Fifty Years Ago: Tuesday, 17th August 1976
(Gosforth — Age 14:10)
I was woken at 5:00 by Mum having a heated argument with the milkman about her wanting four pints of milk. The household could ebb and flow from just Mum and my kid sister to Mum, her boyfriend and all four children. I hate to think that on some mornings I got to the milk early and drank a pint myself.
I rarely sleep in, especially when there is a project eating me up. I emerge from consciousnessand, unless it is earlier than 4:30, especially in summer, I am up and at it. I can always have a nap after lunch. Today I woke up again at 7:00. I got to work on the frontispiece for a project on Culloden.
There may have been a history prize to go for at Sedbergh, which was odd, as I wasn’t studying History. I had had to drop it to do all three sciences: Physics, Biology and Chemistry. I could have done without Chemistry, but apparently I wanted to keep my options open to take science A levels and then study medicine. The world was my Rocky Mountain oysters.
My older brother had a bath. Afterwards we syphoned off the bathwater to water the rhododendrons, which were wilting. There was a drought and a hosepipe ban. We ran a length of hose from the bath and out through the side window, negotiating the Venetian blinds. The bathwater had already had two or three people in it, along with soap, shampoo and bath salts. It wasn’t the most pleasant thing to get in your mouth while trying to produce enough suction to start the flow.
Although there was a drought the garden was thick with mature trees, which provided some shade, but the lawn was yellow and the ground hard.
I worked on my Culloden picture in the garden: a Highlander standing on the peat with his broadsword.
Late I played some music:
Cat Stevens – The World of Cat Stevens: A 1970 compilation album. I liked his early folk-pop style as I could play them on the guitar and sing the tunes.
Rick Wakeman – The Six Wives of Henry VIII: A 1973 instrumental prog: rock concept album. I was more interested in the Six Wives.
Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: Massive pop-rock hits. My older sister had the album, now I had one too.
John Denver – The Best of John Denver: A popular 1973 compilation – more acoustic country-folk hits I could play, not least Annie’s Song.
The Carpenters – The Singles 1969–1973: A chart-topping collection of their pop classics.
Wings – Band on the Run: Paul McCartney and Wings’ 1973 rock masterpiece.
We had a fancy lunch in the dining room because Oliver Poue had come to stay. He had already spent a few days with us at Appleby, and who he was remains a mystery. Perhaps his father was a wealthy Frenchman looking to invest in British businesses. Oliver was studying English, and various contacts had been asked to host him. I think he was nineteen. He had a pilot’s licence to fly but no licence to drive. He was quite bookish and happy in his own company.
I tidied up and put an advert in the Evening Chronicle to sell my junior golf clubs. There were only three: a junior-sized driver, a putter and, perhaps, a number six iron. Dad had started my brother and me at the driving range in Gosforth Park, before his affairs with his secretary and somebody’s wife found their way to Mum’s ears.
In the evening I went to Newcastle Swimming Club. We did butterfly, and I was dreadful at it. Nobody had taught me how to swim fly, so I made it up from what I had seen another swimmer doing.
Julie-Anne rang while I was swimming. I rang her back. We had been seeing each other since the beginning of the year, going on dates during the Christmas, Easter and summer holidays.
We had a telephone in the front hall, another in the kitchen and one beside Mum’s bed. Calling from Mum’s room gave me a modicum of privacy, although anybody could pick up one of the other telephones and begin dialling before realising the line was already in use.
Maybe they would listen for a while. I rang from Mum’s room; she wasn’t in. I rang from the kitchen, as if it would make any difference. Later that evening I rang from the hall. Would I like to go over for drinks the following evening? I’d love to.
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