30 unblogged things I did in September 1986
They didn't have blogs or the internet forty years ago, so here are 30 things I didn't digitally publish at the time. To help you get your bearings I was 21, teetering between university and a job, so chose to delay things by undertaking an extra year's study up north.
Mon 1: Sign on at the dole office, but am called to one side to undergo a random check. Thankfully they weren't tough checks in those days.
[On TV: London Plus with John Stapleton]
Tue 2: My university tutor pops up on Radio 1 Newsbeat talking about vaccinated chickens. Get a phone call inviting me to a job interview on Friday but turn them down because I've decided oil economics isn't for me.
Wed 3: Have to go for a job-related medical. Worried it might be a full strip-off but it's no worse than filling a bottle and getting my blood pressure checked. [The supervising medic was called Dr Doodoo]
Thu 4: Two friends from university drive over and meet the tortoise, then we go for a walk round Ruislip Lido, watch the water skiing and have cheeseburgers in Wimpy. [Ooh look, I have a photo]
Fri 5: My dad takes the morning off work but the man from Anglian Windows never turns up to do the survey and I have rarely heard him so cross.
Sat 6: Wimbledon FC beat Watford 1-0 to stay top of Division 1, so I annoy my brother by putting a Womble on the doorstep when he gets home from the match.
[On TV: Episode 1 of the season-long Doctor Who story, Trial of a Time Lord]
Sun 7: Mum and Dad are debating where to go for a silver wedding getaway next month [it turns out to be a cottage near a radar station in Norfolk]
Mon 8: University friend returns and drives us down to the Odeon Marble Arch to watch Aliens. Thoroughly enjoy. [Alas moving up north will squash this budding friendship] [A quick check online and I see he's just retired from his top job in the City]
Tue 9: When our nextdoor neighbour moved out she gave us £40 to go out for a family meal, so tonight we go to the Ponderosa Steak House in Watford High Street, a legendary venue. I have sirloin steak and they forget to offer us any free refills.
Wed 10: Buy a £299 Sony hi-fi from Tottenham Court Road and nearly collapse lugging it home on the tube.
Thu 11: For my 'final' meal Mum cooks roast lamb (washed down with a bottle of Riesling) and lemon meringue pie. [nobody has ever made lemon meringue pie as well as my Mum did]
Fri 12: A very long drive up the A1 with the boot full of boxes. Mum refuses to drive over the Humber Bridge so we take the M18 and M62 to Hull. I'm not convinced she's impressed by my new student digs (and neither am I). One of my new flatmates takes me out for beers along the Cottingham Road.
[this never happens again]
Sat 13: Explore Hull, mainly to find food, a barber and a photobooth because I need 4 mugshots for registration on Monday. Start to suspect the girl in the room nextdoor might be overwrought and clingy.
Sun 14: Struggle to cook in the communal kitchen because it's shared by six of us. No toaster so we have to use a ropey gas grill. My Smash instant mash proves far too watery.
Mon 15: Successfully register for the course in a very analogue manner, i.e. laminated cards, pigeonhole numbers and pins in maps.
[On TV: Calendar with Richard Whiteley]
Tue 16: Introductory lecture and seminar. Try to discover who amongst my new coursemates is worth making friends with. [should have stayed for lunch rather than going down the chippy]
Wed 17: Use one of my photos to get myself a student railcard [aww, cute], then dash back to college for a video narrated by Annie Nightingale.
Thu 18: A first visit to the work experience location. Mr Kipling gives us a tour of the building.
Fri 19: A quiet evening in implodes somewhat when my clingy neighbour pours out her troubles and tells me she has weight issues, nervous issues, panic attack issues, agoraphobia and claustrophobia, also fear of travelling, also she hasn't told her parents any of this but she has told me. I fear this is going to be tough.
Sat 20: Up early to whizz across country to a friend's 21st birthday party in Cheshire (via Doncaster and Liverpool). Help cut the cucumbers. Her boyfriend sends a bouquet from Crewe hospital where he's recuperating. It never gets wild because three generations are present.
Sun 21: Sleep on the sofa, then return the cutlery to the sailing club and start my 5-hour journey back. Thank goodness for the emergency pack of Garibaldis.
Mon 22: First day of work experience. They've nicknamed me Lofty after Michelle's fiancé on Eastenders.
Tue 23: Second day of work experience. They didn't tell me to wear trainers so I have to stay in the viewing area.
Wed 24: Third day of work experience. Remembered my trainers this time so I get to participate.
Thu 25: Fourth day of work experience. Rachel says she's thinking of quitting already.
Fri 26: My paranoid neighbour knocks on my door and asks if I'd look after her tub of 40 Valium for her.
[I should never have agreed - see October 10th].
Sat 27: Go exploring down Whitefriargate and The Land of Green Ginger. My neighbour has started banging on our adjoining wall. I've started pretending I'm out.
Sun 28: I'm discovering what it's like to be the chosen confidante of someone who's chronically depressed. Please stop fiddling with my frog.
Mon 29: The Hull Daily Mail celebrates its 101st birthday by going tabloid. [On TV: On Brookside, Heather walks in on Nick overdosing on heroin]
Tue 30: Potentially suicidal are you? This was not how I was expecting my first month in Hull to turn out... (it gets a lot better on October 16th)
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