Laurie Penman was born in 1932 at a time when sugar came in blue bags, loose tea was weighed out, milk came around the town in a horse drawn cart and was measured out of the churn with a 'dipper' and then poured into a milk can. His first memory of newspapers was a front page showing Japanese fighters strafing Chinese civilians in a town high street. He was seven when he saw the barrage balloons going up into a turquoise evening sky on September 3rd 1939. The war came, rationing came and then peace. He took an apprenticeship and studied for engineering qualifications, fell in love, did his National Service and got married. In other words he is (still) living through the most momentous times that Britain and Europe have experienced. This book describes his (and millions of others) view of a very rapidly changing world and its effects on ordinary people. It is also the story of a sixty five years love affair with his wife Betty.