1995 - 1999
1995, the year things started to unravel. The year the story starts to get interesting.
It started off ok. I’m sure Christmas 1995 would have been the year we got a Playstation. We bought a wee TV and a futon and set up a wee Playstation area in the new dining room. Adam would bring his close school chum round and we’d all play for hours. We also had a holiday in Sheffield that year, as usual.
The exact timings fail me but I’m pretty certain it was summer 1996, August maybe, it doesn’t matter though. I was at work having a chat with a workmate and received a call from Sandra, asking me to go down to my parents’ house, where she was. Something wasn’t right and Sandra was upset. I know Sandra though and this was a ‘You’re not going to like this’ upset. I had my suspicions and went home to Inchture instead. I was in the house for two minutes when one of Sandra’s best friends, actually probably her best friend at that particular time, came over to drop the bombshell that Sandra had been having an affair with her husband. That’s right, her best friend’s husbands.
Now this is an interesting and sad time and I’ll tell you exactly what happened and how this news became apparent.
Sandra and myself had gone to a party at the village hall with the usual crowd of neighbours. It was either a Friday or Saturday. I’m pretty sure we walked up with Sandra’s best friend and her husband. From now on we’ll refer to her husband as Mike.
Sandra was quite her boisterous self that night and was having a good time. If I remember correctly there was a karaoke and Sandra and a group of her friends were singing and jumping on and off of chairs. As the night wore on she became extremely drunk which, as a light drinker is unsurprising. She did, though, get to the stage where she was almost unconscious. Paralytic.
This is where things got particularly nasty. I went through to the kitchen and Sandra was on her back on a table, a female ‘friend’ I’ll refer to as JP, ploughing her with drink, bent over her, whispering in her ear. I eventually retrieved Sandra and took her home.
It was later that week that Sandra called me at work, in fact it was the Friday. It turned out JP had been having suspicions about Sandra and Mike, having had a thing for him herself. At the party JP had taken Sandra through to the kitchen, laid her on the table and was forcing a confession from her. I’m pretty certain JP had been spiking Sandra’s drinks, though I don’t think that was necessary. She got her confession and started spreading the word around Inchture on the Monday.
I’d had my suspicions though, which I kept to myself and observed. There were a couple of incidents leading up to the big reveal. Read on.
Thursday, October 26th 1995. Myself and Sandra were sitting watching TV. I needed the car the next day and started to discuss it with her. She wasn’t for it as she needed it. She became very angry and smashed a glass over my leg. I ended up in A and E at DRI for stitches, the incident being recorded. The nurse wanted me to report it to the police as a domestic assault but I refused, though it is recorded on my medical history as such. The reason for Sandra’s anger was that by taking the car I was depriving her of a liason with her friend’s husband. She was so angry that she didn’t use the 'new dad' approach and went straight for the glass.
The second incident was the evening of a night out with SCRI at Bonar Hall. Sandra didn’t want to come, claiming she had a night out with the girls of Inchture. I persuaded her to come but it was only on the condition that she would leave early to go to the other ‘function’. We both agreed. The SCRI functions were great fun. She left early, one of her friend’s husbands picking her up. It’s not difficult to work out who that was. I watched it happen.
Not long after Sandra’s affair she discovered she was pregnant. The pregnancy was terminated.
Now I’d like to talk about that pregnancy. We certainly weren’t trying for another. In fact we were proactive in ensuring we wouldn’t have another. Sandra had lost quite a bit of weight and made the excuse she was ill, hence the ease at which she became pregnant. Ring any bells? I reality her appetite was gone due to the worry of being found out. Not long after that experience she decided sterilisation was the way to proceed, probably in preparation for her next affair.
Around 1997 I started looking at houses back in Dundee. For us Inchture was toxic and Sandra was part of that toxic culture. I made a few appointments to view nice houses in the West End of Dundee, really nice houses now affordable to us. This would be a move beneficial to us as a family and would place Adam, Stephanie and Sophie within walking distance of the secondary school they would soon attend. Sandra was completely resistant to a move though, no thought for her family and certainly no consideration for myself, or indeed her ex best pal over the road from us. This move would have been a new start for us.
Realise though, that neither the house, nor a liking for a village that no longer held anything for us, wasn’t why Sandra resisted moving away from Inchture. I’ll get to the real reason soon.
Let’s finish this chapter on a high. 1999. We put the last few years behind us and not once did I throw it in Sandra’s face. We got on with life and had a good family. We went to France, our first foreign holiday as a family. We drove to paris, via a night in Sheffield, camped at Berny- Riviere, outside Paris, drove to St Malo, via a wrong turn into the Parisienne traffic, and camped outside St Malo. It was a good holiday, with highlights like playing Cluedo in the tent, a French lass in a restaurant in St Malo who took a shine to Sophie and the discovery of the McFlurry, yet to be introduced into Scotland. Not to forget Manchester United winning the European Cup. It was a good time. Very enjoyable.
