The Fareham flat was our first home together. We had the tenancy before the wedding and moved in properly after Shanklin.
It was on the first floor of a converted house near the town centre. There was one bedroom, a sitting room, a narrow kitchen and a bathroom in which the door touched the bath when opened fully.
The flat had enough room for two people if both agreed where everything belonged. We did not always agree.
Alan wanted tools kept where he could find them. I wanted them kept somewhere visitors would not. We settled on a cupboard in the hall. He called it the tool cupboard. I called it the cupboard that also contained the vacuum cleaner, coats and anything without another place.
Most of the furniture was second-hand. We had two chairs that did not match, a table from Alan’s aunt and a wardrobe Dad had repaired. Our wedding presents included towels, saucepans and three sets of drinking glasses. We owned more glasses than guests.
The laundry room was behind the house and shared by the flats. The washing machine took coins and stopped when the time ran out, whether the washing had finished or not.
The first time I used it, I took the exact number of coins specified on the notice. The price had changed, but the notice had not. I had to leave the washing in the machine and go back upstairs for another coin.
When I returned, a neighbour was waiting.
‘It always needs one more,’ she said.
‘Why doesn’t the notice say that?’
‘Nobody knows who owns the notice.’
This was my first experience of shared-property administration. It would not be my last.
We worked out our money each Friday. Rent, electricity, food, petrol and the amount we were putting aside. Alan had cleared his overdraft before the wedding. I checked the account book anyway. He knew I did.
We ate at the table most evenings. If one of us stood up, the other had to move their chair. Alan said this encouraged cooperation.
A telephone was installed later. Until then, our parents rang the telephone box at the end of the road only in emergencies, which meant they did not ring it. We used the phone at Mum and Dad’s when visiting.
The flat was close enough for me to walk into town and near the bus for work. Alan drove the Chevette when his job took him elsewhere. We had what we needed and knew what most of it cost.
The machine continued taking one more coin than the notice said.