We left for Shanklin on Monday, two days after the wedding.
The Chevette was packed with more clothes than four nights required. I had included shoes for situations that did not occur. Alan had brought one pair and a box of tools.
We drove to Portsmouth for the car ferry to Fishbourne. Alan wanted to arrive early. Dad had the same habit, and I was beginning to suspect that punctual men passed it between them without discussion.
On the ferry, Alan checked twice that the handbrake was on. I told him the crew had probably dealt with cars before. He said that did not prevent ours moving.
It did not move.
We stayed at a guest house in Shanklin. Our room had a double bed, a wardrobe and a washbasin. Breakfast was served at eight thirty. The landlady asked whether we wanted tea or coffee and waited beside the table until we chose correctly.
The first day, we walked along the seafront and through the town. On Tuesday we visited Ventnor. Alan had planned the route and carried the map. I wanted to stop whenever I saw somewhere interesting. He wanted to know where it was before agreeing that it was interesting.
We spent one afternoon on the beach. The wind made sitting still less attractive than it had looked from the promenade, so we walked instead.
In the evenings, we ate out and returned to the guest house before the front door was locked. We had enough money for the trip because most of the wedding had been paid for in advance. We still read menus from the right-hand side first.
On the third morning, Alan suggested we drive around the island. We stopped several times and took photographs with a compact camera borrowed from Peter. In one photograph, Alan is standing beside the Chevette with half his head missing. Peter later said this proved the camera was not the problem.
We came home on Friday. The ferry crossing was busier, and the car deck took longer to unload. Alan waited for the vehicle in front to move and did not touch the horn.
Back at the flat, we carried the cases upstairs. The shared laundry room was already in use, and we had no food beyond milk, bread and the wedding cake Mum had wrapped for us.
We ate cake for tea and went shopping the next morning.