Mum’s Diary
Had breakfast in bed. E went riding in am. P did washing. I did some typ & dup. R at work. Some pain & headache at night. 2 P at night.
Roger’s/My Diary
This morning got up late but got to work on time. I found work incredibly boring and I think I’m going to try to change my job in an effort to earn some more money. Bought a new tape and this evening me and Liz mucked about recording some stuff. Bought mum some ear rings for her birthday on Wednesday. At the moment everyone else is in bed and I’m watching Match of the Day.
Notes
Breakfast in Bed
Mum noted that her day started with breakfast in bed. I am not sure why she did this although it seems to have been a feature of some days during this and the following week. One possibility is that, because she had had surgery for a kidney stone at the beginning of August, she saw this as part of her recovery phase, see Chapter 116.
It is possible that mum got up, made breakfast and took it back to bed. It is also possible that one of my siblings or I made breakfast for her. It was unlikely to be me as I got up late and only just made it to work in time.
Riding
E refers to my younger sister Liz (Elizabeth). Mum noted that she went riding. She was quite seriously into this at this time. While initially Liz went riding in Drayton, she recalls mainly doing this at two stables, Palomino Riding School in Mousehold and Redwings Riding School in Frettenham, see Chapter 122.
Washing
P refers to my older sister Tricia (Patricia). Mum noted that she did the washing, see Chapter 126. Tricia often did souch practical tasks particularly at this time while mum was still recovering from surgery.
Typing and Duplicating
According to mum’s CV, see Chapter 105, she ran a typing and duplicating business from home until 1975. However, she did typing and duplicating after this date, particularly for the church, see Chapter 121. On this occasion, she noted that she did some typing (typ) and duplicating (dup).
Saturday Job
R refers to me and mum noted that I was at work, see Chapter 119. At this time, I had a Saturday job at the Scientific Anglian bookshop, see Chapter 119. In my diary, I commented that it had been “incredibly boring“. I was thinking that I might change my job to earn more money.
While I now look back on my time working in that secondhand bookshop with great fondness, I also recall often being bored because there wasn’t enough to do. I also recall that I earned much less than my friends who worked in other places, such as Sainsbury’s. Ultimately, I did leave and went to work at Sainsbury’s in Anglia Square.
Pain and Headache
Mum noted that she had some pain and headache at night for which she took two paracetamol (2P), see Chapter 116.
A New Tape
I noted that I bought a new cassette tape and spent the evening with my younger sister Liz (Elizabeth) mucking about recording some stuff.
At that time, our main way of listening to music was through vinyl records or on the radio. However, cassette tapes were available and I used these to record music from the radio and also from friends’ records, see Chapter 122. Both were not strictly legal but they were commonplace practices at that time. I am not exactly what “some stuff” covered!
Mum’s Birthday Present
Mum’s birthday was on 15 September which fell on a Wednesday in 1976. I noted that I had bought her some ear rings, now more commonly spelled as one word, earrings.
“Match of the Day“
I mostly wrote my diary at night at the end of the day. On this occasion, I noted that everyone else was in bed and I was watching “Match of the Day“. This was on BBC1 that day from 10.20 to 11.20 pm.
BBC Programme Index indicates that this was presented by Jimmy Hill with Barry Davies and John Motson as commentators. The programmes was said to feature, “action highlights from two of today’s attractive Football League fixtures involving clubs from the North, the Midlands and London.” It also included a “regular round-up of the day’s soccer, the players in the news, the League tables and the late-night score-draw check.“
In my view, the format has changed relatively little over the years. However, given the paucity of live football coverage at that time, this was our main way of watching football on TV then.