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 and April meant the Easter holidays followed by my last term at university. I should perhaps have been studying a little harder than I was.
Tue 1: It's the day after Easter Monday and there is a lot of news. Hampton Court burned yesterday, the GLC has just been abolished and Charles and Diana are officially opening the tube extension to Heathrow T4. BBC Breakfast Time reports that French scientists have created yolkless eggs and you can identify them because they bounce. I've asked Dad to post two April Fools letters from Florida after he touches down there tonight on his work trip. Wed 2: Dad rings from America, annoyingly during a brief gap when my Mum is out shopping so she misses him. He's pleased to hear that Watford beat Arsenal yesterday. Thu 3: I am 21 and I have just let my Mum cut my hair. It could have been a lot worse. On TV: Top of the Pops has a new theme tune - The Wizard by Paul Hardcastle. Fri 4: I should be writing a job application letter. Instead displacement activities include a) going into Watford, b) replacing a Pet Shop Boys cassette, c) rereading a hardback, d) watching The Tube. Mum is not impressed. She missed another call from Dad earlier which didn't impress her either. Sat 5: 3rd time lucky with a phone call. Today's displacement activities include a) watching the Grand National, b) doing some revision questions, c) watching The Price is Right.
Sun 6: Dad returns with gifts - some local Florida newspapers and a bag of 1st class toiletries. Celebrate with roast turkey and apple strudel. On TV: I Claudius (the Governor of Syria is played by Grange Hill's caretaker). Mon 7: Last night Dad sat me down for a heart-to-heart chat so I do actually finish two job applications today, but it takes until 2am. Tue 8: Dad posts the letters on his way to work. On TV: On Eastenders Michelle proposes to Lofty. On Brookside Heather snogs the man from Picture Box. Wed 9: My brother and I have to make lunch. I microwave some fish fingers and he cooks too many peas. Thu 10: A letter arrives. It says the job I applied for has already gone. I am secretly pleased.
Fri 11: Labour beat the SDP in the Fulham byelection. It snows lightly on and off all day. Still revising a bit. On TV: Brand new on Channel 4, The Chart Show. It's gamechanging. Sat 12: Rather than watch Saturday evening TV Dad gets his slide projector out, closes the curtains and shows us photos of Miami... then my 21st birthday... then old holiday photos. Did our hair really used to look like that, eek. Sun 13: On TV: Spitting Image, also a programme about the space race because it's 25 years since Yuri Gagarin's first flight, also Jack Nicklaus wins the US Masters. Mon 14: I am behind on my revision schedule. There are episodes of Fireball XL5 to watch and 901 tiny squares of graph paper to colour in. Tue 15: Bad news - President Reagan sent bombers to Libya overnight and Margaret Thatcher let the F1-11s take off from here. Bad news - a second rejection letter arrives claiming that the post is already filled. This is particularly annoying because parental nudging to write more job applications starts up again.
Wed 16: Hunt in the garage for three old deckchairs I can take to university so I can sit out on my roof terrace with friends. Mum makes some biscuits I can take too. Thu 17: Draw £20 out of Watford Post Office. Use it to buy grey slippers from Marks & Spencer, this week's copy of Record Mirror, a cheap plastic cassette rack from Woolworths, a proper haircut from Headhunters and a 54p bus fare home. Fri 18: Inflation has dropped to 4.2%, the lowest for three years. On TV: The amazing video for Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel on The Chart Show. Sat 19: The doorbell goes. "Don't answer it," says Mum, "it's the 7th Day Adventists." An hour later it goes again. It's a woman from the British Market Research Bureau desperately looking for an 18-25 year old to interview. I'll do it! It turns out to be on behalf of the DHSS and is about awareness of their AIDS advertising campaign. "Which of these diseases do you think poses the greatest threat to our society?" "Have you seen these adverts?" "What do you know about how AIDS can be spread?" "How many sexual partners have you had in the last year?" This is not what you expect to be chatting to a researcher about on your family sofa while your Mum makes tea nextdoor. Sun 20: A celebratory roast before my brother drives back to university. I'm going back tomorrow so do some packing. Yes Mum, I will try to apply for some more jobs.
Mon 21: Drive back during the Golden Hour on Radio 1. It takes eight goes to get all my boxes up to the third floor. It's Andrew's 21st birthday so lots of us head to Go Dutch for a celebratory meal, liberally doused in stroop. It's also the Queen's 60th birthday but she's busy elsewhere. Tue 22: Off to the ABC cinema to watch John Cleese in Clockwise. The ticket costs £2.20. The film is very funny. Wed 23: Exams are two months away. However I am mainly spending this week socialising because I've never had so many friends before and it's quite intoxicating. Thu 24: Confess that yes, the spoof letters from America were my doing. Wave at the King of Spain when his helicopter flies over. Finally make a start on some revision... by going to Ryman and buying five notepads. Fri 25: My balcony has become the go-to location for everyone to gather, especially the 2nd years because they don't have exams this year. While I nip off to hand in some holiday work everyone else moves my bed outside onto the balcony, and things go downhill from there.
Sat 26: Nah, revision starts tomorrow. In the meantime more deckchairing, several card games, Every Second Counts, and what with all these visitors I've run out of milk again. Sun 27: The problem with revision is that if you didn't understand it first time it doesn't make much sense second time either. Head to the University careers service and pick up some information on Emergency Career Two. On TV: The Antiques Roadshow comes from Watford. Mon 28: Today's milk carton has a use-by date of April 31. In the news, scientists in Sweden have detected increased radiation in the air. It seems there's been a bad accident at a Russian nuclear power plant... Tue 29: Half of my last student grant cheque has to go on paying for accommodation and food. Sneak off to go punting with the second-best-looking student in college. Wed 30: Time to stay awake for 25 hours because May Morning is a big thing round here. In the morning spend £65 on an Olympus Trip camera, just in time to record some of this jollity for posterity. For lunch a chicken and mushroom pie. In the afternoon a scary tutorial where thankfully Andy gets the harder questions. In the evening beers at the college bar and the purchase of two condoms (oh, they're for blowing up and floating down a corridor). Overnight a canal towpath walk and a succession of board games to fill the hours before dawn. And at 6am join the crowds on Magdalen Bridge while the choir sings inaudibly up the tower, then go watch the Morris dancing and take breakfast with the Sloanes at Sweeney Todd's. Roll into bed at 9am, a tradition finally ticked off, although maybe it would have been more sensible to do this in Year Two. And May's only going to get more sociable, which really isn't going to help June.
