cc 2.0 Ian Capper / The Meliá White House
Saturday 7 December 1985 – Met Petra in morning – breakfast etc. (Lost handbag). Stopped off at shop – stayed in the evening.
I remember the “Petra lost handbag” incident quite well, but with some gaps. I think Petra took an early train down from Keele, having arranged to meet me in the morning and then go on to see her folks down in Sussex. We went to quite a swish place in Piccadilly for “brunch”.
Thanks to Gemini, I recall that the place was Richoux – written up and photographed in this Transatlantic article, although sadly no longer at 172 Piccadilly.
Petra and I got about five or ten minutes down the road when Petra realised that she didn’t have her handbag. We returned to Richoux to discover that the bag had gone.
Despair.
But wait!
A waiter said he thought he had seen another customer spot the left-behind handbag and thought that the gentleman had handed it in to the police. The waiter suggested that we visit the local cop shop.
In those days, that meant a short stroll to Savile Row. And in those days, only very limited questions were asked of Petra to prove that she was the owner of the bag.
And in those days, believe it or not, the copper handed over the contact details for the gentleman who had spared Petra no end of trouble, as we said we wanted to get him a gift to thank him.
Back to Richoux we went for some chocolates and then up to Albany Street to The White House Hotel. In those days, no questions asked, we simply strode to the appropriate floor and knocked on the door.
The gentleman, half-opening the room door, seemed a little taken aback to be confronted by two smiling, grateful youngsters and a box of chocolates, which he rather sheepishly accepted before closing the door.
I’m sure the “Do Not Disturb” sign had been invented by then, even though GDPR had not.
Sunday 8 December 1985 – stayed at home today – went to Grandma Jenny’s – did some work, etc.
Monday, 9 December 1985 – started FT [Financial Training] course today – okay. Stayed in and worked in evening.
I spent quite a lot of time at Financial Training in Bramley Road those years I was articled and studying for my ACA exams. That building is now an abandoned, graffiti-ridden wreck, visible from the Western Avenue flyover, reminding me how dilapidated I might look after all those years if I didn’t take care of myself or have someone to take care of me.
I asked Google Flow to produce an artist’s representation of what the place looked like in the mid 1980s and I must say it (via Nana Banana 2.1) has done a cracking job, albeit an architect-style artist’s impression.
I do recall finding the course work extremely dull, especially in that first year as I had to do a lot of modules that were merely repeating stuff I had studied before (e.g. statistics, basic law) or was familiar with from years of doing practical accounting (e.g. basic book-keeping).
I remember spending breaks writing imaginary skits and songs about my fellow “kids in college” to relieve the boredom, sending them by post to Petra at Keele. I’m not sure that this comedy worked particularly well but it was possibly useful training for my post-qualification avocation as a comedy writer.
Tuesday, 10 December 1985 – course ok – worked at home in evening.
Wednesday, 11 December 1985 – FT went okay (evening messed up by call etc) – early night.
Thursday, 12 December 1985 – course ok – finished. Went up to Keele this evening.
Friday, 13 December 1985 went to union – did exam etc – went to Ben’s [Benita Wishart] for dinner in the evening – ok.
Saturday, 14 December 1985 – went to kiddie’s party in the afternoon for awhile – had a nice meal in evening.
Sunday, 15 December 1985 – lazy day at Keele reading papers eating etc- very pleasant.
At that stage, I was still very much enjoying the weekend visits to Keele and didn’t seem to mind catching a very early train from Stoke to Euston and going straight into the office. The very thought fills me with dread now.
Monday, 16 December 1985.– Came down from Keele. Back to work today – computer etc. – work ok! Had an early night.
Computer etc. will be to do with the regular problems Newman Harris was having at that time with its computer set up. The main machine (which was used primarily for payroll services) had a tendency to glitch out. Payroll was a very time sensitive affair in those days. The service was offered to quite a few retail and hospitality sector clients who paid their staff weekly and mostly in cash.
I think the firm lost patience with the “manager” who was supposed to be looking after the computer services and asked me (purportedly bright and young) to help hold the fort while they decided what to do.
A bit of common sense and an obsessive compulsive approach to backing up data regularly…which I have never quite got over since…meant that I ended up holding that fort for rather a long time.
(I have just pressed the “save draft” button, just in case. Even though WordPress auto-backs-up very regularly. I just pressed “save draft” again. To be sure, to be sure). Let’s move on.
It looks as though I used that run up to Christmas to catch up with lots of my friends.
Tuesday, 17 December 1985 – at Setty today – popped in to office etc. Bobbie [Scully] in evening had Indonesian meal etc. Very nice.
Wednesday 18 December 1985 – work etc – at Setty – went over over to Kate’s [Fricker] in the evening – had meal etc.
Thursday, 19 December 1985 – went to Setty -> office – ok – met Petra in evening – had Chinese meal etc.
Friday, 20 December 1985 – work okay – very tired in evening – had an early night.
Saturday, 21 December 1985 – lazyish day – library etc. Went to Andrea’s [Dean] party in the evening – ok – stayed over.
Sunday 22 December 1985 – hung around for a while. Went to Jilly’s [Black] in the afternoon and evening. Very pleasant.
Monday 23 December 1985 – work ok – did nothing in the evening.
Tuesday 24 December 1985 – work in morning – finished at lunchtime – met Annalisa [de Mercur] for lunch – went home – had lazyish time.
Wednesday, 25 December 1985 – lazy day at home – went to [Doreen & Stanley] Benjamin’s for evening – quite pleasant.
Thursday, 26 December 1985 – at home – worked most of the day. Watched some television also.
Friday 27 December 1985 – stayed at home and worked mostly – taped – went shops with dad in afternoon – worked in evening also.
Saturday 28 December 1985 – stayed in and work for most of the day and evening. Watched a film in evening also.
Sunday, 29 December 1985 – worked for most of the day – had Chinese lunch etc. Got quite a lot done.
Monday 30 December 1985 – Did home exam in morning – went to shops, taped etc in afternoon – lazy evening.
I was really into classical music by that stage of the autumn/winter and I have no doubt that the taping I talk about over those weeks will have been classical music.
But one track from the charts that late autumn does stick in my mind as having been a bit of an earworm: