My Summer of ’76

Read most of Anybody Can Do Anything by Betty MacDonald. V. amusing autobiography. Babysat in evening. Have accumulated £8.60 since coming back off hols. Carol [sister] gone to Guide camp.

Had bath, washed and curled hair. Looks nice. Finished Anybody Can Do Anything. Lovely book. Had a nice salad.

Got up. Went to get Carol from camp. Babysat for R & T. Dad got mad with Carol in evening.

Warm. First day of Wimbledon. Ashe and Connors through. Did homework in evening. Started reading Chariots of the Gods by Erich Von Daniken.

Watched men’s doubles. Babysat for J and R.

Dad gave me a crack on face.1 Did experiment in Biology. Got a rabbit yesterday.2 Did some homework. Watched Wimbledon men’s doubles. V. hot.

Watched Wimbledon, Top of the Pops, Porridge, Monty Python and Call My Bluff. Very hot again.

Didn’t go to school in morning as zip broke on skirt and I mended it.

Lovely hot day again. Babysat for R & T. Robin came home [brother, on leave from Navy]. Stopped up till quarter-to-two talking. Found T’s hamster for her. Been looking for two days.

Had hair done. Scorcher. In the 90s here. Robin met me in Sheffield and we went shopping. Bought ice creams. Bought a waistcoat and a blue and white polka dot skirt. Had a sunbathe. Ever so hot though. Got sunburnt.

Another day in 90s, even hotter than yesterday. Went to Langold Lake. Got sunburnt. Revised Chemistry.

Another scorcher. Sunbathed. Am v. sunburnt on throat and arms. Swimming heats for gala. Won backstroke. Came second in rest. Chemistry [mock] exam. Robin went back to Plymouth.

Yet another scorcher. Only got C for art design exam. Went to see Tommy at Barnsley Odeon with Vicki [best friend]. V. good.

Very hot again. This has been hottest heatwave in forty years I think. Watched Wimbledon in evening. Women’s semi finals. C. Evert beat Czech woman.3 E Cawley beat Virginia Wade.

Scorcher. Finished planets drawing in art. Babysat for R & T. Saw Carol’s gym display at school.

Watched doubles. Scorcher.

Borg beat Nastase easily. Had bath, washed hair. V hot. Did good plant drawing of orange blossom and roses. Carol’s friend Karen came down. Watched Psycho. Not as good as it’s supposed to be.

Very hot but some rain in aft. Babysat for R & T. Revised some Physics for exam on Tuesday.

Hot but a bit cloudy. Got 29% in Chemistry exam, about half-way down class. David came top with 82%. That’s 30% more than anybody else. Revised Physics for five hours. Should get a good mark.

Warm. Got praise in English. Babysat for J & R. Watched After the Fall, produced and written by Arthur Miller, based on Marilyn Monroe.

V warm. Had bath, washed hair. Moved parting slightly to one side. Stays put much better.

Dentist for fillings. Played tennis at Worsborough Park with Vicki.

Played tennis again. Babysat for R & T.

Watched Batman (my childhood hero!).

Did washing. Had bath, washed hair. Dried it great. Did ironing. Dried Carol’s hair. Listened to records. Got to sleep late because I had a great laugh with Carol.

Got 50% in Physics [mock]. Pretty good.

Started reading Sons and Lovers by DH Lawrence. Babysat in evening. Excitement in Physics lesson when [a pupil’s] stepmother came to complain to teacher.

Saw careers officer this morning, not individually. He’s very nice. Watched first part of Rich Man, Poor Man, American serial. V v good.

Stopped writing diary until August 5th, but in interval:

• Went to headteacher’s leaving do.

• Didn’t win anything in swimming gala, did two false starts in one race.

• Broke up from school.

• Went long bike rides most days.

• Finished Sons and Lovers by Lawrence.

• Read Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert.

• Watched Olympics. We ended up with 3 gold, 5 silver, 5 bronze. Nadia Comaneci (Romanian gymnast) got perfect tens. Nellie Kim, Russian girl, got two tens.

• Went to see Gone with the Wind with Carol and Mum in Sheffield. Beautiful film.

• Mum, Dad and Tony from up the street put roof window in loft. Lovely view.

• Drew some pictures of Carol.

Went bike ride. Watched beautiful Play for Today called Back of Beyond by Julia Jones.

Went swimming in afternoon with Carol. Rang Vicki in evening. Started reading On the Beach [by Nevil Shute] to Carol and Mum. Want to re-read it myself anyway. Was in good mood.

Got guitar out. Had lovely salad tea.

Had chicken for dinner. Lovely. Played guitar a lot. Watched TV in evening. Had a look at moon out of telescope through loft window.

Did nearly all of wallpapering in bathroom with Carol. Also washed ceiling and walls. Everything in bathroom will match. Blue colour scheme.

Played guitar. Doing quite well. Have learnt more chords.

Finished wallpapering with Carol. Dad painted door and cabinet. Everybody worked v. hard. I changed beds and sorted our bedroom out with Carol because Robin is coming home on leave tomorrow.

It’s great when Robin’s home. He brought some photos that me and him took of each other earlier in year.

Got postcard from Vicki. She’s gone to Yarmouth. Have got three weeks’ pocket money today and have got £10.50 altogether. Going shopping tomorrow. Had nice tea.

Went to Barnsley. Bought pair of wide brown trousers £5.75, a navy blue mid-calf length skirt £3.99. Babysat for J & R. Good job, or I’d have been skint.

Had chicken for dinner. Had bath, washed hair. Did all washing and mending of clothes. Watched TV in evening. Mum and Dad argued as usual. Vicki should be back from her hols tonight.

I’m very fed up. Supposed to be going on hols on Wednesday. Not sure who’s going4. Tried all outfits on to decide what to take. Mum bought awful used sofa from adverts. She’s mad.

Had a lovely sleep last night. Vicki still not back from hols. Did some exercises. Made old faded jeans into denim shorts for hols. Did a few odd jobs. Played guitar.

Vicki still not back. Babysat for J and R. Got camping stuff down from loft. Played some duets with Carol. Repaired sleeping bags (stuffing needed reorganising). Mum did holiday washing.

Vicki back. She’s found a boyfriend from King’s Lynn who she will visit.

Had bath, washed hair, did all ironing for hols. Dad packed trailer up. Should be off tomorrow.

Holiday in Lowestoft. Arrived about 10 to 8.

Sunbathed. Burnt back a bit.

Laid on beach for hours. Fell asleep. Fronts of legs got dreadfully burnt. Had touch of sunstroke while in café at Potter Heigham.

Felt awful. Legs swelled up from sunburn. Awfully painful. Terrible sitting down and standing up. Went for drink with Robin. Lovely weather.

These snippets are from my tiny, no-nonsense and barely-legible day-to-day diary. Gone is the neat handwriting of my junior school years. I had a bigger A5 diary for sporadic, more extended ramblings.

Went to hospital because legs haven’t gone down. Have some tablets to take.5 Went to Southwold. Lovely weather.

Legs still not down. Went to Somerlayton Hall with Mum and Dad. Then went to village where David Copperfield is set. Looked at church nearby. Lovely weather.

Lovely weather. Went to Southwold (nice village).

Went to Yarmouth Beach. Good. Some great funny mirrors. Nasty weather, rainy. Legs started to go down.

It rained when trying to get tent down. Came back.

Didn’t do much all day. Caught up on sleep etc. Had bath etc.

And so ended my heatwave summer of 1976. Thanks for reading, and please do comment if anything here resonates. I love to hear from you.

For more holiday memories, here’s the one about childhood family camping trips in our tiny bubble car.

Thanks so much for all the engagement with last week’s post in memory of my Great Uncle John who died in action during WWI. Much appreciated.

Postcards From The Edge

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Jul 2

I came across these exquisite embroidered silk World War One postcards last week, while searching for ancient photos of my (overdressed) grandparents at the seaside.

Until next time!