Friday 23 July 1976 – went to Auntie Pam’s [Pam & Michael Harris]. Washed up. TV Invisible Man.
Saturday 24 July 1976 – Dinner party. Washed up. Olympics. Earnt [sic] 1 onion ring, 2 1/2p, & a peanut.
Something tells me that I started to twig, that weekend, that simply getting a bit of praise from my mum was inadequate reward for someone approaching the age of 14. Not that I ever managed to turn washing up into a fee paying avocation. I was soon to self-reward with some swigs of liqueur whenever I did the washing up, which didn’t help my finances any but did make me feel a bit better about it at the time.
Sunday 25 July 1976 – went to Mays [neighbours George and Winifred] for tea. V nice. TV Sabrina Affair [sic – I meant Sabrina Fair, although the film is simply titled Sabrina]
Monday 26 July 1976 – went to “Good as New” [helping in charity shop] all day. TV Get Some In
Tuesday 27 July 1976 – went to Hampton Court, then shop. Saw Dad & Mum in film.
I well remember Grandma Jenny taking me to Hampton Court when I was small and loving the maze and the grounds. This outing, as I don’t mention Grandma, was probably unaccompanied, although i suspect that I was with a friend from the street (probably Andy Levinson but possibly Stuart Harris) as I don’t think I was allowed that sort of outing completely alone at that stage.
Going on to the shop after Hampton Court will have made perfect sense, as the train from Hampton Court would for sure have stopped at Clapham Junction.
“Dad & Mum in film” will unquestionably have been “Motoring In France, 1958, Côte d’Azur”. It is a cracking good home movie – I would suggest the best my dad ever made. It is (was) made in Standard 8, but dad was an excellent cinematographer. The film also has a superb soundtrack with dad’s wicked sense of humour providing the narrative. I commend it to movie lovers everywhere.
So inspired was I when dad showed me this film at the shop and explained that there were several others in various states of sound track development and editing, I clearly was on a mission to sort out the family cine.
If I remember correctly, Dad also had an assortment of commercial films in stock that needed “sorting” – i.e. they had got mixed up in their boxes and/or needed improved labelling so that he might promote and sell them accurately.
Wednesday 28 July 1976 – went to shop. new cine projector: sound.
Thursday 29 July 1976 – went to shop. Cine films.
Friday 30 July 1976 – went to shop. Cine films etc.
I was in the movie business. And I had an idea of my own stewing, which started bubbling up to fruition the very next day.