In July 2022, we’re having a heatwave. The brain addles, but also the odd memory flash arrives.
39 years ago we also had a heatwave, right at the very end of the 82/83 academic year, at Keele.
It was probably the only period in all my years at Keele when I (and many of us) felt stifled by the heat up on that hill.
I have one very clear memory of that heatwave, from when the weather broke. The sky darkened, there was thunder and it started to pour with rain, much like a tropical storm.
There were very few students still around. It was either right at the very end of the summer term or possibly even after term had finished; I returned to my Barnes flat (L54) at Keele for a weekend or two that summer, as I was going out with Liza O’Connor from The Sneyd at that time.
I remember that Ashley Fletcher was around at the flat when the weather broke; Ashley immediately said, “let’s go outside and dance in the rain”.
Several other people came out of other flats onto the edge of the playing fields and danced with us.
Although it was 1983, I don’t think we quite managed to emulate Flashdance…
…but still – what a feeling!
Anything to add, Ashley?
Postscript: Yes, Ashley Did Have Something To Add…
…pseudonymously – only because it is my tradition for King Cricket to provide noms de guerre for my friends…or should I say, for Ged Ladd’s friends:
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