Mum’s Diary
Washed in am. Then went to GTE. Typed & dup in aft. Not so depressed. V tired at night. 2L 2S.
Roger’s/My Diary
Today in the dining hall some girl thumped Rosalind Mitchell. Gary is getting quite worried about playing in the review. I have been asked to play football on Sunday, I think I will. This evening me and Everard discussed our coming party. I watched I Claudius. It was very bloody again.
Notes
Washing
Mum noted that she washed in the morning (am), see Chapter 126. While mum did do washing on other days, she often did it on a Monday. This was partly because she was not at work that day and partly because it was traditional wash day as observed by both mum and grandma.
Work for Rev Eddy
GTE refers to Rev G T Eddy who was the Chairman of the Methodist District. He was born in Prestwich, Lancashire in 1915 and entered the Ministry in 1936. It appears he became Chairman of the East Anglia District in 1972 having previously held the same post in Lincoln. He died in Stratford-on-Avon in 2014. Based on her CV, see Chapter 105, mum did some part-time secretarial work for him between 1973 and 1977, see Chapter 121. On this occasion, mum noted going there.
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 St Peter’s Park Lane Methodist Church, see Chapter 121. On this occasion, she noted typing and duplicating (dup) in the afternoon.
Depressed
Throughout the late seventies, and at other times, mum struggled with depression and anxiety, see Chapter 116. However, on this occasion, she noted that she was not so depressed.
Very Tired
Mum complained that she was very tired. Mum complaining of tiredness was not unusual. Often, she thought there would be a physical cause for this but various investigations, at different times, failed to find one. On some occasions, but not always, these feelings related to poor sleep, physical activity and/or her feelings of depression, see Chapter 116.
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 long-acting amitriptyline (L for Lentizol) tablets 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.
Relatively 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. On this occasion, she did not take any even though her GP had recently offered her a higher dosage of flurazepam tablets (30mg). However, mum had not accepted these preferring to remain on the 15mg tablets. She also varied the dose of the long-acting amitriptyline between one and two tablets.
Dining Hall Incident
I was in my first term of lower sixth at the Hewett School, see Chapter 118. I was a prefect as I believe all members of the lower sixth were. One of the main responsibilities appears to have been to supervise in the dining hall. 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 8.45 am, cycles, boys cloakroom and outside the staff room.
I commented on dinner duty fairly often. Mostly, it passed off quietly and uneventfully. Sometimes, however, there was trouble in the dining room as on this occasion. I noted that “some girl” thumped Rosalind Mitchell in the dining room.
Rosalyn Mitchell
There was a Rosalyn Mitchell who took external exams in 1976. So, I presume she was in my year, that she went into the sixth form and was a prefect. However, I don’t see any record of her taking further exams in 1977 or 1978, I fear I do not recall her.
School Review
Gary refers to my friend Gary Wood who was playing guitar with a band in the forthcoming school review which was to take place on 11 November, see Chapter 118. I noted that he was feeling “quite worried” about this.
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.
Football on Sunday
I noted that I had been asked to play football on Sunday and that I thought I would. To be honest, I don’t know if I was trying to sound cool in my diary bit I am sure I was delighted to be asked and would, in reality, have jumped at the chance! I loved football but was completely hopeless. I regularly suffered the ignominy of being the last picked when playing football in the playground! So much so, that I tried to manoeuvre so I would be captain and would be the one doing the picking!! It was rare that I was ever invited to play football outside of school so my guess is that they were struggling to get enough people to play!
Party Planning
I was organising a party with my friend Everard Mascarenhas at his house on 13 November 1976. Mum had made some invites and we had been distributing these, see Chapter 122. I noted that Everard and I discussed the party in the evening. .
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.
“I, Claudius“
I noted watching “I, Claudius” in the evening and that it was “very bloody again“, see Chapter 122. At that time, I was diligently watching “I Claudius” as we were encouraged to as part of the Latin O level course I was following. It was on BBC 2 from 9 pm and the particular episode was called “Zeus, By Jove!“
I don’t think I was over-stating the violence in my assessment. Apparently, Tiberius had a stroke and was smothered to death by Macro with Caligula’s connivance, leaving Caligula and Tiberius’ grandson Gemellus as joint heirs. Caligula displays signs of mental instability and declares that he has become the god Zeus. His claims of divinity are accepted by the senate and he becomes increasingly violent. He forces a senator to commit suicide and also has Gemellus killed. He makes his sister Drusilla his wife and declares her to be the goddess Hera. Antonia, Claudius’ mother commits suicide. The original version included a shot of Caligula cutting his unborn child from his sister’s belly and eating it although this shot was later dropped and is now lost.
Leave a Reply