Luckily soon after we arrived at Tel Aviv airport, I saw a smart man on his own with just a briefcase, so I got chatting and asked him, he was charming and agreed, so we did not have to pay any extra. But this meant we would all be sitting together; we did not mind that as we both liked him.

During the short flight in conversation, he invited us for an evening with him, so that he could show us around and have a meal, as he realised, we had never been before. Eventually, I asked him what he did in Nicosia. He then told us that he was the air traffic controller at Nicosia airport! At first, we thought he was joking, but he was not! We did have an enjoyable evening with him, so strange how such things happen sometimes.

We married in 1969 when I was 29 years old. My parents helped us, as they had both become very fond of Trudy and after still having problems with Singers Hill Synagogue, who having accepted Trudy as a fully paid-up member, then told me we still could not get married there, as being a Cohen I was not allowed to marry a proselyte.

We then resigned from this Synagogue and had to join the Liberal one, where they agreed to marry us once we had both been members for six months and learnt about the differences between the two Synagogues. At last, our wedding took place, and we had a lovely reception at Mum and Dad's, thankfully the weather had improved after so much rain the week before, the sun came out and the roses bloomed.

But my Grandparents did not come, nor did Uncle Stanley and Shula. Thank goodness Grandma and Grandpa did accept us, once Michelle arrived, but for many more years Stanley and Shula's side of the family remained rather unfriendly.

Our honeymoon was in Rhodes, and it was a lovely hotel, we were given the bridal suite but on our first night our bed collapsed! We called reception and in no time the one leg was fixed properly, it was a prank set up by the hotel. It happened the moment we both got in, but funny how such things stay in one's memory!

Honeymoon in Rhodes

Despite all that was said about mixed marriages (meaning different religious beliefs) unlike so many of my Jewish friends, which ended up divorced, even having married Jewish girls, we have had a wonderful marriage and not long ago celebrated our Golden Wedding Anniversary.