Mum – Came home after another BP standing & lying taken – also 750cc blood for tests. Mum came & had taxi home. V. tired. Ken E came in aft to see me. V. lonely. Mr Wilson rang & told P she had got 3 A for her A levels & a 1 in her chemistry special paper.
Roger – Listened to the test-match. The West Indies have scored over 600 runs and England are about 30 for 0. Went to pick up the Norwich Union car. We had something to eat while dad sorted out a problem that the office had. Rang Mr. Peake to tell him I wouldn’t be in tomorrow & also rang mum. She is out of hospital now & sounds better. We are getting up at 3 a.m to go home via London. As Doug & Dot have got some of dad’s possessions.
Notes
Post-op Recovery
Mum had been in the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital having had surgery for a renal stone just over a week earlier, see Chapter 116. She had been found to have hypercalcaemia. Before she left, she once again had her blood pressure taken standing up and lying down. This would have been to check for orthostatic hypotension which can be associated with hypercalcaemia. She also had blood taken for unspecified tests. However, it is implausible that she actually had 750 ccs (750 mls) of blood taken. It is possible that the 7 might be a 2 but 250 mls of blood is also highly unlikely. Perhaps the amount was actually 75 mls. This would have seemed a lot and mum might just have added the 0 inadvertently.
In my diary, I noted that I phoned mum and commented that she was now out of hospital and sounded better.
Taxi Home
Grandma came and they had a taxi home. At this point, mum did have a car, a Simca that she and dad had bought in February 1972 before they split up, see Chapter 110. My older sister Tricia (Patricia) had passed her driving test so ordinarily would have picked mum up in the car. However, the car had broken down in Glasgow at the end of a holiday mum had taken with my younger siblings Alan and Liz. They had travelled home by train and plane and the car had been brought home by AA relay with a burned out clutch. At this time, the car was in Reliance Garage being repaired, see Chapter 127.
Tiredness
Mum noted that she was very tired. This is understandable given that she had just had major surgery, see Chapter 116. In addition, during the late seventies, mum often complained of feeling tired and sometimes of exhaustion. She thought there would be a physical cause for this but various investigations, at different times, failed to find one. On some occasions, but not always, these feelings related to poor sleep or physical activity. At other times, she was given a range of treatments including iron supplements (Ferrogradumet) and a mixture of thiamine hydrochloride (Vitamin B1), calcium glycerophosphate, potassium glycerophosphate, sodium glycerophosphate and manganese glycerophosphate (Metatone).
Rev Ken Elworthy
Rev Ken Elworthy (Ken E) came to visit her. At this time, he was the junior Minister at St Peter’s Park Lane Methodist Church, see Chapter 124.
Loneliness
After mum and dad separated in June 1973, mum often noted feeling lonely, see Chapter 114. On this occasion, she noted feeling very lonely.
A Level Results
P refers to my older sister Tricia (Patricia). Mr Wilson was her chemistry teacher at Norwich High School for Girls. He phoned to tell Tricia that she had achieved three grade As at A level plus grade 1 in her chemistry special paper. She also took a second S level paper in maths and also achieved grade 1, see Chapter 118. These results were outstanding and she went to Cambridge to study natural sciences, see Chapter 120.
Fifth Test
In my diary, I noted listening to the the test match, presumably on the radio. This was the second day of the fifth test between England and the West Indies, see Chapter 123. I noted that West Indies had scored over 600 and England were about 30 for no wicket. In fact, West Indies had declared at 687 for 8 with Viv Richards having made 291. At the close of play, England were 34 without loss.
Norwich Union
My father, Royle Drew, worked for the Norwich Union, see Chapter 121, and it was a promotion at work that had taken him from London to Birmingham. One of the perks of his job at this time was the ability to access a Norwich Union car as he needed it. He did not have this all the time but seemed to be able to get it for personal use as well as for any work-related travel.
Dad was branch secretary at this time. One of the perils of him going into work when I presume he was technically on leave was that he might get sucked into troubleshooting problems which is what happened on this occasion. It seems that my sister Liz (Elizabeth) and I had something to eat while he did this.
Mr Peake
At this time, I had a Saturday job at the Scientific Anglian bookshop, see Chapter 119. I noted that I called the owner, Mr Peake, to let him know that I would not be in work the next day.
There is an excellent biography/obituary of Norman Berry Peake in the Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association in which he is described as a chalk revolutionary. Born in 1921, in Southend-on-Sea, he became interested in geology at school. On leaving school, he worked as an assistant chemist for May and Baker and then for Cellon. In 1944, he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemists. He left Cellon when it was taken over by an American company.
He was an active member of CND and the British Communist Party. Sadly, he developed dementia in later life. In 2003, he was admitted to a care home in Sidestrand and he died there, on 24 January 2010, aged 89. The biography/obituary includes some photos of Norman Peake and one photo of The Scientific Anglian albeit in a dilapidated state. I also came across, elsewhere, a great photo of Norman Peake leading a CND march along Castle Meadow.
Home via London
I noted that we had to get up at 3 am as we were travelling home via London. This was because dad had to pick up some of his possessions from Doug and Dot. I am not entirely sure who they were but I presume they were neighbours and friends.
This was the kind of thing that was typical of my father and would have been anathema to my mother. The idea that you would travel to Norwich from Birmingham via London with two children in tow would be something my mother would have struggled to contemplate. I don’t thinthat my sister or I minded and we probably found it exciting. It does, however, emphasise just how different, and probably incompatible, my parents were!
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