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W11 in the 70s. Chapter 7: Adventures with Bob Mellors. |
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After Bobby went away Bob Mellors turned up at my doorstep one day,
and came to visit every week after that for many months. I didn’t
know at that time that Bobby had become friends with Bob. One day
Bob Mellors asked me what kind of woman I’d like to go out with, and
remembering Bobby in leather pants and tee-shirt, I said: a woman in
leather.
And
with a bit of encouragement I elaborated the fantasy and said she
must have a motorbike. So Bob wrote an ad for me to go into Time Out
saying “Lesbian requires same in leather on motorbike for burn-ups”
and we sent it in to Time Out. Soon I got a reply saying they
enjoyed reading the ad very much and it caused much amusement in the
office, but unfortunately they couldn’t publish it because it might
encourage pyromania. The next adventure was when Bob Mellors decided to do an article on aphrodisiacs. Why do you need me? I asked. Because you have to have more than one person when you’re doing a sociological survey, said Bob. 
 So
we both went off to Soho visiting all the sex shops in Soho. Bob
kept asking if there were any free samples, and he often got angry
looks from the man selling them, but an older gay man was so amused
by it that he handed handfuls of packages to us from under the
counter . Let’s try this lot, said Bob, and we tried them all. Are
they having any effect? asked Bob. I couldn’t answer because I
couldn’t stop laughing. I don’t know how we reached Camden Town, but
I remember Bob helping me off the bus. We have to test them, he
said, so we are going to a disco. But this is a straight disco, I
said. Yes, said Bob, we have to test it properly. You sit there, he
said, giving me a drink, and I sat down. See
that man over there? said Bob, I’m going to see if I can score with
him .Where? I said. Over there, he said impatiently, and I could see
nothing but a mass of swaying people. Soon though I discovered that
it was I that was swaying and not the people in front of me. Bob
returned. No good, he said, these pills are useless, and I couldn’t
stop laughing.
You’d better go home, he said, and put me in a taxi.
Are you coming too? I said, knowing that he lived in W11 too. No, he
said, I had better take the rest of these and at least try once
more, and off I went into the sunset. It was a couple of weeks
before I saw Bob Mellors again, but I’m pretty sure now that Bobby
knew what was going on in my life. However, Bob didn’t let on that
he knew Bobby, and I only found out recently that they were friends.
London W11 in the 70s. 8. Bob Mellors |
| Pictures: old photos: the area of Soho where I went with Bob; Camden Lock; and the disco (it was Dingwall's). |
| Contents Bobby and I. 1 How I found out. 1 |
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