I have never related this to anyone. Now in my sixtieth year, I have started to look back at what has made me the man I am, my fondness for women and, especially, I look back upon past encounters with women older than me with great fondness.
I spent the late 70's at University, spending the first year staying in the Halls of Residence. You might be familiar with this kind of accommodation within an ancient English university and will understand when I describe the dorm arrangements as "basic." A small room with a single wire sprung bed with lumpy mattress, a sink and a light bulb... Ablutions were along the hall in a communal bathroom. The walls were so thin that you could hear someone fart in the next room and, God forbid if they got lucky on a Saturday night, every sound of copulation right down to the squelching and slapping of bodies meeting in passionate gymnastics! It made it very difficult to study or get restful sleep and it was almost impossible not to get a raging hard-on when those successful collaborations took place.
By my final year, I had secured myself a nice little job on Saturday afternoons, Sundays, Bank Holidays and during breaks from University working in a Hardware shop and the wages came in very handy to supplement the generous allowance I got from my doting parents. Hence; I had resolved to move out into "digs" and prior to my graduation year, I scanned the local newspaper advertisements for "Room for Rent" and scouted ahead on a couple that were within my (meagre) means. They didn't appeal, being too far from the University or just downright grotty. One particular advertisement headed "Room and Board" met my eye and well within my budget. I called the number given and was greeted by a very calm, nice sounding lady with a North Western English accent named Karen, who confirmed that the room was still vacant and moreso, the address; not much more than a ten minute walk from the University! I arranged to visit that very evening and skipped round there an hour before to scout the premises before the appointed time of 7pm. It passed muster in terms of the nearest pub being five minutes distance, with Indian take-away and fish and chip shop just round the corner! The house itself was a 'two up, two down' 1930's terraced house with a tidy little front garden in a quiet suburban street.
A quick pint to scope out the local pub and there I was at 7pm knocking on the blue painted mock Georgian front door of my potential home for the following year.
The door was opened by a petite, blonde lady who I assessed was in her late thirties, wearing a baby blue 'shell suit' (like a track suit, all the rage at that time) barefoot and, I noted, pretty little feet with red painted toenails and matching finger nails. She was about five foot in height, looking up at me at six foot, with her pretty hazel eyes and not too much sign of ageing. In my lusty youthfulness, she was actually a very nice looking woman!
She shook my hand, her tiny hand completely smothered by mine as I introduced myself, then invited me straight upstairs to view the "spare room" that was available for rent. She shoved the front door closed and I stood aside as she brushed past me to the stairs and I followed her lead, taking note of her rather nice bottom and slim figure as I followed her up, making small-talk as we ascended. Her hair was medium length and made up in a bun, loosely clipped to the top of her hair, with loose strands of blonde hair hanging on her collar and pointing out from the bun in all directions.
She had a very calm, foggy and monotone voice (reminded me of a female version of Rod Stewart!), very sweet and feminine, as she showed me the room, the shared bathroom and casually motioned to the closed door to the front bedroom stating "and I sleep in there." She gave me a rundown of the deal; the room, use of the bathroom and she would do my laundry, with hers, each Saturday morning for an extra two quid a week. I would also get an evening meal only on the proviso that I told her that same morning that I wanted one and was home before the deadline of 6-30pm prompt when she ate. I could have cereal for breakfast included in the rent too.
While she was detailing the deal, she looked me intensely with those big brown eyes, otherwise, I noted her looking me up and down when I asked questions or clarified anything. She stood casually leaning against the bedroom wall, one leg straight, the other bent with one foot resting on the other. I observed her pretty toes flexing and splaying on the toes of her other foot beneath. We chatted a short while as she told me I had free use of the kitchen and the dining room at the rear of downstairs. The "sitting room" at the front of the house was also allowed to be used to "watch telly if I'm not here, or watch what I am watching if I am here and want to watch something!" She then added "You can basically come and go as you please, but I'd prefer you didn't have your mates round."
As the discussions had progressed, I had wondered about her husband. She relayed the arrangements all the way through with no mention and I wasn't going to ask. It was all entirely to my satisfaction! The house had central heating, was warm, clean, cosy and well kept. She didn't have a telephone in the house, but there was a 'phone box down the road on the corner. There was not much I wasn't going to get here that I didn't get from 'home' and my own mother! I told her I would love to take the room.
She went silent for a moment of contemplation, looked me up and down as if she was weighing up the "pro's and cons" then simply said "Great! It's yours. When do you want to move in?"
We settled on that weekend. I wasn't working Saturday morning and I even handed over two weeks' rent; a week's rent as a returnable bond and a week's rent in advance. She led me downstairs to the kitchen and dug a spare key out of a green tin on the shelf. She then showed me the small dining room, which had a table to seat six and a sideboard. Then to the front room, which was absolutely pristine and had a three seater sofa plus two armchairs and a coffee table. There was a decent sized colour TV on a unit with a stereo system plus a floor to ceiling wall unit with books, records, cassette tapes, bits of bric-a-brac, china dolls, cats, small decorative boxes and tins etc. There was also one of those electric fires pretending to be a real fire with plastic logs with a long haired white fur rug in front of it.
That was that. We chatted briefly, I thanked her and told her I would see her Saturday morning. She told me she should be home doing the laundry and she would see me then.
======================================================
