All my adult life, I thought that my sex life had been mundane, until I started writing these stories. On reflection, I realise now that I dared to do some outrageous things, with the willing co-operation of certain women. This story is mostly true. It is in three phases: three different women, three incredible experiences.
They say one should never go back; never try to repeat a past glory, for going back is never rewarding. Well, this was one recurring situation when that rule didn't apply, and every time it got better.
Phase One: Honeymooning
We had met at university. Lyndsey set me on the road to sexual enlightenment and I thought she was my one and only true love. In fact life was good and we were very much in love, until parental responsibilities intervened. The arrival of our son was to prove the beginning of the end of our marriage. She knew I had always wanted children but she had not. Yet, she surrendered to fate and played Russian Roulette with The Pill. From the moment our son was born, she lost interest in our marriage, and went through the motions with our son. He was an intelligent, perceptive child. He had noticed the differences, and attached himself emotionally to me, even though I worked and commuted long hours. Eventually she left us for another, younger man. Our son was five. I thought I'd never replace Lyndsey. I was wrong.
I was left with some treasured memories of carefree, childless days. One in particular sticks in my mind. We were on our honeymoon, it was the 1970s and money was tight. So we honeymooned on a modest budget on a holiday island. I had been there many times as a boy, staying in caravans in a field with a railway line at the bottom of the field in a shallow cutting. I grew up amongst electric suburban trains so this one was special: it was a traditional steam railway.
Nothing was more thrilling than to hear the train approaching from far off, its plumes of steam rising above the trees. The blast of noise from its sheer power excited me. The percussion of its pistons and the wheels crossing the joints in the rails, were unlike any other experience in my mundane childhood life. Nor was it only boys who chased the train as it chuffed past. Girls did, too, stirred deep in their bellies by the primeval sensation of its smoke and thunder.
Then Dr Beeching closed much of the rail network, including my beloved steam railway line. I thought my life would never be the same again: the first of many such senses of overwhelming loss. So imagine my joy when a decade later, a country part of the line was re-opened by enthusiasts, and steam trains ran again, initially for a short stretch of just a few miles.
We had arrived by car ferry for the start of our honeymoon, and were travelling to our hotel when I saw the sign to the steam railway. I took a diversion down narrow country lanes and was overjoyed to discover it in the middle of nowhere: a small junction station at an intersection between two branch lines, surrounded by green fields and woods. The walls of the station buildings were painted in pre-war colours of sandy yellow with green borders.
"Look at that Lyndsey. Let's come back here and have a go on the trains."
She wasn't particularly enthralled at that idea, but usually gave in to my suggestions. She was amenable like that. Lyndsey and I had met by accident at university and quickly become an item. Two years in one or other single bed in student accommodations had helped us to grow close together. We thought the same and had similar tastes in most things. We knew each other's likes and dislikes, so usually found it easy to go along with each other's suggestions, provided they weren't too outrageous.
So we were always destined to sample the delights of that steam railway once we became aware of its existence.
I had been taken by Lyndsey's extraordinarily pretty face on first acquaintance. Two of my flatmates shared my enthusiasm for her, but it was shy, socially backward me who first plucked up the courage to ask her out on a date. My roommate in hall was dating one of the females. So we got to mixing together. We had been socialising for four weeks, sharing meals in each other's flats, going to the pub or a club, generally having a good time. I had talked with Lyndsey, but nothing more, until the morning I saw her at the bus stop heading to the university main campus. Too tongue tied to speak to her alone, I sat away from her line of vision and concocted a plan to bump into her by accident. It entailed alighting at the bus a stop before the campus main entrance, entering through a side gate and racing up a steep hill to intercept her walking up from the main entrance.
There she was, walking towards me from a distance, looking utterly desirable in a fashionably full length skirt and tight top. Her honey blonde hair freshly washed in a page boy cut, set off her face wondrously. I had to slow right down to a casual walk, trying desperately to get my breathing under control after my exertions racing up the hill. I had to try and appear nonchalant and surprised.
"Oh, hi Lyndsey, fancy seeing you here."
She beamed at me happily. "Hi, where are you going? Lectures are this way; and why is your face so red?"
"Just heading to the Student's Union to get some tickets for the rock concert this evening. Fancy one?"
She smiled again and nodded.
"OK. How about we meet up at lunchtime at the door to the refectory?"
There were no tickets for the concert, which didn't exist on that day.
It was odd how her flatmates appeared from nowhere as we met up outside the refectory. This was meant to be a one to one encounter. There was much teasing at my mistake about the concert.
I looked at Lyndsey, trying to shut out the extraneous chatter. "I'm so sorry. I'll make it up to you. Why don't we go to the Paramount Cinema instead? There's bound to be something interesting on there."