Sunday, 3rd October 1976
(Winder House, Sedbergh School. Age 15.)
I had a good sleep in.
I worked out my collage for the Telegraph Competition, using scraps of wood and metal. It was something I had seen directly in the paper rather than through school. The Telegraph Sunday Magazine was running one of those competitions where readers made things — artwork, designs, collages — and sent them in. I cannot remember what the actual theme was now.
I thought I could win.
Or perhaps I just liked having the excuse and the focus. Art was something I wanted to do anyway, and school did not make it easy. A competition gave me a reason to get on with something myself. I could gather scraps, work out an idea and make something without needing Art to fit neatly into the timetable.
Chapel was more enjoyable than usual.
That did not mean I had suddenly taken to Chapel. I couldn’t stand it. But there were familiar hymns and the sermon was pithy and secular, which made a difference. Some of the prayers were too long and the psalms were mumbo jumbo. That question mark in the Diary probably meant exactly that: what was all this stuff supposed to mean?
I went swimming.
It was supposedly Bronze Cross, although I had already done the Bronze Medallion, the lifesaving thing. Whatever was supposed to be organised, I practised on my own. That was all right. I could get on with something.
Then The Pirates of Penzance.
Casterton weren’t there!
What a swizz. I had only signed up for the girls. Any girls. There were usually only the two or three daughters of masters around Sedbergh, so the prospect of girls coming over from Casterton was a large part of the attraction.
We had seen the Casterton girls by then and, to be honest, only rated a couple of them, but that was beside the point. At least they were girls.
Instead it was a sit-down rehearsal and the chorus just sang. Ellie Thornton was there, distinct with her long red hair, along with the others.
Afterwards I played squash. By now squash was almost daily. If there was a court and time available, I played.
Then I watched Fawlty Towers in the middle common room.
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