Mum’s Diary
“Spotting”?! Washed & typ & dup in am. Malcolm called briefly in aft. 1D 1L 1S
Roger’s/My Diary
There is another party at the Louis Marcesi on Saturday. I wasn’t sure whether to go or not as I don’t know the bloke whose it is but everybody who went last Saturday is invited and most of the others seem to be going. I have also been invited to a party on the sixth and me and Everard are having a party on the 13th. Today we had a fire-drill in Chemistry which livened things up a bit.
Notes
Spotting
Mum refers to “spotting” and this merits both a question mark and an exclamation mark. I think mum was referring to vaginal bleeding. She had had problems of this nature since May 1975 and had also experienced heavy bleeding, abdominal pains and mid-period bleeding. Ultimately, she was referred and had a polyp removed in July 1977. However symptoms continued. She had a D & C in May 1978 and a hysterectomy in August 1978, see Chapter 116.
Washing
Mum noted that she did washing in the morning (am). In recent weeks, my older sister Tricia (Patricia) had been doing this but she had recently left for university, see Chapter 120, so mum reverted to this. Both she and grandma tended to do their washing on Mondays as a laundry day, see Chapter 126.
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 typing (typ) and duplicating (dup) in the morning (am).
Malcolm Carter
Malcolm refers to Rev Malcolm Carter. He was a Methodist Minister who became mum’s friend and confidant, see Chapter 114. From Merseyside, he served in the ministry there and in Darlington and East Anglia. He was Minister at Court Hey Methodist Church from 1978 to 1986. He was the Methodist chaplain to Walton Prison, now HM Prison Liverpool, for 20 years. I found a YouTube video of him taking a service at Wonford Methodist Church in Exeter in July 2024. When he was in Norwich, he was mainly based at Bowthorpe Road Methodist Church. On this occasion, he called briefly in the afternoon (aft).
Mum’s Medication
Mum tended to note the tablets she took each day, particularly at night, see Chapter 116. On this occasion, she noted that she took one flurazepam (D for Dalmane) tablet to help her sleep, one long-acting amitriptyline (L for Lentizol) tablet for depression and one senna-containing tablet (S for Senokot) for constipation. She had been trying to wean herself off both antidepressants and sleeping tablets but had been advised by her GP to increase them once again because of her current feelings of severe depression. Recently, she had changed sleeping tablets from nitrazepam to flurazepam. She had started taking two tablets of flurazepam at night but, from the previous day, reduced that dose to one.
Parties
Although I was at school, the main focus of my diary was on parties I was organising or planning to attend. I had been to a party at the Louis Marchesi the previous Saturday, see Chapter 122 and was thinking of going to another one there on the coming Saturday. However, I had some qualms about going as I did not know the person whose party it was. But, I noted that everyone who had been there the previous Saturday had been invited and “most of the others” were going.
I think this must have been fairly early on in my party-going career as, later on, I would have had no such qualms! I also noted that I was going to another party on 6 November and Everard Mascarenhas and I were organising a party for 13 November.
Louis Marchesi
I recall attending a number of parties at the Louis Marchesi around this time. From memory, the pub had an underground basement and that is where the parties were. The pub was first named the Louis Marchesi in 1976, after the founder of the Round Table Great Britain and Ireland. The Round Table used to meet there. The name was revived in 2017. The downstairs basement I recall is now known as The Crypt.
Everard Mascarenhas
I knew Everard Mascarenhas through school, see Chapter 118. He and I were close friends in sixth form which we were just starting. He lived near me in Park Lane so we often walked to and from school together. Also later, we 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.
Fire Drill
I had relatively recently started in sixth form at the Hewett School, see Chapter 118. I was studying pure maths, physics and chemistry for A level. In my diary, I noted that the fire alarm went off during a chemistry lesson and concluded that this “livened things up a bit“.
I do not recall school fire drills. However, I did recall such drills at university when looking at the then medical school in the King George VI building on Google StreetView, see Chapter 120. This brought back memories of the metal fire exits and using these to leave the building during fire drills!