Mum’s Diary
Work. Got up 8 am. Went to Tesco & then hos. Mr. A called in briefly. Not much to do in aft. Left about 4.15. Went to Enid’s to sew at night. Nice – but horrible when got home. 2D 1L 3S.
Roger’s/My Diary
A fairly quiet day spent at home. Had a bath and did some of my homework. Dad and Alan made some bread and then some fruit-cake. This evening we watched TV and played cards. We played KO Whist, Oh hell and rummy. I came last every time! In the league Cup Man Utd bt Middlesboro 7-2 and Aston Villa bt Wrexham 5-1.
Notes
Contextual Note
My parents separated in 1973. At this point, I and my two siblings, Alan and Liz (Elizabeth) were living with mum in Norwich. Dad was living and working in Birmingham, see Chapter 114. It was half-term week and we were spending it with dad meaning that mum was on her own in Norwich.
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 Wednesday, she worked all day. She first went to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, presumably on some work-related task. She noted that Mr Ashken came in briefly. There was not much to do in the afternoon so she was able to leave about 4.15 pm.
Tesco
Mum noted that she got up at 8 am and then went shopping at Tesco, see Chapter 125. Tesco was, and is, a very well-known supermarket chain. It was formed by Jack Cohen in 1919. The name came from the initials of his tea supplier, T E Stockwell, and the first two letters of his own surname. I assume the Tesco mum went to was the one on Guildhall Hill. Tesco appears to have opened in Norwich in the 1960s at 4 Market Place and, since at least the early seventies, was based at 5 Guildhall Hill. I think the Market Place/Guildhall Hill addresses probably refer to the same place under different names. This shop was previously Chamberlin’s department store. Tesco closed their store here in 2022. Although plans were approved for a hotel on the site, it remains vacant currently. Apparently, there are plans to turn the upper floors to residential use while keeping the retail space on the ground floor.
Sewing at Enid’s
At night mum went to Enid’s to sew. She described this as nice. Enid refers to mum’s friend Enid Tickle. They knew each other through St Peter’s Park Lane Methodist Church, see Chapter 124. They were involved in a women’s group called Young Wives, see Chapter 79. That group was sewing items which they planned to sell on a stall at a forthcoming church gift day.
Enid Tickle
Enid was from Malawi, I believe and was married to Ken Tickle. She and Ken were a multiracial couple at a time when that was not common, especially not in Norwich.
She was a teacher. From at least 1989 to 1991, she taught the reception class at Tuckswood First School. In 1992, she was acting head at Frettenham County First School for six months.
She was an active member of St Peter’s and, in 1969, was a founder member of the church’s playgroup. In January 1981, she was part of a panel in Diss with Rev Lemmon and the visiting President of Conference, Kenneth Greet. In October 1994, she was one of five speakers at a “People on the Move” event. She spoke on the topic of “One World, One People”. There is a video of her and Ken Tickle speaking on the occasion of the church’s 50th anniversary on YouTube.
Horrible at Home
Mum noted that it was horrible when she got home presumably because the house was empty as we were away at dad’s. I am sure this did not help her feelings of depression, see Chapter 116, and loneliness, see Chapter 114.
Mum’s Medication
At the end of her diary entries, mum tended to note the tablets she had taken that day, particularly at night, see Chapter 116. On this occasion, she noted that she took two flurazepam (D for Dalmane) tablets to help her sleep, one long-acting amitriptyline (L for Lentizol) tablet for depression and three senna-containing tablets (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 had then reduced that dose to one. However, I assume she was not sleeping well as she had put the dose back up to two tablets.
At Home
As noted above, my two younger siblings, Alan and Liz (Elizabeth) and I were staying at dad’s in Birmingham for half-term. I noted that we had a fairly quiet day “at home” including having a bath.
It is interesting that I refer to being at dad’s as being “at home“. I enjoyed visiting dad but, because of distance, did so relatively infrequently. So, I don’t think I ever saw myself as split between two homes. I lived in Norwich and sometimes visited my dad’s house. But, if anyone had asked me where home was I would have said Norwich without a second thought.
It puzzles me now why I never thought of going to live with my dad particularly as, at that time, I got on so much better with him than I did mum. I am not sure I had that degree of agency at that time. Also, I mostly liked school and had lots of friends. Those things were probably of more immediate importance to me than anything else. At this time, I also knew I would be leaving home to go to university in two years plus there was a certain kudos among my peers about getting on spectacularly badly with my mother! Also perhaps I knew implicitly that living with dad would be very different from having a holiday there although I don’t believe that was something I consciously considered.
Homework
I had just completed my first half-term in the sixth form at Hewett School, see Chapter 118. I often commented on the increase in workload from O level to A level. This was not helped by the fact that, in addition to my three A levels in pure maths, physics and chemistry, I was also aiming to do two O levels, Latin and biology, at the end of lower sixth. This meant that I felt I always had homework to do including over the half-term holidays.
Baking
Alan refers to my younger brother who was 14 at this point. He and dad did some baking including making bread and fruit cake, see Chapter 126. My brother had Coeliac disease, see Chapter 116. At that time, it was not easy to buy gluten-free baked goods as it is now. So, mum, in particular, often made gluten-free cakes for Alan. Perhaps dad wanted to show he could do likewise.
In fact, dad was quite an accomplished baker. Unusually perhaps, I recall learning to bake with him rather than my mother. In 1954, he won a “McDougalls Cake Competition” and it appears that dad won that particular competition, see Chapter 49.
TV
In the evening, I noted that we watched TV, see Chapter 122, but did not note what we watched. Based on a local TV Guide, we might have watched “This is Your Life“ or the film “Carry On Constable“. I don’t think we would have watched either of the soaps “Crossroads” or “Coronation Street“. It is likely that I watched “Sportsnight” not least because I later commented on the football results.
Card Games
I noted that we played a number of card games, see Chapter 122. However, although we played different games, one thing was constant. I lost all games!
KO Whist
KO (Knockout) Whist is a variation of whist commonly-played in Britain. The main features are that the deal starts with seven cards each but reduces by one on each turn. Players who take no tricks are eliminated at the end of the turn.
Oh Hell
Oh Hell is another variation of Whist. In this game, you have to say how many tricks you expect to win and then try to win exactly that number. In the variation I know, the number of cards per turn also reduces and then goes back up to the original number.
Rummy
Rummy is a group of games in which the idea is to make sets/melds of cards of the same number or sequential cards in the same suit.
Football Scores
At the end of October 1976, I noted that, in the League Cup, Manchester United beat Middlesbrough 7-2 and Aston Villa beat Wrexham 5-1. However, I misidentified the team beaten by Manchester United which was actually Newcastle United. These games were part of the round of 16/fourth round, see Chapter 123. Manchester United lost to Everton in the next round while Aston Villa won the cup after the final was replayed twice.
In other ties on that day, second division Millwall beat third division Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 and Queens Park Rangers beat West Ham 2-0. The four other ties had been played the previous day. Arsenal beat second division Chelsea 2-1; third division Brighton and Hove Albion drew 1-1 with Derby County with Derby winning the replay 2-1; Everton beat Coventry City 3-0 and fourth division Swansea City and second division Bolton Wanderers drew 1-1 with Bolton winning the replay 5-1.