Latkes by Dall-E.
Monty Mendelson (forgive me if the surname is not spelt correctly) was a manager at Newman Harris who worked primarily for partner Lesley Cohen, whose office was in an office building in Wigmore Street, around the corner from the main Cavendish Square office. Monty at that time looked after one or two clients in Stanley Bloom’s portfolio too (Laurie Krieger’s “empire”, if I recall correctly), which might explain why I got to use his office in his absence.
The other possible reason is that the computer room was in the Wigmore Street office and I was the designated youngster who was supposed to try and sort out the problems that the departing “computer manager” had failed to sort out.
Monday 6 January 1986 – Work ok today – in office all day. Pretty uneventful day. Got to use Monty’s office which is cozy. Had a lazy evening at home reading mostly.
Tuesday 7 January 1986 – Uneventful day at work – still got Monty’s room – a cushy number. Spent the evening at home reading a book etc.
Clearly this role in Monty’s office felt cosier and cushier, to me, than real hard graft at clients’ sites doing actual accounting work. Who knew?
Wednesday 8 January 1986 – In office this morning (Monty’s) – met Kate [Fricker] for lunch – went to Cinecittà [see below]– pleasant enough lunch. Went to Laurence Corner in afternoon – ok. Lazy evening in – watched some TV + read etc.
In the 1970s and 1980s, London was home to a very famous, eccentric Italian restaurant called Cinecittà, located right behind the old Debenhams department store at 74 Welbeck Street, on the corner of Henrietta Place in Marylebone.
Google’s AI mode
It was highly memorable for its unique setup:
The Concept: It was a theatrical, self-service Italian restaurant designed like a movie studio lot.
The Decor: Diners could choose to sit and eat their meals inside various novelty “movie sets,” most famously including a full-sized vintage train carriage booth.
Thursday 9 January 1986 – Spent the day at Laurence Corner – ok. Had a quiet evening in – watched some TV etc + read books.
Friday 10 January 1986 – Went to office today – did budget for CAA [Concert Artiste’s Association]. Had a drink with Mike [King], Sandra [soon to be or just became King]+ Terry [errand “boy”] after work. Went up to Keele – pretty tired etc. Had dinner + earlyish night.
Saturday 11 January 1986 – Got up reasonably early – had breakfast at [the] SU. Went out in afternoon – saw Ali [Dabbs], Pitty [Graham Pitt], L54 [Alan Gorman, Pete Wild, Hayward Burt] etc – went on to Hanley. Saw “Plenty” at cinema + then went for drink – decided impulsively to eat at Hanley Garden + get cab home.
Sunday 12 January 1986 – Rose quite late – after getting papers etc. Ben [Benita Wishart] came over for latke “lunch” etc – went for walk in woods in the dark. Lazed some more – had dinner watched a lot of TV + turned in.
Monday 13 January 1986 – Returned to London from Keele. Work OK – in office all day doing bits of this + that. Pretty tired though – had a quiet evening in + early night.
Tuesday 14 January 1986 – In office today – pretty uneventful day all told. Stayed in this evening – got a few odds & ends done.
Wednesday 15 January 1986 – Work OK – nothing very exciting happened. Stayed in evening.
Thursday 16 January 1986 – Went to Sam Phillip’s factory today – fairly hard work. Went on to Andrea [Dean]’s in evening – for booze, fondue etc. Very pleasant evening with that crowd. Stayed over there.
Friday 17 January 1986 – Set off to Finsbury Park (Sam Phillip’s) – worked in factory all day – pretty tiring – had a quiet evening at home + earlyish night.