Mum’s Diary
R went to work. E went to watch school football match. A went to friends in am. I typ & dup all day. Malcolm called in aft he’s still not too well. Stayed & talked though. R & Everard had party at E. 1½M 1L 1S.
Roger’s/My Diary
I am writing this on Tuesday as on each of the preceding days I have been unable to do it for reasons which I’ll explain later. I left work early in order to go to Everard’s in order to get things ready for the party. However Vernon and his mum had done most of it. The party was a success even though John
Durrant was sick.
Notes
Saturday Job
In mum’s diary, R refers to me Roger. At this point, I had a Saturday job at The Scientific Anglian bookshop, see Chapter 119. I simply noted that I left work early to help with getting ready for a party I was holding with my friend Everard Mascarenhas.
School Football Match
Although mum confusingly uses “E” to refer to Everard later in her diary entry, the first mention of E refers to my younger sister Liz (Elizabeth). She was 11 at this point. Mum noted that she went to watch a school football match. At this point, she was still attending Avenues Primary School, see Chapter 118.
Visiting Friends
A refers to my younger brother Alan who was 14 at this time. Mum noted that he went to visit friends in the morning (am), see Chapter 122.
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 (typ) and duplicating (dup) all day.
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 round in the afternoon despite being unwell himself. One thing mum liked about him was that he always seemed to have time to chat which he did this time.
Party
Mum noted that Everard and I (R for Roger) had a party at his house. I noted this too. I had wanted to hold a party in June 1976 to celebrate my birthday and end of exams but had not been able to as there was already a party planned on the day I picked, see Chapter 122.
Following the disappointment of failing to organise a party in June 1976, I think I must have then left it over the holidays. In September 1976, Everard came round and we discussed if we should have a party. He agreed we should and we planned it for this date in November.
Perhaps I had learned that having a party took some organising and that it might be easier if done with someone else and with more lead time. In addition, organising the party with Everard meant that we could have the party at his which was probably easier than negotiating with mum to have the kind of party I wanted at ours!
On the day, I left work early to help get things ready for the party but when I got to Everard’s, his mother and his brother, Vernon, had pretty much prepared everything. I thought the party went well although I noted that my friend John Durrant was sick! Someone being sick at thi kind of party was not particularly unusual I fear!
Everard Mascarenhas
Everard Mascarenhas and I were close friends in the Hewett School sixth form, see Chapter 118. He lived near me in Park Lane so we often walked to and from school together. 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.
John Durrant
John Durrant was a good friend of mine in the Hewett sixth form. He, Chris Gray, Ian Sherrington and I spent huge amounts of time playing bridge and later mah jong. Also, he was an excellent squash player and must have been a decent runner as, on the 1976 Sports Day, he beat Mr Macro in the steeplechase. He passed physics and chemistry A level in 1978.
Mum’s Medication
Towards 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 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.
Relatively recently, the GP had changed her sleeping tablets from nitrazepam (Mogadon) to flurazepam (Dalmane). She had started taking two tablets of flurazepam at night but had then varied the dose between one and two. 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. Indeed, she had had a few nights without taking any and, on this occasion, she appears to have reverted back to nitrazepam (M for Mogadon). While the entry is not completely clear, it looks as if she took 1½ tablets of nitrazepam although it could have been just one.
Mum also varied the dose of the long-acting amitriptyline between one and two tablets and the dose of the senna-containing tablet from one to three.
Delayed Entry
I opened my diary entry by saying explicitly that I was writing this on Tuesday and would explain why the entries had been delayed. I didn’t do so though although it is implicit from my entries that I was busy and then unwell. It was not uncommon for family diarists to write entries later although it was fairly unusual to say so quite so explicitly.