Mum’s Diary
RAE went to school. I picked mum up at 9.15 & we went to see P. Got there just after 11. Looked round college, had lunch there, left P at 2 & got home about 4. Called in at garage – engine idling too fast, also went to library – books overdue. P may be able to come home on 29th. Scaffolding came. 1D 1L 2S
Roger’s/My Diary
Mum & grandma went to Cambridge to see Tricia today. They enjoyed it. We are going to see her do Joseph on 21st Nov. She has won 4 school prizes. We started distributing our invitations for our party. I have bought a ticket for the review.
Notes
Back to School
R refers to me, Roger; A to my younger brother Alan; and E to my younger sister Liz (Elizabeth). Mum noted that we were back at school following our half-term break, see Chapter 118. At this time, I was at Hewett School, Alan was at Earlham School and Liz was finishing off at Avenues Primary School. It is a little surprising that I do not refer to returning to school in my diary.
Visiting Tricia (Patricia) in Cambridge
P refers to my older sister Tricia (Patricia). She was in her first term studying natural sciences at Newnham College in Cambridge, see Chapter 120. She was the first person from our family yo go to university so this was a big deal. Mum and grandma went to visit her for the day.
Mum picked grandma up at 9.15 am and they arrived in Cambridge just after 11 am. They looked round Newnham College and had lunch there. They left at 2 pm and got back to Norwich about 4 pm.
In my diary, I noted that mum and grandma had gone to Cambridge to see Tricia and that they had enjoyed it.
Meal Terminology
Based on my family’s working class background in Nottinghamshire, we had tended to refer to our meals as dinner and tea. However, given that we had moved to Norwich in 1960, and possibly because we were becoming more middle class, some of that usage was changing and family members sometimes, and perhaps increasingly, referred to a midday meal as lunch, see Chapter 92 although we continued to refer to an afternoon or early evening meal as tea. On this occasion, mum referred to lunch in the refined atmosphere of Cambridge!
Idling Too Fast
Mum had a car at this point, a Simca that she and dad had bought in February 1972 before they split up, see Chapter 110. It has just been for servicing the previous week, see Chapter 127. However, when they got back from Cambridge, mum was concerned that the engine was “idling too fast” so she called in at the garage. She did not say what they said. I assume it was nothing major otherwise she would have mentioned it I am sure.
For some reason, I find the concept of “idling too fast” amusing and think it might be apt as a metaphoric description of our family’s life at that time, With mum’s mental health problems and the simmering conflict between my parents, it definitely felt for me that, even when nothing very much seemed to be happening, my internal “engine” was “idling” very fast just to keep myself on an even keel to mix my metaphors!
Overdue Library Books
Mum noted that she also popped to the library. Her books were overdue. I am not sure if she discovered that when she got there or, more likely, she knew they were and wanted to take them back or renew them despite having had a busy day. I am not sure if she went to the local library branch in Earlham or to the main Norwich Central Library as that is the one I recall using more.
Home for Christmas
As noted above, P refers to my older sister Tricia (Patricia). Mum was expecting her home from university for Christmas, see Chapter 120. She thought that she might get back as soon as 29 November which is, in fact, what happened.
Scaffolding
At this time, we were living at 192 College Road, see Chapter 117. For some weeks and months, the roof had been leaking and major repair work was needed. Mum noted that the scaffolding for this arrived.
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 one flurazepam (D for Dalmane) tablet to help her sleep, one long-acting amitriptyline (L for Lentizol) tablet for depression and two 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 varied the dose between one and two. She also varied the dose of the long-acting amitriptyline between one and two tablets.
Joseph
I noted that we would be going to Cambridge on Sunday 21 November to see my older sister Tricia (Patricia) performing in “Joseph and the Amazing Colour Dreamcoat” which was being put on by Methsoc, see Chapter 124. This involved attending a church service at Wesley Methodist Church and, although I usually did everything to avoid attending any kind of church service, I made an exception on this occasion as Tricia was in it.
School Prizes
I noted that my older sister Tricia (Patricia) had won four school prizes. These related to her last year at Norwich High School for Girls and was a phenomenal achievement by any standard. Her prizegiving was on 25 November and dad ferried Tricia to and from from Cambridge for this. Although it is surprising that it was only me and not mum who noted that Tricia had won these prizes, mum more than made up for it on the day of the prizegiving itself.
Party Invitations
I was organising a party with my friend Everard Mascarenhas at his house on 13 November 1976. Mum had made some invites and we were in the process of distributing these, see Chapter 122.
Everard Mascarenhas
I knew Everard Mascarenhas through school, see Chapter 118. He and I were close friends in sixth form. 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.
Review
I noted that I had bought a ticket for the school’s review. I am not exactly sure what this was but it took place on 11 November 1976. Another friend of mine, Gary Wood was part of a group that played in this review, see Chapter 118.
Gary Wood
Gary Wood was one of my closest friends at school, see Chapter 118. He and I had a lot in common. In addition to both playing, or trying to play, the guitar, we both later had motorbikes and we both worked at Sainsbury’s in Anglia Square, see Chapter 119. Gary went on both the camping trips I went on to France in 1975 and 1976. He worked at “Le Paradis” in the summer of 1977.
In 1976, Gary won an endeavour prize and, in 1978, the Sheriff’s Prize for Art. In 1978, he passed A levels in pure maths, physics, chemistry and art. He went on to study physics in York. He is a member of the Hewett Facebook group but uses the name Robert Wood. Apparently, Robert is his first name but he used Gary as Robert was also his father’s name. His Facebook page notes that he studied architecture in Rome, Cambridge, Harvard and London, that he has his own architecture studio and lives in France.
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