Work in progress

These were the first diary entries since 14 November 1972. In that time, much changed. I had left England and moved to Germany, doing a training course on computers with Control Data Institute. After a rather frustrating time with Mechtild Friebel in Münster over the Christmas period, I had assumed that our relationship was over, and had met Marita Schütt (from Ingolstadt), with whom I had an intense but not very fulfilling relationship. At the time described below, Marita and I had come to England for me to get a German visa (which couldn't be issued in Germany), and to pick up as much of my belongings from Comp Cottage as would fit in the back of a Volkswagen Beetle.

The real diary entries on page were entered manually from the paper originals on 30 March 2017. Items in italics, like this, were added at this time. This month is interesting enough that I have added some content from memory, which is presented in brown. The dates are best estimates.

Monday, 2 April 1973	Frankfurt
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I have seen a job advertisement for a company called GUT Reisen [in 2017 defunct] in Eschborn. They're running a UNIVAC 1106, whatever that is, and I have a job interview tomorrow. To prepare for it I found UNIVAC in the Neuer Mainzer Straße and went to get a system description manual.

That seems not to be the way you do things, especially since their documentation person was hidden in the attic. She proved to be a US Citizen of German descent, Ellen St Clair, married to a US servicesman, and very talkative.

Spent the afternoon reading about the UNIVAC.

Tuesday, 3 April 1973	Frankfurt, Eschborn
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Out to GUT Reisen for the job interview. What a computer centre!

This was the first big computer centre I had ever seen.

They have these enormous drums, FASTRAND, that can store 200 million characters!

I fell in love with it immediately. They were impressed by the fact that I had gone to the trouble to find out about the computer, but they wanted somebody with experience, something that I had ignored in the job description. I told them I was sure I could do as well as anybody with a year's experience, so they said “OK, ready to do a programming aptitude test?”. Sure, why not?

The test wasn't difficult. Something like a specific intelligence test: nobody is expected to get 100%. And I didn't either: the answers said that one was wrong. On checking, though, it proved that the question had been ambiguous, and I should have got 100%. In any case, GUT was impressed, and said that, though they weren't allowed to hire me right away, they would get back to me.

Then on to another job interview with a company near the Eschenheimer Turm, not far from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, with a name something like „Scandata“. They were a data collection company, and they ran a scanner system with character recognition, run by a PDP-8. They had a number of computer people, but nobody who knew the PDP-8, so I was offered a job on the spot. Should I take it? The other sounded better, but it was a question of bird in the hand or bird in the bush, so I took it.

Wednesday, 4 April 1973	Frankfurt etc.
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Called up GUT Reisen and told them that I had taken the job with Scandata. They weren't happy. It seems that they were keener on me than they had let on. Should I change my mind and go with them? Didn't come to any conclusion.

Only one problem with the job: I still don't have a visa. Off to the Ausländeramt in Offenbach (since I'm living in Langen) to sort that out.

It wasn't a pleasant experience. The Ausländeramt was specialized in handling uneducated Turks, and they were treated in a way that I haven't experienced anywhere else in Germany. A long room with no seating accommodation and a window at the end, where you handed in your documents and stood around waiting.

Finally they opened the window and called a semblance of my name. Handed me my passport without a word. I took a look: „Aufenthaltserlaubis abgelehnt. Ausreise hat innerhalb 14 Tage zu erfolgen“: “Residence permit denied. Holder must leave the country within 14 days”. If I had been an illiterate Turk I could easily have thought that my application had been accepted!

Back to the window and demanded to speak to somebody in authority. They let me in into the office and explained that I had entered Germany without a visa, and there was no way to issue one in Germany. They were so visibly shaken that they gave me some of their files, which I took with me. But the requirement to leave Germany remained.

When I got home, found a letter in front of my door. From Mr Essam of UNIVAC, asking for a meeting. How did he know where I lived?

Thursday, 5 April 1973	Frankfurt etc.
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Clearly I can't stay with Scandata, so I told them so. They told me that they had offered the job in the assumption that I had the necessary permits, and that if I got them, the job was still mine. But for the moment I was out of work again.

Contacted Mr Essam, who invited me to lunch along with another colleague. They wanted to hire me! Small problem, of course. I need my permits, and of course I said so. But how did he find me? He mentioned Ellen St Clair, but how did she know where I lived? Over to see her and say thanks, and also to tell her of my misfortune. “Don't worry, I know somebody in the Polizeipräsidium”, apparently relatively high up. She arranged for an appointment with him.

Friday, 6 April 1973	Frankfurt etc.
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Off to the Polizeipräsidium to meet Ellen St Clair's connection. He was friendly enough, and asked to see my passport.

“Oh. You're going to have to leave the country”.

I've heard that before. But he had more to say: go to any German embassy and I'll get a visa immediately. The closest embassy would be Luxembourg (240 km), not exactly a long distance to go. But since I needed to go back to England to pick up my belongings, London sounded like a better option, the more so because that's where I had applied for the visa.

Discussed the matter with Marita, who had wanted to go on holiday anyway, and we planned to go together.

Tuesday, 17 April 1973	London → Exeter
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To the German embassy first thing, not without nearly starting a fight with an English truck driver; oh, the joy of being back in England!

As I recall, on the way I saw my first Citroën SM on the way.

They were very nice at the Embassy, gave me a form (inevitably!) to fill out, and told me to pick it up in 2 hours, when, indeed, it was fertig.

This was my residence visa for Germany.

To Kuleszas, Stefan gave me barang in part and the news that Mechitld had contacted him and left a message for me. Off to Oxford; sunshine and boredom. Is it just Marita's Lustlosigkeit, in conjunction with my own, or is it now less interesting? Coffee in Queen's Lane Coffee house not as interesting. Off/on to Exeter, told Marita that Mechtild wanted to see me, which caused somewhat delayed floods of tears. Oh God! Couldn't get into Compost [Comp Cottage] - Neville had the keys.

Wednesday, 18 April 1973	Exeter, etc.
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To Lafrowda, found Prav, much the same as ever, Mike learning Fortran surprisingly quickly, and then off to see Mechtild for a rather artificial half-hour. Poor kid - what must she think about suddenly being confronted with Marita?

I had thought that we had split up in January, but it seems that Mechtild still thought we were together. This was the first that she had known that I had found a new girlfriend.

Off to the New Inn for booze, to Dartmoor Inn for for a lunch which didn't exactly entzück Marita, though she drank enough, and finally picked up my keys from Neville and to Compost - what joy! Moved around for a while, then back to town, and to Prav, who said Mechtild wanted to see me alone. Marita created, so took her back home, and then off to eat with Prav and talk to Mechtild, who was a little upset at the confrontation this morning, not unreasonably; she took the explanation well, and reminds me how much she means to me: few girls would understand that, but she does; hoffentlich will she on return to Germany be better in der Lage, mit mir was anzufangen. Mechtild, bleib bei mir! Das Leben kann doch gut erfolgen, und Gegenstücke sind keineswegs inkompatibel.

Thursday, 19 April 1973	Exeter → Lyndhurst
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To Compost to clear out. Saw Neville, more or less happy about the furniture/mess payoff.

He hadn't received any rent since December. To compensate him, I gave him the furniture in the house, for which he also tidied out the mess.

Arranged to collect my boxes of books with a tractor, but Mr. Clark [next door neighbour to the east] offered to put them in the back of his house after I had given him some left-over stuff, which seems preferable to me. Off, having makan, possibly for the last time, at the Ganges, and crept unhappily along to Lyndhurst, where we got passable overnight. Makan and look at the Cathedral in Salisbury, neither very interesting.

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