Sat 8 Nov 1975: Watched episode 3 of the quintessentially excellent Pyramids of Mars in which the Doctor failed to stop some mummies building a rocket. Mon 8 Nov 1976: My brother and I always spent Monday evenings with my grandmother and she always made us watch ITV all evening, so that'll have been Opportunity Knocks, Coronation Street (Stan leaves Hilda), George and Mildred and World in Action. Tue 8 Nov 1977: This was the last day in my life I didn't know I needed glasses. A trip to the opticians tomorrow would confirm the worst... and nobody else in my class was wearing them yet! Wed 8 Nov 1978: At lunchtime bought an ice cream from the van parked outside the school gates. Our favoured purchase was a '7p special', a cornet with squirty sauce and sprinkles on top, although we were still smarting from it having been a '6p special' last year. Thu 8 Nov 1979: This could have been the last day of my life, wasted learning about subjunctives and coastal geomorphology, because the following day a computer at NORAD mistakenly reported 220 Soviet missiles had been fired at the US. Thankfully someone checked and they hadn't.
Sat 8 Nov 1980: Adric was the new companion on Doctor Who, deep in E-space with K9. Started planning the quiz for the choir Christmas party, and I'd like to go back now and urge myself to make it easier. Sun 8 Nov 1981: It's the day I completed one-sixth of a century on the planet. I timed the Remembrance Sunday silence and it was 2¾ minutes long. Mon 8 Nov 1982: As a sixth former they made most of us prefects, but it turned out I was rubbish on door duty so they assigned a couple of extra fifth formers to help me out. Tue 8 Nov 1983: My fellow university coursemates must have had a rough night because I was the only one up in time for the 9am lecture, where I kindly took notes and collected this week's problem sheets. They turned up at 10, then I headed back to my room to put the Christmas decorations up. Thu 8 Nov 1984: Andy had bought the game 'Elite' for his BBC Micro so we watched him trying to play it. The third night in a row I stayed up after 3am trying to do university work. Fri 8 Nov 1985: Disappointed that the rain shower overnight hadn't floated the paper boat on my balcony. Struggled with my Finals work. Went to the Bonfire Night party in the student bar and enjoyed a free half pint of cider.
Sat 8 Nov 1986: My former housemates from college made a surprise visit to my digs in Hull, waking me up at 10.30am and OMG I was not expecting that. They probably weren't expecting the paucity of my £15-a-month room. We drove to Beverley (where I took the above photo because the British Gas share offer was underway). We stopped at the roadside for a photo beside the Wetwang village sign. We drove to Pickering but the steam railway had closed for the winter. We filled up with petrol in Filey. We drove to Flamborough Head and clambered down a gully to the beach and it was marvellous. Back in Hull we struggled to find anywhere to eat on a Saturday night, but the Pecan Cafe in The Land of Green Ginger eventually sufficed.
Sun 8 Nov 1987: The air stewardess I was staying with was on a double Manchester so I had the kitchen to myself. Nicked a bit of her mint sauce to add to my roast lamb dinner. Later Bruno Brookes announced T'Pau had the UK's 600th number 1 record. Tue 8 Nov 1988: Today was 8.11.88 so I pointed this out at work and enumeration of similar dates ensued. The conversation eventually turned to whether 29.2.58 was a valid date. Meanwhile Americans were voting for either George Bush or Michael Dukakis as president and we all know how that turned out. Wed 8 Nov 1989: Nextdoor's wall blew down in the high winds. I struggled when my brolly turned inside out. Michael Palin's '80 Days' journey reached China. Thu 8 Nov 1990: The first ever episode of Harry Enfield's Television Programme (Wayne and Waynetta Slob, You Don't Want To Do That, etc). Also Labour won the Bradford North by-election, a few weeks before Maggie resigned.
Fri 8 Nov 1991: Used the freedom of my new flat to watch Thunderbirds, play Lemmings and phone up an 0898 number. Sun 8 Nov 1992: Arrived home from Cambridge in the early hours, having hit it off with a fair-haired friend of the driver in the St Radegund. That evening we headed out to The Ship to gossip about the encounter - yes you can hand over my number - but we never met again. [I remember absolutely none of this, but it's in my diary so it must have happened] Mon 8 Nov 1993: I had a nasty cold so didn't feel up to a trip to Safeway, so used up the last burgers in the freezer followed a microwaved Christmas pudding. Tue 8 Nov 1994: In meetings with neighbours, Tony wanted to pop in to check my Teletext and Ivy called me down to see if I could get rid of the bike on the stairs. Wed 8 Nov 1995: Caught the bus to work but got a lift home. Bought Smash Hits in WH Smiths. Life was in a bit of a rut.
Fri 8 Nov 1996: A cable TV salesman came round and successfully flogged me a 4-collection package. I was connected to Cabletel two weeks later. Ended the day in bed with a Unilever employee. Sat 8 Nov 1997: Pleased to discover that going onto the internet had cut my phone bills. Caught the X5 to ride over to Bicester to meet up with a university friend who clearly wasn't telling us everything at the time. Sun 8 Nov 1998: Arrived home after a bonfire night to remember. Four of us were enjoying soup and sparklers at the bottom of the garden when we were rudely interrupted by a huge alsatian suddenly rushing through the hedge. Maybe the flare-up from throwing milk powder on the flames was what startled it. The dog ran amok for a while, then ran away, then came back and chased us into the house. It was uncollared so the bravest two took it off to the police station, then returned to finish off the plum crumble. I recovered sufficiently to spend the evening filling in an application form for a job in Suffolk. I would not be here in London today if I hadn't stayed up until 2.30am to finish it. Mon 8 Nov 1999: I was staying with my parents after splitting up with the Ex last week. Had I not I suspect I'd have been dragged to the opening of Braintree Freeport today, like the new boyfriend was. Instead I enjoyed mum's meat pie and chips and went to bed early.
