Of course there were many unique things about Girlfriend 26, but two of these stand out in particular. Firstly, this relationship lasted longer than had any of the previous 25, having endured some 9 months. Secondly, this was the only one to be terminated more or less mutually. Certainly, she suggested the split, but by then I had become so fed up with her that I was pleased to agree. Even so, breaking up is always hard to do, so there was still the same pain as usual. Nevertheless, the primary emotion here was one of relief and release.
Within a few days of the split, I have vivid memories of feeling in very high spirits when I visited one of the brand new Virgin Record stores which had just opened on The Moor in Sheffield. I positively waltzed in and asked breezily if they had “the new, live, Fairport Convention LP”. To my delight, they had, and of course I bought it. Much more of this in due course.
I had by now just about written off romance as a dead loss. Everything always ended in tears, so what was the point? In fact, by the end of the year, it all changed.
In the next but one post, God willing, I give you what turned out to be the last bits of doggerel my tortured mind produced, in the autumn of 1974. Before that, one interlude from August will be recounted.
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