel - loving Judith - train - N'Awlins - "Hoot, there it is" - French Quarter - smelly room - heat/humidity - food - drinks - train crash (not us) - stuck - up to Chicago - over Rockies - amazing - LA - cab driver from hell - phone home for 5c - plane - knackered - Auckland - raining and loved it - jet-lag - Judith flashing - booking ferry to the South Island (yeah, 2 Islands! :-) - train - Wellington - drink - Kiwi Experience - drink - Queenstown - bungy - dentist - Invercargill - argument from hell - Christchurch - postcards in Hadley Park - Sydney - book flight back to NZ - YHA - Dubbo - Brewarina - Doug and sheep/dogs/emus/Japanese - Sydney - Auckland - Kiwi Experience - not so good - Wellington drink - Queenstown - drink - tandem-bungy - boogie board whitewater - drink - Christchurch - Brisbane - family - Christmas on the beach - arguments - sulks - smoke - Toowoomba - nearly back to UK - Cairns - sea-sick - "I see the dolphin, I do" - Bali - green/rain - Ubud - monkeys - north - black sand - bus/ferry - Jogyakarta - calm Judith down - train - sellers - flight to Java - tendons on menu - Malaysia for a day - train - sleeper (cool as) - Bangkok - awesome - wats - river - food - Indian visa - Chiang Mai - 4 day trek - elephant - Mr Hay - HK for 8 hours - oops, could have stayed with friends - India - New Delhi at 4am - in Judith's hands - people, people, people - smell of shit and spices - Taj Mahal - train to Goa - amazing country - chilllllllllllllllllllll - Sam's Bar - Egypt as a stop-over - Heathrow - brown, thin and amazed by the UK.

... and I cut soooooo much out of that.

We got back skint as and it was a rush to get a job. I went contracting and was suddenly in the money (just in time). Moved to Clapham and settled down to married life ... and we found it VERY tough. We were arguing, we were sniping at each other and we weren't talking. We went to counselors and I finally discovered that I was a moody shite - but didn't do anything about it.
We did have fun though, met some awesome people and managed to get to India, Spain and parts of the UK for holidays. Over time we both decided to travel back to NZ (we loved it) for a holiday, got 1 year working visas and after 2 years (we're talking early 1996) we were going back to NZ - this time for what looked like a little more than a holiday.

On arrival we bought a car, stayed at Te Awamutu with friends (thanks guys) and traveled up to Auckland to find jobs - we didn't look hard as we hated it. Down to Wellington to get the ferry across and we did the finances - we couldn't afford to come back. Stayed at the YHA for a month or two and Judith went temping (saved our ass one more time) and I sold stuff back in the UK before managing to get a job at the Department Of Corrections - permanent, a work permit!
We moved out of the YHA to a new (still being built) place by the Basin Reserve - not far from town as we had a real home in the shape of One Red Dog. Out of the "new" place real fast and into Marion Street.

Unfortunately, by this time Judith and I were really not getting on. We had moved away from the "romantic" love and to a more "brother/sister" - I was lazy with the relationship. Finally, Judith decided enough was enough - to her eternal courage. Although we had a tough few months, "embarrassing" bumps in the streets and a few cries/shouts we all know it worked out for the best.

Although I tried to keep the place in Marion Street, got a flatmate in, it was too expensive AND had too many memories ... and so in late 1997 I moved place, emotions and onto possibly the most amazing phase of my life so far.

Before I leave this though - gotta say, the time with Judith (only Jude for me afterwards) was incredible, exciting and allowed/forced me to grow and for that I will always be grateful.

Chapter Five: The Hellraiser Years (OK Road) >