His name was Paul, he was my best friend's brother. I was 13, he 14. Our first kiss, on the front at Weymouth, posh end, under the tennis courts, made my insides loop the loop, my heart almost stopped and I got all hot and bothered. He had reddish brown hair, freckles, and hazel green eyes. He had one of the first skateboards (shows how long ago this was !!!) and was fantastic on it. He loved watersports and went to a public school!!

I spent almost all summer with him, and got to first base under the pier (before they blew it up)..... Come November, and his parents decided they didn't like me, so we had to split. I remember spending the whole day on the beach sobbing my eyes out.

We met up again about 5 years later. And it was still all there! The loop de loop, the heart stopping and the hot and bothered bit (but I knew what the hot and bothered bit was all about by then!!), we 'talked' all day, until he had to go meet his mother. Two weeks later he was dead, drowned in Weymouth Harbour in a windsurfing accident, 3 months short of his 20th birthday.

I have his letters still, and a couple of really bad photos, and yes, the innards still go loop de loop when I look at them. Some things you just never forget.....

LTS