Me and Terry as reimagined by Nano Banana 2.1 on my instructions
Wednesday 12 February 1986 – Busyish day at the office. Met Caroline [Freeman, now Curtis] for lunch – very nice. Stayed in evening did little.
Thursday 13 February 1986 – Work OK – busy in the office etc. Bought [rail] ticket / Len [Briegal]’s office lunch. Went to bed fairly early after lazyish evening at home.
No doubt, when I saw Len Briegal at his father-in-law Josh’s stone setting the weekend before, Len had suggested that we “do lunch” on learning that I was frequently visiting Euston at lunchtimes to get my advance rail tickets for Keele. No on-line booking in those days. If you wanted cheap advance tickets you turned up and bought them in advance. Len’s office was within spitting distance of Euston Station.
Friday 14 February 1986 – Work OK – quite busy. Went down to Selfridges in lunch hour to buy presents etc. Met Johnboy [John White] after work & had drink – caught train up to Keele – had dinner & reasonably early night.
Presents etc. can only mean Valentines Day presents, can’t it?
How could I possibly have finished work, had a drink with John, got the train all the way to Keele, had dinner and still had a reasonably early night? Clearly 23 year-old-me’s definition of an early night is at variance with that of the 40-years-later version of me.
Although the diary is silent on this point, Petra must have had that dinner ready for us in anticipation of my arrival. Thanks, Petra.
Saturday 15 February 1986 – Got up quite early – had a fairly lazy day tho – whiled it away – went over to Kate [Fricker] & Annalisa [de Mercur]’s for a while in afternoon – went to Hanley Garden [Chinese Restaurant] with Petra in the evening – very nice.
Sunday 16 February 1986 – Rose fairly early – did little for earlier part of day. Tried to do some work in late afternoon & early evening. Had a very nice Indonesian meal in evening.
Petra and I were clearly on an Indonesian food kick at that time, having dined Indonesian in London the weekend before. I’ll guess that Petra cooked this Indonesian food fest, as I don’t state that I cooked it. But I know that I was into Indonesian cooking at that time too. I have some hand-written recipes on jotters from that era that will need excavating at some point, after I have done with the diaries.
Monday 17 February 1986 – Returned from Keele first thing – office OK – quite tired. Had a lazyish evening + an earlyish night.
It’s time to write about Terry.
I first met Terry on the Stoke-On-Trent railway platform one early Monday morning – I think back in November or December 1985. Terry was blind and was regularly travelling to London early Monday mornings. I had started to get into the habit of staying the Sunday night at Keele with Petra and catching that early Monday morning train myself. The early one that still allowed you to use the cheap weekend return rail tickets – the slightly later one was proper commuter prices.
Terry and I struck up a travelling companion friendship. I would look out for him on the platform if I was catching that train and we would chat the journey away together. Terry was an upbeat fellow. He barely needed help as he was familiar with his route, although he clearly did appreciate a bit of subtle guidance and assistance, which helped to speed up boarding and disembarking.
Terry was a very interesting fellow and we chatted about many subjects. He would have an interesting perspective on things – often coloured (if I might use that word in this context) by the fact that he was blind and therefore gaining his information from talking books and radio. My Grandma Jenny was going blind at that time and I was becoming a little more aware of how blind people cope with things, but Terry, who had always been blind, increased my awareness many fold. I very much enjoyed Terry’s company.
I have a feeling this particular Monday morning might have been the last time I saw him, although my last meeting with him might have come a bit later in the year. It was memorable for all the wrong reasons. Terry was clearly not in his usual upbeat mood and I asked him if anything was wrong. He told me that his recent hearing test had shown a rapid deterioration in his hearing – something he had been warned might occur at some stage in his life but he had been hoping not while he was still relatively young.
The prognosis was that Terry was likely to become profoundly deaf as well as blind. He told me that this had been one of his worst fears – that he would feel more-or-less completely locked in if he could neither hear nor see. He had spent his whole early life learning to cope – pretty well – with his inability to see, but his method had been to use his hearing to maximum effect as a partial substitute for sight.
I remember really not knowing what to say to Terry when he told me this dismal news. I could think of no real words of comfort for him. I remember expressing hope that his hearing would stop deteriorating, but he clearly had been told to expect the worst and was expecting no remission.
I also remember feeling absolutely dreadful about the fact that I was in a medium-term self-pity bad mood post Keele. I found my work dull, living with my parents again tedious and the long-distance nature of my relationship with Petra was straining. I sensed that this period was just a phase, but for sure I was feeling sorry for myself at that time. But then, when I compared my circumstances to those of Terry, I mentally beat myself up for wallowing about some pretty low grade, short-term unhappy circumstances, compared with the nightmarish situation that poor Terry was going through and could anticipate for the rest of his life.
I might have seen Terry once or twice more after he told me his bad news – I might be conflating parts of that memory, but I have never forgotten our travelling companion friendship and him telling me his terrible news one morning. I have often since wondered what became of Terry.
Tuesday 18 February 1986 – Work OK – had to go to Krapy Rub Snif [Finsbury Park] in the morning + then back to the office – all rush rush. Mum & Dad went out this evening so I had a nice evening all by myself.
From a profoundly serious memory that has endured for 40 years – that of Terry – to a rather ludicrous memory, courtesy of cousin Mark Briegal.
I wrote “Krapy Rub Snif” in my diary that day on the back of a conversation with Mark Briegal at his grandfather’s stone setting earlier in the month. When I told Mark that I was working in some godforsaken places, such as Finsbury Park, Mark said:
…did you know that Finsbury Park spelt backwards reads “Krapy Rub Snif”? It’s one of those facts that, once someone has told it to you, you never, ever forget it.
Mark was right. I never have forgotten it. And when I saw it written down in my diary, in an entry from 10 days after an entry for an event where I had seen Mark, I laughed out loud, having been reminded of the occasion on which I learnt that silly factoid.
Wednesday 19 February 1986 – Quite a busy day at work — etc — spent lunch hour sorting out weekend arrangements + such. Lazyish evening — did some work.
Thursday 20 February 1986 – Work OK – pretty busy tho’ – shops etc lunch hour – stayed in eve – sorting things out etc.
Friday 21 February 1986 – Hectic + not too pleasant day at work. Went up to Keele quite late (had Chinese meal late) – Petra not very well etc.
Saturday 22 February 1986 – Stayed in most of day looking after Petra etc. Cooked etc.. Popped over to see Kate & Annalisa for a while. Quiet evening in.
Sunday 23 February 1986 – Lazyish day — Petra still not very well — took photos etc. Went over to visit [Barnes] L Block mob + left during afternoon. Got home in eve.
I don’t remember what ailed Petra – probably just a bad cold or something of that ilk. I’m glad to see that I cooked while Petra was not feeling well. Chicken soup might well have featured in my medicinal cooking.
Goodness knows what became of the photos I’m supposed to have taken on that occasion. I’ll guess that Annalisa developed them, as she was deeply into photography at that time.
As for my visit to the L-Block mob…
I have several times displayed and mentioned in Ogblog pieces Mark Ellicott’s photograph of Hayward Burt sitting in MY chair in Barnes L54. I lived in that flat for two years between autumn 1982 and summer 1984. That chair was my chair. Some might say that I lived in that chair for two years.
As if I had a perennial right to that chair. Or any chair.
Anyway, now, with the help of AI, I can be restored to my rightful seat.
Some say that AI is going to overturn the entire world order, but on the evidence of the above doctored image, AI can be used as a tool with which to restore the world order.
Hayward had also replaced me as sabbatical Education and Welfare Officer a few months previously, so, in February 1986, Hayward was also blooming well sitting in my Students’ Union office chair too, now I come to think of it.
