They didn't have blogs or the internet forty years ago, so here are 31 things I didn't digitally publish at the time. To help you get your bearings I was 20 and December was in the middle of my third year at university. I apologise for skipping November which would have included a trip to Caerphilly Castle, a burning toaster and the blue food colouring incident. Hilary never forgave me.
Sun 1: Lunch is a choice of curry or cauliflower cheese so I go back to my room and have toast. My ducks are being blown around on the balcony. On TV: Bill & Ben on Windmill. Mon 2: I've nearly run out of teabags so am considering reusing them so the box lasts until the end of term. Discover that the neighbour who's been coming round regularly at the start of term, over-hopefully, has recently coupled up with a fellow chemist so won't be simpering in my room any more. On TV: Brookside, Reggie Perrin. Tue 3: Get to lectures 3 minutes late and Dr Clifford has already started. Buy six sheets of fluorescent card in the Covered Market. On TV: Tucker's Luck. Wed 4: Award a certificate to the 500th visitor to my room this term. Forced to go to the 1st sitting of Christmas Dinner because I'm only second reserve for the 2nd. The mince pie is a bit hot. Thu 5: Lecture topics include butterfly wings and leopard spots. Another Christmas dinner, this time subject specific, at the Bistro du Marché. Fail to pull the undergraduate of my choice afterwards. Fri 6: Spend £2 photocopying the booklets in my homemade Christmas card, 'The Secret Diary of 1986'. It goes down well. The college Christmas party features blue cocktails, a bad band and a video of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Roll into bed at half past three. Sat 7: Up at eight so I can catch an early bus to Thame. I was not expecting to be buying cat litter in Budgens and visiting a leather workshop. Board games are played including 6-way Chinese Checkers. Sun 8: End of term already so Dad arrives and drives me home (via another game of Chinese Checkers). In exciting news the family now has a microwave oven. I enjoy making it ping and am amazed how fast it warms milk.
Mon 9: When Dad gets home from his festival and Mum gets home from Rangers we spend the evening looking through microwave cookery books. Tue 10: While I've been away the Odeon in Watford has been reborn as a row of shops. I buy a pair of white boots in the Co-op, reduced because they have a blue mark on the side. Wed 11: Bacon's quite fun in a microwave isn't it? Dad met Tommy Boyd today apparently. Thu 12: Drive to Portsmouth to pick up brother from university, including driving round that new section of the M25. Fri 13: Pre-Christmas haircut. Buy the new Propaganda album on cassette in Our Price so I can give it to myself at Christmas. On TV: the shocking Dynasty Moldavian wedding shootout. Sat 14: Watford beat Spurs one nil so Dad and brother return from Vicarage Road happy. On TV: The Planets with Heather Couper. Sun 15: Roast turkey for lunch, which feels a bit premature. On TV: Fawlty Towers (the Germans). Mon 16: I offer to do the hoovering but my efforts don't pass muster. Decorate the Christmas tree with very old baubles and thin postwar tinsel.
Tue 17: Mum gets stopped in the street to do a survey about blue loo blocks and is given a mini Milky Way for her trouble. Wed 18: Go out into the garden and try to look at Halley's Comet with binoculars but no luck. Thu 19: Get a very rare headache and have to retire to bed early, so my brother ends up with double portions of gammon. Fri 20: On TV: the Breakfast Time panto (featuring Denis Healey and Leon Brittan), the Countdown final and the Masterteam final (Olive's team wins because 'electro-magnetic' has a hyphen). Sat 21: Festive snacks start making an appearance, in particular a bag of marshmallows and a bottle of cream soda. On TV: Edge of Darkness (the plutonium at Gleneagles finale). Sun 22: Charles isn't as good at singing the first verse of Once In Royal David's City as I was. Mon 23: Clean sheet at the dentist. The express checkout at Sainsbury's has a 10 minute queue. Tue 24: The theme in the jumbo prize crossword is 'monkey puzzle'. You can tell it's Christmas because I've been offered a port and lemon. The Christmas Top 3 is Shakin Stevens, Whitney Houston and Band Aid, thankfully followed by new group Pet Shop Boys with West End Girls. On TV: The Snowman.
Wed 25: Some presents... Dad: a demisting sponge and cycle lamps. Mum: a bar of soap and microwave handbook. Brother: a Watford FC towel and blank tapes. Me: a window thermometer, carved personalised pencil rack, Guinness Book of Answers, Hitch-Hiker's Guide radio scripts, some Wispa bars and a 1986 diary. After the Queen's speech we beat the neighbours at Woodland Happy Families. On TV: Noel Edmonds up the Post Office Tower. Thu 26: Football's off because of a waterlogged pitch. My aunt approves of my recent haircut. An afternoon quiz session with the nice old ladies, including an A-Z of carols, 'guess the month' and a trick questions round. On TV: Treasure Hunt in Florida. Fri 27: Shepherds pie as a break from turkey. On TV: Digby the Biggest Dog In The World, the Max Headroom pilot. Sat 28: [Basically when I'm not at university pretty much nothing consequential happens, as I'm sure you've noticed by now.] Sun 29: Insist that the family keep the garage light on throughout the Top 40 rundown of 1985's best selling singles so that no static interrupts my recording. Mon 30: Turkey curry to finish off the festive meat. Tue 31: 238 times altogether this year, because I've been counting. Take my ghetto blaster back to the shops to get it replaced because the buttons stopped working properly. See in the New Year with the Wogan show and a glass of flat cider.
Number of times I went to bed after 2am: 6 Latest I woke up: 10.30am (on the 12th, 26th and 27th) Number of days I had Coco Pops for breakfast: 30 Number of times I ate baked beans: 11 Number of roast dinners: 8
