July 12th 1972

“Swimming Gala – We won boys + girls relay – We won gala with 78 pts”
When I say “we”  I seriously doubt I am including “me”
I’m being honest when I say all this “swimming” malarkey seems so very alien and unknown to me now.
There’s a family hand-cranked cine reel of me (much younger than 14 I [...]

July 10th 1972

“Me + Mick DR Rick + Andy 5-5″ / “Went swimming during games 68°C” / “Taped Doddy’s ½ hour – not very good”
I can beat two people by myself – as witnessed a few days ago – and yet when teamed up with Mick” I can barely scrape a draw. Either this “Mick” was a [...]

July 9th 1972

“Stayed in all afternoon + watched wimbledon”
There’s not enough wild horses in the world that could make me watch the tennis from Wimbledon these days.
Surely I had better things to do?
Or fondle?

July 8th 1972

“went down trevs by bus, pouring with rain. missed bus from c.ford so walked to EL”
Maybe I wrote about the weather because it was somehow severe? More likely just “another british summer”.
Whatever the weather, it didn’t deter me from utilising the UK’s (then-) terrific public transportation system… even if I did miss that one bus. [...]

July 7th 1972

“Another bomb scare missed most of art. last art lesson?”/ “Poured with rain in evening”
I’m not sure why there’s a question mark following last art lesson. As Art was (later) one of my primary college subjects, surely I continued it into the next year?
It does seem as if my school friends had not yet owned [...]

July 6th 1972 (II)

“Borrowed Imagine & Ram off G.Kemp”
Like many other people, one of my more memorable early introductions to music was listening to The Beatles. More precisely from a Danish cousin who played me the Hard Day’s Night album over and over when I was maybe 7 or 8 years old and staying for one of those [...]

July 6th 1972 (I)

“Bomb scare at school Missed 1st two lessons” / “Mucked about in TD”
Once again, the actions of a few (or two) made us unable to learn. I’m sure that at the lime we loved all of this, but years later – and after all the terrorist actions in the interim – the mere notion of [...]

July 4th 1972

“Tennis Me bt Rob 6-0″ / “Found out that I was 1st in Phys”
What? 6-0? Did this Rob even turn up for the match? Why am I not currently writing my memoirs as an ex-Wimbledon champion?
1st in Physics eh?!
Why am I not currently writing my memoirs as a nobel winning physicist?
Cruel cruel fate.

July 3rd 1972

“Tennis Me bt Rick + Nobby 3-2″
It would seem that not only did I play tennis – something I genuinely can’t remember doing – but that I was good enough to take on teams of two and beat them?!!
No idea who the Rick is of whom I speak, but the Nobby is well known to [...]

July 1st 1972

“Went up Toms. Didn’t go to party. Borrowed records”
Tom was my Dad’s best friend with whom he used to work and go fishing with on a regular basis. He was a really nice guy, but his wife was something of a pompous flashy cow who my Mum didn’t really care for.
Tom and Margaret (for that [...]

June 26th – 30th 1972

June 26th “History (H) / “Art”
June 27th “Maths (VH) / Woodwk Pr”
June 29th “Art” / “Art”
June 30th “TD” 
More exams.
Woodwork Pr  was the practical – what did I do, what did I make and, most importantly, why didn’t I learn more so that 36 years later I would possess greater prowess in my basement workshop?!
TD was [...]

June 25th 1972

“Went to Gilkicker. Eyes started to play up a lot”
Gilkicker is a short run of beach at the entry to Portsmouth Harbour on the South Coast. Dad used to enjoy taking us there, so he could indulge in his favourite hobby of sea fishing.
Fort Gilkicker, built in 1861 as a defensive rampart for the harbour [...]

June 19th – 23rd 1972

June 19th “Geography (QH) / “English Language (QE) / French (QH)”
June 20th “Maths (VH)”
June 21st “Physics (VH) / Chem (VH)”
June 22nd “Bio (H)”
June 23rd “English Lit (QE) / T.D. (QE) / RE (VH)
Thrilling diary entries as promised a few posts back.
School exams.
Acronyms in brackets standing for “Quote Hard”, “Quite Easy”, “Very Hard” & “Hard”
Surprising that [...]

June 17th 1972

“Went into Eastleigh on bike after changed handlebars + bought new shirt. had to take it back” / “Dun some Frog & Geog Rev”
I hate it when I say something like “had to take it back” without qualifying precisely why. Did it not fit? Was there something wrong with it? Was it the wrong colour? [...]

June 16th 1972

“Took green hat to school (haha) what a giggle. Very hot day. I took a lot of books home for exam revision”
WHAT bloody green hat?
WHY was this green hat so funny?
Part of me wants to know. Balanced by another part that definitely does not.
If it was a hot day I wonder how the 14-year old [...]

June 15th 1972

“Had a haircut. After 2 weeks of speculation I finally have haircut and layered”
I am not aware of anybody else’s speculation regarding my previously impending haircut, so any that existed was entirely in my own mind and of my own making. Unless by “speculation” I actually meant “procrastination”?
“Layered” feels like a very seventies word, later [...]

June 14th 1972

“Did 2 hours of french revision (belch) but still managed to practise cricket”
I think the “belch” remark sums up my feelings on trying to be taught French.
Reminds me of why I’m not sure about Canada.
Half the population speak French.
And the other half let them.

an aside (IV)

WordPress – who publish this blog and provide the support for it – decided, in their infinite ‘wisdom’ to update the software.
Basically, they fixed what wasn’t in any way broken.
And without prior notification.
Meaning that the formatting etc for my newer posts have had to change. Maybe making for a a few messes here and there, [...]

June 13th 1972

“Played tennis during gym. Me + Mick lost 6-2 to Steve & Andy”
Once again, I don’t know what’s more upsetting…
The fact that I can’t remember ever playing tennis at school, or that I can’t put faces to either of Mick, Andy or Steve.
There was a Steve I can remember. Bastard stole one of the best pens [...]

June 12th 1972

“Went swimming during games. Mum left job in Chandlers Ford”
But, I say again, I’ve never been able to swim. The only certificate I could’ve got was one for “fastest teenage drowning”.
Dad jogged my memory to remind me Mum worked briefly at a newsagent in Chandlers Ford, dispensing newspapers, magazines, cigarettes and bags of penny sweets [...]