Simulation of Keele SU AGM by Nano Banana 2.1 via Mark Ellicott
Friday 24 January 1986 … went up to Keele – arrived late & very tired. Petra [Wilson] cooked mussels (delicious) in evening – very nice.
This bit of the story has already been illustrated and writ:
Saturday 25 January 1986 – Got up reasonably early – tried to do some work – went to Newcastle for tea + did some shopping, went round to L49 for a while + then went home. Had chicken in yellow bean sauce for dinner – (I cooked) + turned in reasonably early.
Sunday 26 January 1986 – Again got up fairly early + tried to get some work done + read paper. Went over to Kate [Fricker, now Susan] in afternoon – Petra followed, as Ruth [Miller] did a bunk. Went home + had gevikeltekraut for dinner but not too pleasant evening thereafter.
I can’t remember who was living in L49 that year. Hayward Burt and Pete Wild were still in L54 – my old flat, I’m pretty sure. Something tells me that Ali Dabbs might have moved to L-Block Barnes that year.
As for the cooking, I took credit for the chicken in yellow bean sauce (mine would have had fewer peppers in it). I’m guessing that Petra cooked the gevikeltekraut, although it might have been a Benita Wishart special, that dish. I don’t expect either of them to remember.
Monday 27 January 1986 – Tired today – went to town for a while – did a little work etc. The afternoon was again rather strained but went to the AGM in evening + got rather drunk there. Fairly late night.
Tuesday 28 January 1986 – Again quite tired – did a little work – went to town at noon – met Ashley [Fletcher], came back to Petra’s etc. Went to Pinocchio’s for dinner in the evening – had trouble getting back but managed to do so. Very nice evening, lateish night.
Wednesday 29 January 1986 – Returned from Keele first thing – had a sedate day at work & got some work done. Very tired in evening – went to bed quite early.
Thank goodness Ashley got a mention in the diaries – he gets most upset if he is absent from Keele-related diary entries from that era.
I sense that the strain of the long distance relationship was starting to tell on both me and Petra, based on these diary notes. Perhaps more tellingly, I was starting to sense that student life was now for other people, not for me.
One thing I particularly remember was finding the prevailing chart music that season especially trite. While the students were no doubt digging A-ha, Dire Straits & Billy Ocean, all riding high in the charts…
…I found those tracks intensely irritating at that time and, strangely, returning to them, still do.
My music listening was orienting towards big, big, symphonies around that time. I mentioned Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony in an earlier piece about returning to Keele. I also especially remember the strains of Bruckner’s Fourth echoing around my head in those days, as I stood on those cold railway platforms and sat in those trains back and forth [did you see what I did there?] to Keele.
It’s not as far away from student-oriented rock music as some readers might think. The riff in Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes is surely based on the motif from Bruckner’s Fifth, which is almost too cool for school…or too much of a steal for Keele.