Mum – At Dunoon. Did not feel v well. Pain in left back. ?kidney – due to sitting on stone wall at Tighnabruiach?? Went after prayer. New people arrived – not as nice as last week. Syd & Ann & Graham left. Felt v tired all day. Had hair set in afternoon. ?haematuria.
Roger – All of Terry, Vivien and Ross are on holiday so Alan and a student Andrew came in. This lunch-time I had lunch with Caroline. This evening we went to Café Americano for a meal. Then I watched the Olympics opening ceremony. I am very tired so I have gone to bed early.
Notes
Dunoon
Mum and my two siblings Alan (A) and Liz (E for Elizabeth) were away for a two-week holiday at Dhalling Mhor, the Christian Guild place in Dunoon, see Chapter 122. It seems it was a free day, also a changeover day with “old” people leaving and “new” people arriving.
Unwell
Mum did not feel very well with pain in the left side of her back. She wondered if it was from her kidney or perhaps was from having sat on a stone wall the previous day on a trip to Tighnabruaich, which mum misspelled as “Tighnabruiach“. She also wondered if there was blood in her urine which she referred to as haematuria.
Mum noted that it “went after prayer” which I think reflected her interest in divine/spiritual healing, see Chapter 124. Nevertheless, the pain was later to return. It turned out that she did have a renal stone and, on the day she should have come home, she was admitted to Dunoon hospital. She later flew home and had surgery for the stone in Norwich, see Chapter 116.
New People
It seems that most people who came on a Christian Guild holiday came for a week or two so Saturday was changeover day when “old” people left and “new” people came, see Chapter 122. Mum felt the “new” people were not as nice as the ones who had been there the previous week but surely it was a bit early to judge!
Syd, Ann and Graham Left
I believe Syd refers to Syd, or Sid, Collins, see Chapter 114. I think he was someone mum had met on this holiday. They kept in touch after this holiday with Sid phoning several times between October 1976 and January 1977. However, the last call mum noted from him was on 3 January 1977.
I don’t know exactly who Ann was. She was possibly Sid’s wife as, in August 1976, mum wrote to Ann and Syd. In December 1976, she bought earrings from Syd and Ann. Presumably, they had sent her money to buy herself a Christmas present.
Also, I don’t know exactly who Graham was. He is mentioned twice in relation to this holiday and I assume he was someone mum had met in Dunoon, see Chapter 122. Because, he is mentioned with Sid and Ann in relation to leaving, I wonder if he was related to them, a son perhaps.
Tiredness
Mum often complained of tiredness at this time. Partly, this was just a reflection of a very busy schedule. However, it also reflected the interaction between her mental and physical health, see Chapter 116. On this occasion, she complained of feeling very tired all day.
Hair Set
Mum noted that she had her hair set in the afternoon.
Saturday Job
At this time, I had a Saturday job at the Scientific Anglian bookshop, see Chapter 119. Others who worked there on Saturday included Vivien Gamble, Terry Tidd and Ross. I noted that they were all on holiday. As a result, two other boys Alan and Andrew came in.
Vivien Gamble
My diary refers to Vivien working at The Scientific Anglian and I believe this was Vivien Gamble who I knew from Hewett and who is now Vivien Seymour. She has confirmed that it was likely to be her although she had forgotten about working there.
Terry Tidd
I did recall Terry but not his surname. I am grateful to James Tidd for explaining on Facebook that his surname was Tidd and that Terry, who sadly died in 2013, had been his uncle. Terry was older than us and I believe was a friend of Mr Peake’s. He worked at May and Baker.
Ross
I do recall Ross but not his surname. I believe he attended King Edward school. He was doing A levels so was probably two years older than me.
Alan
I really don’t know who this refers to. The way this is written I would have thought it was referring to my younger brother. However, he was away on holiday with mum in Dunoon at this time so that is not possible! Given this, I really don’t know who he was. As far as I know, this is the only time I mentioned him in my diary.
Andrew
I also don’t know much about Andrew except he was a music student. He is mentioned a couple of other times in my diary in July and August 1976 in relation to working at the Scientific Anglian.
Caroline Kingham
Caroline refers to Caroline Kingham. She and I had been going out for about a week or so! We met up for lunch and also went out to eat at night at Café Americano.
I recall Caroline and would consider her as my first “proper” girlfriend, see Chapter 122. We went out for a relatively long period by the teenage standards of that time, but it was probably less than a month all told! I confess that I was unable to recall her surname but was able to track it down as my mother and her mother later worked together. I don’t know much about what happened to her but I believe she may have married Marcus Adam Batch in June 1982.
Café Americano
Initially, I thought I was referring to Captain America’s, the well-known hamburger place on Exchange Street. I recall going there as a teenager and had noted on Wednesday that that was where Caroline and I were planning to go. This still operates as Captain A’s Bar and Grill. Apparently, it opened in 1972. For recollections of Captain America’s see here.
However, it seems we actually went to Rixy’s Café Americano in Westlegate which I do not recall at all, although others do. From local newspapers, it seems that it opened in June 1975 and operated until around 1980. It was badly damaged by fire in September 1977. It was based at 14-18 Westlegate which now accommodates Malaysian restaurant MyMakan on the first floor. Evans Cycles did operate on the ground floor but I believe they closed their shop there at the end of 2025.
Olympics Opening Ceremony
I noted watching the opening ceremony of the Montreal Olympics on television, see Chapter 123. This was on BBC1 from 7.50 to 10.00 pm. I don’t know if I watched it all. I noted that I was very tired and went to bed early.
