When I was a teenager in the 1970s I was USA obsessed. Fab 208 magazine, which I loved, had a Hollywood correspondent and I eagerly awaited the news every week. David Cassidy was my favourite pop star and I constantly imagined myself living there and just bumping into David whilst out shopping! Pete Duel, Ben Murphy, Mark Slade, all American TV actors I had photos of all over my bedroom walls. In 1973 my Dad started going on yearly business trips to America, he would phone weekly, international calls had to booked in those days through an international operator, and hold the phone to the window so we could hear the constant police sirens on the streets of New York. It all seemed so exciting for me who had been brought up on a TV diet of Kojak and Starsky and Hutch.
In 1977 my sister and I had left school and we both worked in London. I can still remember the excitement we felt when the opportunity arose to go with our Dad and Mum on one of his business trips to New York then Washington. My dream, finally! We arrived in New York in a June heatwave and I felt as if I was in heaven! I remember one particular day when I sat outside a cafe in a square in New York waiting to meet my sister, after we had visited different shops. I sat with my cold drink in the sunshine and I remember "Don't It Make Your Brown Eyes Blue" by Crystal Gayle was playing loudly around the square. I felt overwhelmed with enthusiasm for the life ahead of me. I could travel, see all these places, it was all ahead of me! I loved Washington too when we travelled there a week later but somehow I feel that "I Love New York!" is still stamped on my soul!
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| Me In New York 1977 |
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| My sister, me and my Mum in Washington 1977 |
