Mum’s Diary
RAE went to school. I went to work. P went to see Eliz Cowell at night – came in about 10 & went to bed – very irritable. R went to party – not in at 11:30. What do I do??? Nice day at work. Roger came in about 12:20 – I told him it was too late – he was cross & I didn’t sleep till after 2:30. IT
Roger’s/My Diary
1st day proper of school. We spent ALL morning dealing with administrative work! At lunch-time I acted as a prefect in the dining hall. In the afternoon we had normal lessons. Got home did some homework & went round Everard’s he was going to a party so I went with him. It was being thrown by Karen Fielding. I spent the evening with Melinda.
Notes
School Starts
RAE refers to me (Roger), my younger brother Alan and my younger sister Liz (Elizabeth). We started back at school. At this time, I was attending Hewett School. Alan was at another high school, Earlham, and Liz was in her final year of Avenues Primary School, see Chapter 118. In my diary, I gave a bit more detail of what I described as the first day of school, at least from my perspective.
Administrative Tasks
I noted that we spent all morning doing administrative tasks and emphasised what I thought about this by capitalising all and adding an exclamation mark.
Prefect
I was a porefect when in sixth form, see Chapter 118. At lunch-time, I carried out this role in the dining hall. From memory, all the members of the lower sixth were expected to be prefects. I don’t recall anything about prefect duties! I came across a fairly extensive list of prefect duties at Hewett on Facebook. This was for 1966 so would have been when Hewett was still a relatively small grammar school. Prefect duties may have been different then. Still, in addition to dinner duty, there was lunch hour general duty, milk duty and duties during break and responsibilities for A block (upstairs, on the stairs and downstairs), C block (left hand and right hand staircases), entrance hall, library, dententions (sic), B block, lates, buses, before 8.45am, cycles, boys cloakroom and outside the staff room.
Dinner Duty
One of the main responsibilities appears to have been acting as a prefect in the dining hall, so-called dinner duty, see Chapter 118. Often, dinner duty passed off quietly and uneventfully. On one occasion, I noted that there were too many prefects there. Sometimes, however, there was trouble in the dining room. For example, on 8 November 1976, “some girl” thumped Rosalind Mitchell in the dining room. Later that month, on the 23rd, I noted that duty in the dinner hall was “pretty chaotic”.
Normal Lessons
I noted that we started normal lessons in the afternoon, see Chapter 118. This would have been according to my new sixth form timetable.
Homework
It did not take long to get back into the normal swing of school. I noted that, when I got home, I did homework, see Chapter 118, presumably that I had been set that day.
Mum Worked for Mr Ashken and Mr Stephens
During this period, mum worked as part-time medical secretary for the private practice of two surgeons, Mr Ashken and Mr Stephens, see Chapter 121. This practice was based at 41 Newmarket Road. She worked all day on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and half day on Fridays. On this occasion, as it was a Tuesday, she worked all day. She noted that she had a nice day at work.
Visiting a Friend
P refers to my older sister Tricia (Patricia). She went to visit a school friend, see Chapter 122, Liz (Eliz for Elizabeth) Cowell. Mum noted that she came in about 10 pm and went to bed. Mum thought she was very irritable. This was possibly the case but it is also possible that mum misinterpreted her mood.
Liz Cowell
Liz Cowell was a friend of Tricia’s from Norwich High School for Girls. She is the only school friend of Tricia’s that I recall. From memory, she lived on Melrose Road. I recall her father, particularly that he was a big Rugby League fan and supported Leeds!
Party
R refers to me. Mum noted that I went to a party but her main focus was the time I came in which, unsurprisingly perhaps, was a constant source of tension between us at that time, see Chapter 114. Mum noted that I was not in by 11.30 pm. I am not sure the significance of this time. It might have been an agreed time that I needed to be in by or it might have just been a time decided by mum. She wondered what she should do. Of course, at that time, she had no way of contacting me. So, I guess the answer to her question was to wait which she did.
Mum noted that I came in at 12.20 am and, in doing so, gave me my full name. Not a good sign! She noted that she told me that it was too late! From memory, I doubt that this was delivered in a neutral tone but I am pretty sure mum would have been both cross and upset. She noted that I was cross and that she did not manage to get to sleep until 2.30 am.
My recollection is that mum was not very good at handling these kind of situations. She couldn’t, for example, wait until the next day and discuss calmly what time might be reasonable to come in on a school night and whether any latitude could be granted for the first day back at school when I wouldn’t have seen most of my friends for the whole of the summer!
In my diary, I also noted going to this party, see Chapter 122. I had not planned to go. However, when I went round to see my friend Everard Mascarenhas, I found he was going to a party so naturally I went with him!
Interestingly perhaps, although the conflict over the time I came in was a major theme in mum’s diary, I did not mention it at all in mine. This was perhaps because I wanted to focus on what had otherwise been an enjoyable evening and perhaps because such conflicts were a pretty constant part of living at home at that time! I confess I found them increasingly frustrating and was happy when I was able to leave home when I went to university, see Chapter 120.
Karen Fielding
The party was being thrown by Karen Fielding. Based on booklets of exam results, she was in the same year as me and studied sociology and English literature at A level. She went to university in Warwick to study philosophy and politics. I fear I do not recall her.
Pairing Up at Parties
A lot of parties I went to at this time involved boys and girls pairing up. On this occasion, I noted that I spent the evening with Melinda. I confess I don’t recall fully who this was. However, there was a Melinda Picton in our year who studied French, German and English literature at A level. She went on to study Welsh and English in Swansea.
Mum’s Medication
Mum noted the medication she took that day, see Chapter 116. On this occasion, it appears to have just been one tablet of amitriptyline (T for Tryptizol) for depression.
Everard Mascarenhas
Everard refers to my school friend, Everard Mascarenhas, see Chapter 118. He and I were close friends in sixth form which we were just starting. He lived near me in Park Lane and we also worked together at Sainsbury’s in Anglia Square, see Chapter 119. In 1976, he won an endeavour prize. In 1978, he passed A level physics. He was part of the school football team. Apparently, he read physics at University College Swansea, has a PhD in semi-conductor devices from Nottingham Trent University and an MBA from Imperial College.
On this occasion, I went round to his in the evening and, as he was going to a party, I went with him, see above.
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