Autobiographical

Forgive the time gap, dear readers. I will keep this entry short as the second year at Queen Mary College, London University, passed by uneventfully, marked by French and transatlantic romances, plus the lead role in Russian in a theatre production. 

It was also preceded by a highly enjoyable three months back at the camp site in Arcachon near Bordeaux. My positive mood at the time was reflected music-wise in the UK by such top eclectic hits in summer 1983 as Every Breath You Take, Red Red Wine, Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home), Flashdance… What a Feeling, Gold and China Girl, penned respectively by The Police, UB40, Paul Young, Irene Cara, Spandau Ballet and David Bowie.

And it was even better second time around, as I now was accorded greater responsibilities and could adapt the schedule to compete in table tennis tournaments, beating the French No. 5 that year, and make the most of the largest sand dune in Europe. As well as a higher salary and 12 weeks of an emotional rollercoaster, the summer was topped off by romance with a 25-year old biochemist Claudie at the site and a week with her in Paris. While there , I also managed to catch up with Isabelle and Etienne’s mother. 

And then the return to studies, fun chats over coffee and beer with Nats, and pub crawls with best friends Phil and Russell, including long evenings at The Hog in the Pound on Bond Street. They were an essential component of the student experience that I always recall with a smile.

I did return to see Claudie for another week just before Christmas. However, we were clearly on a different wavelength – she proposed to me out of the blue. I was 19 and definitely wasn’t mature enough for a serious relationship back then. I was keen to continue the relationship and see how things might pan out later on as she meant a lot to me., However, my pleas evoking Tina Turner’s December hit “Let’s Stay Together” were all in vain.

Shortly afterwards in early 1984 I helped out my parents with issues related to my eldest brother John. A successful broker, he had a problem with alcohol, caused no doubt in part by his first wife who couldn’t wait to move him on. I still remember him regularly and fondly, especially the many months we spent together at the time and subsequently.

And then there was Toni, a lovely Italian-American girl with whom I would spend a wonderful spring and early summer. However, this was followed by three weeks in Youngstown, Ohio (instead of the planned two months), which were far less enjoyable. It was my turn to be rejected. Admittedly crashing her mother’s car may not have helped. However, Toni did turn up unexpectedly on my doorstep in our new house in Richmond in summer 1985 and then at my work place, leading to a couple of drinks, but I had moved on a month earlier. So in late July I returned to the UK and found work through a temp agency at a Coca-Cola bottling plant, drinking far too much Fanta and Lilt, a beverage that was sadly scrapped in 2023. George Michael’s Careless Whisper, Nik Kershaw’s Wouldn’t It Be Good and Prince’s When Doves Cry summed up my feelings at the time.

Going back to March that year, I had been given the role of Don Juan for some reason in Pushkin’s Stone Guest . At one moment in the blank verse drama he kisses a blonde widow. She was played by a stunning fellow Russian-English student Joanna, albeit one year ahead. That particular scene was photographed many times by Toni…

And then summer came to an end. It was time for something completely different.

To be continued…

Taken after the return from Arcachon. I loved that leather jacket.