Greg's diary--June 1970

This diary was entered from the paper originals between 14 February 2017 and 24 February 2017.

Monday, 1 June 1970	Bow, etc.
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Had intended to get up early and do some things in town, but as usual something went wrong, and I did not wake up until about 1030; over to pick Sue up, and then into town and did a bit of work on the computer, then to the refectory to have a bite, as Sue was feeling hungry; were visited by Wolf, Andrew Bell and David Cawthra, which last wished Sue a very confidential good afternoon. Then saw a note from Martin on my car, to the effect that he had started respraying his car, and I should come up and see what he had done; went up, found some of the worst orange peel I have ever seen, and to boot he had not knocked out all the dents; in short, it looked grotty, but he said various things which might have been at least partially true. Then changed a wheel for Wolf, and had coffee with him, and he suggested we went down to the beach with Elaine, so I down to Dunns while Wolf picked up Elaine, and I intended to leave the car there, but Colin did the job on the spot, so we dropped Wolf's car outside town and went in my car to Exmouth, where we sunbathed vaguely for a couple of hours, without really achieving much. Finally Wolf suggested we got Elaine back, so took him to his car, then to mess around on the PDP-12 for a while - I am finally thinking constructively in terms of writing more Music programs for it - but there was no paper, so played WAR12 for a while, then off to Crossmead for formal supper, which was about as crazy as ever; latest amusement was when Rog and mob contrived to push Alistair's car into the duck pond, with imaginable (and also un-) consequences. Left after makan, and back home, where our habits are getting quite strong; at least we get on better in bed now than we used to only a month ago, which is not bad going. Stayed at home the whole evening, and did little else.

Tuesday, 2 June 1970	Bow, etc.
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And on goes life; today I got up even later. I am getting a bit out of touch with life, the way I seem to spend all my time with Sue: sooner or later, I suppose, it will resolve itself. Round after lunch to pick her up, and straight into town, where I went first to the bank, then looking round for some DJ's [Dinner jacket], and took my Pelikan pen to the mob in North St. for repair - about time; I am fed up with these grotty Sheaffer's things. Then across the road to the little junk shop to see if they had got my condensers [capacitors], which they had not; however saw a very nice tent, apparently unused, though selling for only £12 against £20 new, so decided to buy it. Paid £2 deposit, then along for further DJ searches, and finally took Sue to Nightleigh [music school of the university], and found that they intended carrying 5 musicians, including side drum, 3 cymbals, dress clothes, horn, etc., in an A40, and decided that they would never do it, and so offered to take 1 passenger (Sue) and as much luggage as they liked. Then to Halfords to buy some oil, and out across the moor, changing it at the first available opportunity; then to Horrabridge to a place called Beggar's roost, where they were to stay tonight and tomorrow night. Got there fully 17½ minutes before the others, who had passed us while I was changing the oil. When they arrived, we had a bite to eat, then they had to go to a rehearsal, and I to see Mrs. Norman to tell her that Sue would, in all probability, visit her tomorrow; she seemed highly delighted, and also spoke at great length about camping, Turkey, etc., this after I had told her about my tent. Then back home for rather boring, celibate evening, which I spent working out the Music buffer for “Freude, schöne Götterfunken” - this is more complicated than I thought: apparently the table has little to do with the actual note values.

This was data for a PDP-12 program called Music, which played on the computer's sound output (a simple sine wave, I think). The data consisted of representations of pitch and duration.

Wednesday, 3 June 1970	Bow → Buckland → Bow
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Up later today and, after preliminaries such as breakfast, into town and saw John Boyle about a tape for the computer, with a primary view to compiling the music to „Freude, schöne Götterfunken“, and so he dragged one out for me, and carefully erased any of his programs. Spent about 20 minutes transcribing with PIP, then arrived Dave Snell wanting to do something, and so I off to do some shopping, and found some correspondance from Wolf about shockers, but by the time I got back to the Uni, he was gone. Had a bite to eat, then back to the computer, and there put in the music buffer for Freude, and got a compiler diagnostic, which I provisionally ignored; as a result, after an adventure which involved wiping DIAL off the user tape, the note values were crazily exaggerated, and so checked and found I had left a table out, and so put it in, and to my astonishment, the thing assembled and then ran, albeit with a couple of typing errors in the buffer, which I soon cleared up; then put in the times to “Freude trinken alle Wesen” and “Froh wie seine Sonnen”. Compiled that, then decided to work through another program which would type out “Congratulations!!→↙You have successfully ignored the fact that this is Greg's tape. Please load FOCAL from the user tape”, and stored that on my tape as FOCAL4K. Then, in a hurry, off home and deposited the food I had bought, and changed into my suit, then off to Buckland, running into Mr. Fortescue on the way - almost literally! Fellow was overtaking stupidly near Mary Tavy, and I did not recognise him until I had flashed him; he took it as a greeting and waved.

In those days in the UK, people flashed with their headlights as a greeting. In Germany it was very much an objection, and that's the way I had meant it.

In Buckland, everything was in turmoil; I had a booze, then arrived Sue, and in for another drink; then arrived Fortescues and Comyns [?], and all in to hear the Vaughan Williams, which was none too brilliant, and the seats were bloody uncomfortable. Then to what there was in the way of a party, had a bite to eat, then off home, and early (like almost immediately) to bed.

Thursday, 4 June 1970	Bow, etc.
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Up also late, and away {?] once again and subsequently down for breakfast and a very necessary bath - fortunately no sign of Chris at this stage - and then hung around at home for a while wondering what to do. Eventually into the Uni, and to the computer, with intention to do some work, but John Boyle was there, and apparently wanted me to leave the tape there, which somewhat diappointed me; then John off to lunch, and I did a bit of editing, including replacing FOCAL4K, and played FREUDE for Sue, somewhat to her delight [Freude?]. Then to the refectory for a bit to eat, subsequently in to town and to see about my DJ, which apparently is not such a certainty as I had hoped; in any case, they asked me to look in tomorrow. Then decided to go to the Ceylon tea centre for some tea, but some old battleaxe there decided that it was unhygeinic for people to go in barefoot (Sue, not me!), and though she was nearly placated when I gave Sue one of my slippers, did kick us out in the end, but not before I have given her my considered opinion of such actions. Then decided to go to the old Forge in Chagford for tea there, and did so, though I was sorely disappointed in the degree to which this place has deteriorated in the past couple of years - it was this time hardly worth it at all, and I felt cheated.

Then down to Gidleigh park, and subsequently stopped on the banks of the Teign and lay there for a while just contemplating nature; after a while went off back home again, and started cooking up a curry. Then did a bit of recorder playing, and later had makan and to bed, then up early to take Sue home, but found myself with insufficient petrol for the journey, so waited for Chris to get home, but he, too, was out of petrol, so Sue had to stay the night - not that any of us had any real objections.

Friday, 5 June 1970	Bow, etc.
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Woke up fairly early this morning, half expecting Sue's parents to come rattling on the door (we had put a sleeping bag on the sofa, etc., for this eventuality). but it did not happen, though someone else came and disappeared again before I could get the key and open the door. After a bit of messing around, decided that it would not be a bad idea to take Sue home and face the music/parents, and so back, where Mr. Fortescue was quite happy with the reason we gave - they are altogether too easy to satisfy.

It seems that we didn't even bother to call them on the phone to tell them what had happened. You'd expect them to have been frantic.

Still, in that case it was just as well. Went back home to try and do some work, and later in to the Uni with a program I had been writing instead of doing my real work - a triple precision addition package called TRIADD, which I hope will make things easier for me with my multiple precision arithmetic program which I might later include in FORTRAN systems.

“Multiple precision” was 36 bits (3 PDP-12 words).

In this case, however, things did not go that easily: it was difficult enough to get the thing started, and when it did, all the counts were haywire, and even by the time I finished, the result that it churned out was anything but the correct one. Gave that up after a while and did some shopping , then round to Birks to see if I could find Mike, but was out of luck, and just borrowed some of Andy Holman's thermodynamics notes and went home with them to see what little I could make of them. Thought about going to see Sue, but somehow survived without; copied out some notes and had makan, and sat for hours trying to work out what to do with TRIADD, which, I felt, had no right to behave the way that it did.

Saturday, 6 June 1970	Bow, etc.
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So now I have known Sue a month! and what a hectic time it has been, too; I don't know how I manage it, but one thing is abundantly obvious; I do not feel the way some people do who have large does [doses?] of sex over a longish period of time, that I couldn't stand any more of it, quite the contrary: if anything I am getting randier, and it worries neither of us.

Up fairly late, as befits a Saturday morning, and found that I really didn't have anything particularly pressing to do, so leisurely up - mail has been falling off somewhat of late - and over after breakfast to pick Sue up. Back home and did a bit of washing, or rather I left Sue to it while I tried to do a little work, an attempt, as usual, doomed to failure. Finally down and cooked something (like an enormous nasi goreng) in the way of lunch, and thereafter upstairs to celebrate the first month's anniversary of my meeting Sue in a manner most pleasing to both of us, though I discovered soon that I only had one condom left, which somewhat irritated me, and even drove me to the desperate step of coitus interruptus - the sooner we can get someone to prescribe Sue the pill, the better.

Lay in bed for a while, then down to the Barton for a drink, though the real reason was to get some condoms; the weather of late has been excellent, and we walked, though I wonder if that was wise. Left the nasi goreng to warm up when we got back, but by the time we finally came down for it, it had cooked long enough for all the meat to just about disintegrate. Had something to eat, then a well deserved/earned bath, and sat on the sofa playing recorders, etc., until Chris arrived and could not get in, thus somewhat annoying me - once again he did not have his key with him. Nearly came to blows over that one, but instead off and took Sue home comparatively early.

Sunday, 7 June 1970	Bow, etc.
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Up somewhat earlier, as Sue had suggested that I should arrive at their place, whither I had been invited for lunch, at about 1130, so that she could get out of going to church. When I arrived there, however, the whole family was there - whether they had stayed behind because I was coming or for some other reason, I don't know, but in any case, Sue and I soon disappeared into the music room and played upon my recorders, which I had brought round. Sue had, however, to help with the lunch, and after that came lunch itself, which was not at all bad - hardly the most original, but it certainly made a change from the sort of food I am used to cooking. Had to help with the washing up, and then, as the weather was still excellent, dragged out some deck chairs and lay in the sun for a while, later dragging out our recorders and making a mess of some Bach until an ice cream van came along; down to buy some ice cream for all concerned, and then back, discovering on the way that I had been cheated out of my change. Ate the ice cream, and then it started to rain, so into watch, on TV, bits of “The Lady killers” (Guinness, Sellers), which I have seen more times than I can count.

After a while arrived David Cawthra and family, more than usually ebullient, and there ensued a quite lively conversation, pinned down by tea; then Sue disappeared with this Gillian bird, while I sat around feeling vaguely lost, and grateful that David was there. Then lesson finished (certainly didn't last long), and after we had stopped Gillian throwing tennis balls at people, in to the music room with David to attempt to play some recorder duets with David continuing (continuoing?), but the piano is a good semitone flat, and by the time I had pulled my recorder out that far, it was out of tune with itself.

Finally the Cawthras left (David had his world cup to look at), and Sue and I followed pretty quickly and back to Bow. where I contrived once again to finish off a pack of 3 - this is becoming just slightly ridiculous. Was very annoyed to find that Chris had left a window open when he went out - even more annoyed to find that he had done it deliberately, and damn nearly handed him his notice there and then.

Monday, 8 June 1970	Bow, etc.
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Woke up this morning by Sue coming into my room, all hot and sweaty, to wake me - she had cycled over, which was somewhat tiring in this weather, and to add injury to insult, some army lorry had passed far too close to her and thrown up a stone at her, badly cutting her big toe. It also knocked her off her bike and caused her to cut her thigh in a most unlikely place - if it weren't for the circumstances, I would never have believed it; - but it did not stop her from waking me up in the manner which I best love.

Up and downstairs to find a letter from Paul Hallett, somewhat depressed and singing the praises of Greg more than appeared to have been necessary, and expressing his disgust with himself. Had breakfast, then thought about the untidy state of the place, and decided to do something about it, so put Sue in the kitchen to do that, and I did the lounge room - only took us about 40 minutes each, and it certainly made a difference to the place. Then set off into town with a few more programs for Pete, this time mainly concerned with getting programs in and out of store; found John Boyle on the computer, so booked it for when he had finished, and then off into town, where we did some shopping in the stinking heat - it was today really as warm as back in Malaysia, which is quite extraordinary. Got some money, and to Dunns to get some parts I had ordered, then back to the computer and wrote two programs, BINOUT and LISTOUT, neither of which worked, so wrote out, with Sue's aid, “Summer Time” as a music buffer, and assembled that - at least that worked. Then back to find out what was wrong with my other programs - after a lot of manual examination, discovered that a) DIAL does not load very well into the last page of memory b) I had left out a TLS command. Eventually put LISTOUT at *200 and left it operating while we went to Crossmead for makan - it was to list out the entire contents of the memory, cell number first, then content, and would thus take its time.

And that at one word per line on an ASR-33!

At Crossmead, saw Cris Manners, who wanted to borrow some photographic equipment, as he and Rog Cooper are going to Le Mans this weekend; after a bit of discussion, arranged to lend him my SP in exchange for his S1a, and he would come out to collect it tonight at 2300. Then to Birks to look for Mike Hadden, whom everybody had seen, but nobody knew where he was. Back to the computer, which was still listing itself out - I never realised how much 4096 lines actually is.

At 6 lpi, it's a little over 17 m.

Then started doing BINOUT, which outputs the whole thing in BIN format (view to saving FOCAL programs), but again it only started at 200. Even when I toggled it into memory, it did not seem too happy about something. Then Mike Hadden arrived, high as a kite, telling us how he had just got himself a £20 overdraft at the bank and spent it on clothes, etc. Played him Summer Time, which just made his day for him, and then closed down, after a few listings, and off home; shortly arrived Cris Manners, and we spent about half an hour discussing what he should do with what, etc., while Sue thought about a cartoon strip illustrating multiplication of cell BERT by FRED and being stored in SUE. Finally Cris and Rob away, not before Chris returned, and soon Sue and I upstairs. Back down again soon - parents had apparently been creating - and took her home, and myself early to bed.

Tuesday, 9 June 1970	Bow, etc.
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Up quite late this morning, and after breakfast thought about doing some work, but then it occurred to me that I would need some money if I were to go to the flicks with Sue this evening. Accordingly down to the bank at Bow, which proved to be open only on Tuesdays from 1100 to 1300. I arrived at 1335.

Over to pick Sue up, and then home again, where I tried to work out how to erect the tent, which I finally collected yesterday, and so we set it up in the drive. My suspicions that this tent was never used are as good as confirmed; the mallet now looks used, whereas before it did not. Erection time was 27½ minutes, which I considered not bad from scratch. I expect that on Saturday, when we are going to Bristol and probably spend the night in it, we should managed to get it up in 15 minutes odd. It took us 6 minutes to put it away again. Then to town and got some more money, and after a quick visit to the library, went to the Ceylon tea centre - this time with shoes - and spent far too much on tea and cakes, etc. Then off to the Odeon to see “Carry on up the Jungle”, which was preceded by a documentary “Under the Table you must go”, about pubs, and useless. The main film was quite passable, though not the sort of thing I like to go into exstasies over. Out of that quite early, and back home via Crossmead - I had developed a very sharp pain in my gut, suspected due to something eaten at the Ceylon Tea Centre - but I wanted to see Wolf about some shockers, and also to get some condoms from Mike Pill, but he was not in. Had coffee with Wolf, and discussed some things with him, then off again. Saw also Martin's DS, now sprayed blue - but such a lousy job he might as well have done it with a brush.

At home, took some Entero-Vioform and cooked some spaghetti, then to bed, using some German Condoms I had bought a hell of a long time ago, and which are very uncomfortable. Stayed here until about 0400, then home and discussed itineraries with Sue, and finally home, and worked until 0710, then to bed.

Wednesday, 10 June 1970	Bow, etc.
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Chris in round 1130 with the interesting news that he was going home, and would be back in a week; would I please forward him his mail? He gave me a cheque for £2 for food, and then off - he will be lucky if I send him on his mail. Woke up again at about 1430, and after getting up over to

At this point volume 8 of the written diary ends. Volume 9 continues:

pick Sue up, and came back home after a bit of a discussion with her parents. It seems that Sue's mother confronted her this morning with a request that we come back immediately after orchestra and discuss Turkey with them, which for some reason violently annoyed Sue.

At home, things followed the now-usual pattern, and in view of the limited time we had before the orchestra practices, decided to cook the curry in the pressure cooker, and so down, leaving Sue to sleep it off. Things went fine, for some 20 minutes, but then the thing blew its safety valve, spraying curry all over the ceiling - not very pleasant, and the smell in the air was terrible. Still, most of the curry remained in the cooker, and we had quite an acceptable meal. Then to orchestra practice, and spent most of the time practising “El Amor Brujo” - there is a cor anglais solo in this, and David asked me to play it, so afterwards rang up Philippe Obussier and tried to borrow his, but he was not in. Then back to the Fortescues and told them about the route we were taking, which apparently what was worrying them more than anything: they seem to think that we will be flung into jail in Bulgaria or captured by Syrian guerillas. In any case, they gave us the OK, mainly, I suspect, because they didn't have the guts to do anything else. Then they to bed, and I hung about a lot longer before finally going home, and worked until 0600.

Thursday, 11 June 1970	Bow, etc.
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Sue in to wake me up the hard way at about 1430: the old bag next door had brought out her washing line pole and knocked against the window of my bedroom. Sue up then and got what she deserved, and then we both got up and started to cook some breakfast, at which point arrived Andy Holman, Marion Barton and Mike the friend of Joss, Marion wanting to see the cottage.

I can't recall whether this was one of the occasions when Andy arrived while we were in bed. There was some discussion of whether Sue or I should go on top, but it related to which line of a recorder duet we should each play.

Cooked up a large quantity of coffee and disposed of all used condoms, then showed them round and later had my breakfast, this round 1600 hrs. Andy seemed to be comparatively keen to get back to Birks for makan, and I saw no reason to stop him, and so all off again, and we wondered what to do. Eventually set off for a drive south of the B3215 [the road through Bow, now the A3215], and went down some tiny little road which appeared to be too rough for my car, so instead got out and walked a while. Then back through Yeoford, in the process my gear knob falling off. Back home, chipped the plastic padding off the lever, and looked in vain for the old black sphere, so gave it up as a bad job and instead left it as it was, and back with Sue to her house, where she had to give Gillian Cawthra yet another lesson, this time in the manner of a test. In the meantime, gave Sue a LINC mode music buffer to write out to keep her happy. Later looking at the results - Gillian certainly seemed in a hurry, and made several silly mistakes as a result. Helped Sue correct that, spoke for a while to Mary Cawthra, and then off back home, where we had warmed-up curry before going to bed - I am getting thoroughly fed up with the cost of condoms, which is getting to be more than that of electricity.

Back home comparatively early, though doubtless not as early as the Fortescues would have liked. Sat in the lounge at length, in fact until dawn, and in the process had it off on the floor, which was rather unsatisfactory - all this odd position stuff is none too good for me. Back home, and worked a bit before going to sleep.

Friday, 12 June 1970	Bow, etc.
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Sue to wake me again today, this time having been brought by her mother, who, perhaps fortunately, did not want to come in and have some coffee. Dragged Sue into bed with me - at least this time she was not sweaty - and somewhat later got up and started having something in the way of brunch. Then made up a comparatively large list of things to be done in town, and then set off into town, just about in time to catch the banks before they closed - I have something in the order of £40 in the bank, which is quite reassuring. After that, did a bit of shopping, also showed Sue a Leica II F - I am thinking of getting a camera for her (shades of Jenny!),

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4015/4446780101_6aec8669d2.jpg

and in about the 4th supermarket we entered, finally did some shopping. Then to the Uni to book our fares to Hamburg, but it was more expensive than we thought, and so we decided to go across the channel instead. Saw Andy, so didn't have to go looking for him, and then off to Crossmead, and on the way popped into National Tyre service to see if they had any 135-380 ZX's. They said no, then produced a couple, so bought them before they changed their minds - only £5:12:0 each, which will hardly break me. Then up to Crossmead and found Mike Pill, who supplied me with a suitable quantity of condoms for the next few days. Then off back home via Cheriton Cross, just to be different, and tried in vain to see any noticeable difference between ZX's and X's - if anything, the car is understeering somewhat more, but it is difficult to be sure.

Cooked up some of the dhall which we made for lunch, then again to bed after some having it in the kitchen, and when we got up again, put on Beethoven's 9th and sang the last movement, after which we decided that, in view of tomorrow's early start, I should take Sue home early (round midnight), and back to do some diary-writing, and subsequently a bit of working out what to take tomorrow. Then to bed, but could not sleep (not surprising, considering the time at which I got to bed.)

Saturday, 13 June 1970	Bow → Bristol
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And so up, at 0715, brokefast in no uncertain manner, then over to pick Sue up, arriving too early, and so had to wait, drinking a cup of coffee while Mummy organised Susie (shades of Mum in KL!). Endly (dammit, what language am I writing?) set off, and back home to load in everything that we would need for tonight, and then on the holiday route to Tiverton,

The West Country is a popular holiday destination, and in those days the roads were far worse than nowadays. One of the “solutions” were “holiday routes” that bypassed the main centres and made life hell in little towns like Bow over summer weekends. The road went straight past my bedroom window, which now looks like this (thanks to Google Maps):

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Diary entry for Saturday, 18 February 2017

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after I persuaded Sue that if we went via Exeter we would never get to Bristol on time. Traffic was pretty grotty, and to add insult to injury my radio fuse (of all things) blew just before Tiverton, and so stopped after a while and changed that; traffic on the A38 was even worse, and after Bridgwater there was a 15 mile queue of more or less stationary cars. Got to Bristol, nevertheless, in only 2 hours and 20 minutes - the more I think about that, the more I marvel.

In February 2017, Google Maps gives times of 1:47 and 1:55, the former via Tiverton, but including the M5 Motorway, so that really wasn't a bad time under the circumstances.

To Broadmead, where I had arranged to meet Corinne, and then to the Colston hall where, as suspected, we could not get another ticket for the Beethoven, so back to Broadmead and parked the car, then off to the Wimpy for some lunch, and walked to the Colston hall in time to meet Adrian at 1245 as planned - only he was not there. In and listened to Colin Davis rehearsing the LSO, not bad, but for various reasons I was tired out and went to sleep on Sue's shoulder. Woke up about an hour later as this fellow with bright red hair came up and kissed Sue by way of greeting - two can play at that game; all I need is a redhead.

Corinne was red-headed.

Then he up to sing in the chorus, which made a wonderful noise compared to our pitiful efforts, and then out, and after much debating and the introduction of such further complications as a Paul [?], sister Sarah and absent mother, finally set off for the Lord Byron near Broadmead and met Corinne, Clarissa and a skinny looking individual called Penny. Had coffee there and spoke at length with Corinne - I rather enjoyed sitting there as I was, sandwiched between Sue and Corinne and opposite another couple of birds. Eventually Corinne reminded me that I still owed her a bra,

I distinctly recall this day, but I can't recall such an obligation, and I can't find any prior mention of this matter in my diary either.

and so set off into town - I suspect, not for the first time, that Corinne is jealous of Sue, if not particularly; ended up walking down Broadmead with them both holding my hands. Finally to a shop where we violently amused/embarassed the sales girl by asking for transparent bras, and found a flesh-coloured one which rather appealed to Corinne, who tried it on, inviting me in to comment, thus further embarassing the salesgirl. Looked to me like they were tied up in tights. Bought the thing - hope it makes Corinne happy - and then got the car and took them all home (like to school), following a blue Ami much of the way. Back into town to meet the others, and off for makan in a very hot and sticky place, and after that back to the Colston Hall to sell Sue's ticket, and up on Clifton Down, where we spread our blanket and listened to the 9th, which turned Sue on in no uncertain way, so pitched the tent in 12½ minutes flat, and set up everything inside; climax came at the words “Wer ein holdes Weib errungen, Mische seinen Jubel ein”, which certainly sheds a new light on Jubel. Slept for a while, then off, dressed in sarong in my case, to buy some fish and chips, and back again to eat them, then to bed.

Sunday, 14 June 1970	Bristol → Bow
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Slept somewhat restlessly - Sue was somewhat cold, and that in turn made me feel bad. Finally up round 0830, wondering what had happened to Corinne and mob, who were due to come and pull our tent pegs down at 0700. Had it one more time to start the day, then out and took the tent down, which, surprisingly, took us 8:20 mins, 1:50 longer than the first time - but this was in the field, and there was a wind. Then off through Bristol, traffic as yet remarkably light, and so decided, in spite of ravenous hunger, to carry on to Taunton or until the traffic snarled up, whichever happened first. Taunton happened first, though by this time there was more than a little other traffic in sight, and we had breakfast in a little transport café just before Wellington, which for some reason reminded me of the Kuala Kangsar rest house; it was not cheap, and I am beginning to revise my thoughts about transport cafés. Certainly a Primus stove will come in more than useful. Carried on and got home, 1 hr 50 minutes, not so much better in view of traffic conditions. Had a bit more to eat and heated up some water, and I went to sleep in Sue's lap while it was heating; had a bath and over to the Fortescue's for lunch, where we told Mrs. F that it had taken us 2¾ hours, and she remarked on how fast we had made it, saying also that Alison and friends had had a fast trip from London in only 5½ hours since the traffic was so light. I wonder what she would do if I told her I had done it in half the time.

Had lunch, nothing spectacular - makes me glad of the occasional curry - and then, on the pretext of tidying up the house, off back home, armed with brushes and vacuum cleaner. I, however, could scarcely keep my eyes open, and went straight to bed, though Sue did some work; makes me feel a bit guilty, but she does not seem to mind. I love that girl for 10 or more reasons, and every day it becomes more.

Up later, and cooked up a nasi goreng, ate thereof, to bed, then up again, and did a bit of work, and later took Sue home - if only she could stay here, I would be so much more at rest.

Monday, 15 June 1970	Bow, etc.
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Exams draw painfully near now, and I wonder how I am going to do. Slept this morning until Sue, brought this time by her mother, who had actually deigned to come in and be shocked by the mess in the lounge (so much so, in fact, that she had left without having any coffee), came up and woke me with some coffee, followed by breakfast - have I mentioned of late how much I miss Sue? In any case, had breakfast, and eventually up, and then Sue came back from making a phone call to the FPA (who this time had deigned to refer to me as her boyfriend rather than fiancé), with the news that she had an appointment with them for 1900 hrs on the 29th - 2 weeks today. A bit later, but, I suppose, better than not at all - even if it means I have to use condoms until the middle of July.

Decided to do some work, which under the circumstances was more than prudent, but after a while Sue decided, for reasons unto herself best known, that she wanted to go into town, and so set off, taking with us the old library books in exchange for some new ones, and once in town discovered (or rather reconfirmed) that we had little enough to do, so got our new books and thought about getting some stuff of mine (old car equipment) from F block trunk store at Crossmead. Up, and then again off home, as Sue (to quote her) was feeling randy - we have decided, due to considerations of exams, exhaustion, etc., to have it only once a day, and do it well while we are at it.

Did this, and then, feeling hungry, cooked up a spaghetti whatnot, and settled down to study some momentum, heat and mass transfer, while Sue sat with me and lent me moral support - I love sue for 1,5 × 10⁶ reasons. Finally things got too boring for her, and I took her home and home myself to see if I could get to sleep so that I could get my metabolism back onto an even keel for the exams, but it appears that it was a bit too much to hope, and I lay in bed at length contemplating returning to Melbourne with Sue.

Tuesday, 16 June 1970	Bow, etc.
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And to the last day of revisions, more than a little nervous about same; nevertheless, though once again Sue was brought hither by her mother, I did not start doing things immediately; could not drag Sue into bed, as apparently her mother rather expected me to come downstairs, where, inter alia, she made a few oblique comments on the décor, etc., in the house. Finally she was off, and I had breakfast (prepared by my love Sue), and after that, and a further attempt at work, went into town for various reasons, on of which was to find out about exams tomorrow.

First into town and got some money, then back again to the car via the library, whence we borrowed more books, and in Queen St. saw Joannie and little L, and Joannie told me that Mike Hadden would not be back until Friday, which got me a bit worried. To the Ship for a sherry with Sue, and discussed what could have happened to him, and finally came to the conclusion that he must have been busted last week for posession of cannabis. Then off to Dunn's to order a drive shaft dust cover, and thence to the Uni to pick up Joannie and Little L, and to ask Ben what had happened to Mike; Ben, unfortunately, was not there, and so took Joannie and Little L to DH, and ourselves set off back home again to have makan, and to further worry about Mike, and I also to worry about my exams, so set down and ploughed through Transport Phenomena at an enormous rate, while Sue hung about and did her best to help (which did, in fact, help considerably). Then took her home and carried on studying a bit further, and at any rate looked through everything, even if it did take me until the small hours of the morning.

Wednesday, 17 June 1970	Bow, etc.
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Slept in this morning half-unintentionally; had been thinking last night in terms of getting up round 0930 this morning and further revising mass and heat transfer, but as it was I barely left myself time for something to eat before I set off for the Uni and the exams, feeling suddenly extremely nervous, butterflies merrily flying about in my guts, and even the weather seemed to match my mood, and in to town to buy some Gauloises to calm my nerves or distract my mind [?] or something. Back, and found other people in only slightly better frames of mind, and, as I had suspected, no sign of Mike Hadden, of whom there has been no news - looked round for Ben Ritchie, but he was also not to be seen.

Finally, nerves no better, into the exam, and found, to my surprise, that it was not too bad; quite reassuring in fact, though it was only fluid dynamics, which possibly was just as well, as I had not revised much else. Finished after about 2½ hours, and off back to see Sue, and thence home again, where we cooked up something to eat and lay in each others' arms doing nothing at length until we thought it prudent to go into town for the orchestra practice, and the party; at the orchestra practice, told David that we wanted to go to the party, and he smiled a knowing smile and let us off at 2205; not that that in itself was too late: in fact, it was about the right time. Found that the bar prices were, if anything, rather higher than usual, and so had a drink, and looked round for Wolf Fischer, and walked round town for a while telling each other how much we loved each other (is there not a reduction formula for that?), and eventually up to Crossmead to see Wolf, who was not there, and also to look for Chris Jones, who, rumour has it, has nervously broken down.

Thursday, 18 June 1970	Bow, etc.
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Then home via the back roads, and prevailed upon Sue to keep me company in the long night's vigil of study, and so cooked up a quantity of coffee, while Sue phoned her parents and told them the party would probably last all night, and then she went to sleep and I attacked with come violence physical chemistry and thermodynamics at that late stage, and then found to my delight that I actually seemed to be taking it in. Made a crib sheet with all sorts of interesting information on it, and then in to tell Sue all about it, and finally round 0400 to sleep. Woke up at 0630 to wake Chris up, and then back to sleep until about 0815. Leapt out of bed, leaving Sue in, and off to the exam, which was really grotty - hardly anything of all the stuff I revised seemed to apply, and I could hardly even get started on the thermodynamics question. Consequently packed it in after 1¾ hours and made mental notes about resits, in September, etc., which at this rate I may well have to do - be a comedown for me to ever fail a chemistry exam, though.

At school I was the undisputed top of the class almost every time.

Back home, where Sue had been spending the morning tidying up the house, and cooked up some lunch, then grabbed some music and started playing it - I just can't keep up this revision full-time, come what may. In any case, the next exam was mainly process principles (or, as we christened them, Princess Prociples), and so I finally caught up on my sleep and woke up in the early evening, administered unto by Sue. Ate again, then thought in terms of learning something for tomorrow's exam, and sat down reading “Principles of Unit operations”, and notes on all relevant subjects. Took Sue home round midnight and spent the time until 0400 revising, interrupted first by a mouse looking at me intently before deciding I was inanimate, and the Chris coming in to tell me that the Conservatives had won today's general election.

Friday, 19 June 1970	Bow, etc.
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Slept not well, but round 1000 arrived Sue and put paid to my chances of sleeping any better, though I slumbered on until about 1230 before finally being woken. Had something to eat, and then set off again into town, and while waiting for the ordeal to begin, bumped into John Boyle, who wished me all luck for today and tomorrow, but who was surprisingly reticent to give any hint about tomorrow's paper. Then in, and once again an easy paper (well, 4 easy questions, but I got stuck for a good 5th, so I decided I had better not commit myself any further, so left it), and then round to see Mike, and on the way it suddenly occurred to me he might have had a nervous breakdown. Such, indeed, seemed to be the case, and apparently he was full as hell of tranquilisers, and I could not get much sense out of him, but he apparently will be allowed to resit his exams (all of them) in September, if he still feels like carrying on. Did not press my point, and left fairly soon after ascertaining that he could come back next term. [Later addition:] Dave arrived in the night.

Saturday, 20 June 1970	Bow, etc. → New Forest area
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Dave in at 0950 this morning, which rather irritated me in view of the exam I was supposed to have started ten minutes early [earlier]. Then down, having decided that I would never make it into town and to the Uni before half an hour of the exam had gone by, and so had breakfast, and then over to see Sue, and, not surprisingly, both she and her mother were surprised to see me so early, and not exactly pleased when they found out why. In any case, got Sue's belongings together and went home, where Dave had just about got up, and cooked something more in the way of lunch, and considered what we were going to do; Chris had turned up as well, and apparently sold Dave some shit, of which he promptly made a a joint. Then off, having had a couple of drags, which had no effect,

I was never involved in drugs, but I was interested in what effect they had.

and then to the Uni for an orchestra practice, though I was hardly in the mood for it, and spent a considerable period at that - David wanted to go through the whole program, and it was all of 1700 before we finally got through (I finished earlier, but Sue had some Sibelius to do). Then off back home, where I was rather disappointed to find a note from Dave to the effect that he had gone to Dartmouth, and probably would not be back until tomorrow, so decided that we would go to Hampshire tonight and camp somewhere in the New Forest, and so cooked up a nasi goreng and made other preparations for departure, mainly centred round ensuring that we had things to eat and wear tomorrow - must get hold of Sue's father's Primus stove soon, and see if we can get that to work. Then off through Exeter and along A30, A35 and A31 to Ringwood, then branched off to a place called Emery Down and pitched camp in what we considered a good time until some people arrived beside us and pitched a larger tent than than us in about 6 minutes as opposed to 12. Irritated thereby, so played recorders before hitting the sack for a while, not as satisfactory as it could have been.

Sunday, 21 June 1970	Beaulieu → Bow
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Slept much as last time in a tent, which has finally brought me to the conclusion that, think what Sue may, unless it is really warm we should each sleep in individual sleeping bags (at any rate until we get doubles), and woke consequently rather cold and suggested to Sue that we engage in some warming excercise, which we did; that all went more or less according to plan, but when I pulled out I found the condom covered in blood, which momentarily confused me, and then gave us cause to wonder where we could find some Tampax for Sue's benefit. Eventually did whatever the opposite to pitching camp is, and set off into Lyndhurst to ask for aforementioned, which we found, and off to Beaulieu after that, arriving by about 1040, which was far too early, and there were almost no other cars there. Set back by foot off into Beaulieu town and bought some milk and other likelies for breakfast, then back to eat, much to the amusement of the people who had parked next to us. Also saw a plywood-bodied 2CV special, very interesting - looked like some miniature sports car, though it had a 1955 12 bhp engine, which would doubtless have given the lie to that. The whole object of the excercise seemed to be to have various races, and things, mainly in fun more than in contest, and despite opposition from Sue, entered for all of them except the 2CV event (dismantle your car at various points on a field, then reassemble it).

From memory, the participant had to remove a door at one point, the bonnet elsewhere, and then a front wing. All of this was relatively straightforward on the 2CV, but not at all so on the otherwise closely related Ami 6.

After that, off to have a look around the Motor Museum, and had a not-very-valuable (or something) lunch in the old Abbey, and then back, in due course the various field events beginning. The first event was a sort of mobile potato chase, where I was saved the ignominy of being beaten by a 2CV by being disqualified for leaving my track. Then came the 2CV event won by a Bill Farmer, whom I met about 18 month ago, and who has further done up his car now, so that it looks quite respectable.

We subsequently bought the car from him. Here it is a year or so later, in Launceston with Sue:

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Third event was a matter of popping numerous balloons and so on, did not do particularly well, then came the ladies event, for which I had entered Sue. She started off terrified, but did not do too badly, and did a 3-point turn which I would have been proud of myself - unfortunately she had not been expecting the sudden return of the wheel, and took the skin off her leg with the wheel. Still, she finished the course, which was more than some women did, and was thereafter quite chuffed with herself.

All the more so considering that she didn't have a driving license (not required on private land), and had hardly done any time behind the wheel.

Then came the concours [d'élégance], and amongst that was a Big 15 with an ID engine, a 15 Familiale and a 5CV - latter very nice, also went in for the field events. Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, looking incredibly pommified [?] for his age, gave away the prizes, and then came the draw for the D2Ø. 3 kids drew the separate digits: units, tens and hundreds in that order. I had tickets 5Ø2 and 5Ø3. Following were drawn: 2, Ø (by this time I was almost going crazy), and 1, at which point we left. Went home feeling more than slightly disappointed, had a bit to eat, and then set out to take advantage of Sue's period. Took her home rather early.

Monday, 22 June 1970	Bow, etc.
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Up early and over to pick up Sue for the FORTRAN course, which apparently pleased her mother but little; she had apparently been expecting Sue to come to Exeter with her and do some shopping, and only let her go with a right bad grace. Into town and to the Uni, and had the first lecture, mainly telling us about the innards of the ICL 4-50, which I found quite interesting, and most others deathly boring, though possibly Sue found it rather interesting too. Over to DH for a cup of coffee in the break, and in the process bought some note pads. Then back, and Dave Snell told me I was wanted by John Boyle who, sure enough, wanted to know where I had been on Saturday, and when I told him, he rather surprised me by suggesting an oral exam with Ben Ritchie at Ø93Ø tomorrow morning, and so agreed to that, and back to where Dave Joslyn was telling everybody about the difference between real and integer numbers (to use FORTRAN terminology), and the whole lecture seemed to be about that. Saw him after that, and got a copy of the Computerman's 1Ø1Ø commandments, and at the same time sneaked a preview of our maths results - pass mark = 4Ø, my mark = 4Ø - what a scrape. The only thing that is worrying me now, apart from the fact that Phil Hoare got 1Ø6%, is my chemistry, and so into town and had some lunch at the Ganges, then back to learn how to use the Ø29 card punch and then spent a while on Multitest discussing with Sue how various methods work, and then up to punch some programs, which were written on Multitest, and spent quite a while at that, having meanwhile ascertained that there was little of interest to us happening in the afternoon, and handed in a few [jobs] to be run (hoffentlich, sagt er), and went off back home, to see Dave, who means to settle here, and spend the next year doing Zoology 'A' level at the tech - he had meant to go today, but forgot, and so made a further plan to go in tomorrow. Took Sue home, met her grandmother (‘Dodo’), who apparently took to me, and left her with some programs to write, and back to revise some economics. Back at 21ØØ for coffee, and corrected Sue's programs for her, then off home, worked a while, and to bed.

Tuesday, 23 June 1970	Bow, etc.	Images for 23 June 1970
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Up again early - woke like a shot at about Ø8ØØ, which Dodo claimed was due to her powers of suggestion, and picked Sue up and off, nearly hitting a Mini along the road to the B3215, and then ran into a lorry coming the other way - one of Edworthy's, driven by one Perry Lake,

Edworthy's was a company in Bow, a couple of hundred metres from my house. The truck got into a skid when braking and hit my car in the driver door. The road was really tiny. Here it is, courtesy of Google Maps, in February 2017:

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Despite the narrowness, we would have got past each other if the truck hadn't skidded.

who really had no right to be driving a bloody great 6-wheeler down the road. Rang the police, and then waited for a hell of a while until he came, and rang John Boyle while I was at it, and then in to see Mr. Thompson, who gave a quotation, up to see Mr. Edworthy, who tried to beat me up, and then off, very annoyed, to tell Dave all about it. Then down to Mr. Thompson, who quoted £60 including parts, but apparently he is leaving here in mid-July, and so may not be able to do the job. To Exeter, and first saw John, who said I should do the exam tomorrow at Ø93Ø, then to lunch, where I saw Mel Gajraj, very sympathetic about the car. Mike Cook had told me that Mike Hadden had seen me, and on the way to the afternoon's practical saw Graham Livesey, who told me that Andrew Partridge, the bloke with the silver 11CL8, was leaving this weekend for Germany, and wanted me to look after his car. Accordingly grabbed Sue and off to pick up Mike Hadden, to Dunn's to see the spares bloke - who was waiting for me with a big grin on his face - and then off to Kenton to look for Andrew, and after a lot of waiting, found he had left and gone home to Tedburn, so took Mike, who had spent all his time telling us how he had dumped in the fashion of Multitest last Tuesday, and what life at the mental clinic was like

Mike had been experimenting with a number of drugs, including LSD, something that I wasn't even game to try. On one occasion he arrived somewhere—I thought at Sue's parents—hours late, having apparently been staring at the sun at length. His eyes weren't permanently damaged, but it scared me considerably. Unfortunately, I can't find a matching place in this diary.

- then out to Tedburn to find Andrew, made arrangements about the car, translated some German letters and off to Crossmead, meeting Wolf and Elaine en route from Cornwall on the way. On to Crossmead, had coffee, then back and met the barman at the Kings Arms, Mike something, and spoke to him about cars - he repaired Andrew's car originally, apparently. Then off home and revised further for the exam.

Wednesday, 24 June 1970	Bow, etc.
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Up much as yesterday, and this time took steps to avoid a repeat of yesterday, going direct to the main road rather than along my usual lane. Arrived safely enough in Exeter and sent Sue up to the computer course, while I did my oral, which was a somewhat traumatic experience; I did not exactly shine in stats, though computation and economics were not too bad, but the most frustrating thing of all was that the questions were all taken from Saturday's paper - and I hadn't even looked at it!

The one thing I recalled of it was being asked to write a FOCAL program to solve a quadratic equation on the board. I got it right. Simple enough from my 2017 perspective, but it seems that it was still considered complicated enough at the time.

Came out of that having decided that I had probably passed, though certainly not on the strength of stats, and listened with little enthusiasm to various descriptions of I/O routines, and then into town to see what we could buy in the way of food, and then, laden with spices, set off back home for lunch, after which we went to bed to make up for recently lost time (like 2½ days since Sunday), and did so in no uncertain manner. Up round the 1630 mark and got dressed in all our finery, then off to the Uni for final rehearsal of the concert this evening, but for various reasons I did not feel like, and instead went up for a chat with Pete, and noted that the scope display was once again somewhat erratic. In the middle of a printout it failed altogether, which was a bit of a nuisance, as I was never aware of how difficult it is to edit without the scope. Finally gave up and went over to see Sue, who had a drink with me, then to the green room to get our instruments out, but I noted that a mild ache from my wisdom teeth was a lot worse when playing the hoboe, so told David and went and sat with Wolf and Elaine. Then, having watched the first item, remorse hit me (or did whatever it does) and so I went up and played in the rest - everything went very well indeed, and this cor anglais player David brought in is very good indeed.

This must have been El amor brujo. I had a recollection that Sue and I played a duet on horn and cor anglais (English horn), but if there is one, we clearly didn't manage it in concert.

Introduced Wolf and Elaine and Sue's parents during the interval, then back, and afterwards to a party where we stayed long enough to consume our fill of cheese and bread, then off home and to bed.

Thursday, 25 June 1970	Bow, etc.
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And on with the computer course, for what it is worth - in for the first lecture, about loops, etc., though I learnt next to nothing and even Sue didn't learn much that she didn't already know. Stuck that for the morning, though I was more interested in why the programs I had collected still had not run - I collected them in the break, and all sorts of things were wrong with them, though the one that actually ran had an incorrect arithmetic statement which spoilt everything; in any case, I am getting a bit fed up with FORTRAN and more interested in machine language which, when it is all boiled (compiled?) down, is the most versatile language on any computer.

Had lunch again in the refectory, for what that was worth, then over to the card punch room to make some alteration cards, but everybody was in there from the course, and consequently the place was crowded out, so instead went off to the Chem Eng building, where I got onto Pete for a while and tried further variations of the programs which I wrote earlier this month, with a view to getting machine language codings onto tape, and thence into magnetic tape. As a consequence of this, having a) found that BINLOAD and the BIN loader are completely different programs (why?), and decided that neither of them were strictly neccessary, decided to rewrite BINOUT as RIMOUT, and thus output all in/out tapes in a RIM format, which worked easily enough, and meant I did not need BINLOAD at all - got some way with that, though Sue was nearly dropping off, so to see Tony Palmer, who lent me a book on the PDP-12 system, so off home to read that, or at least intended to, though, as usual, other considerations came to the fore. Home to Sue's place quite early, at least partly because Dodo was leaving tomorrow, and also Alison and Penny (a friend) were here, so had makan, then all the others set off for Cornwall, and we quickly back home again.

Friday, 26 June 1970	Bow, etc.
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As Sue was not coming in to the computer course this morning, I decided that, as I knew most of it myself, there was little point in causing unto myself unneccessary early waking, and so slept in until about 1130. Then up and had something in the nature of breakfast, and then off to the Uni to mess further round with my machine language programs, and made great advances therein; managed to get the first page of FOCAL out on tape in RIM format, so that I could then load it over anything else on page Ø if I so desired, but unfortunately we were still short of time, with the DEC man apparently in the offing, though he never actually turned up, and so I saw Tony about it. Tony said something to the effect that he had been supposed to be looking after him, but he had somehow evaded his clutches and had probably been digested by Charlie [ICL machine], and was going round in an endless loop. Discovered after a while that the FORTRAN exam was at 1415 - this at about 1420, so rolled up by about 1425 and left again round 1445, though I must confess, knowing as I do nothing about the FUNCTION or SUBROUTINE statements, that I was unable to do two of the questions; still, I doubt that I did badly on the rest. Packed up after a while, and off home to pick Sue up, who said something to the effect that Mike, in distress, had phoned up this afternoon demanding to know where I was, and so contemplated getting him from town, somewhat complicated by the impending arrival of Wolf at an estimated 2015, which we interpreted as 2045. About an hour before arrived Dave and a bird called Ann, and promptly, after some coffee, bedded down in Chris's room, which rather amused me, and shortly later, dead on 2045, Wolf and Elaine arrived, in time to meet Dave and Ann before they really downsettled. Then decided that we had better go and find Mike before he did something silly, and so into Birks and looked everywhere for him, and eventually found him at the ABC [cinema?], after which we had a sherry at the Hole in the Wall, much to Sue's confusion. Back home and introduced everybody, though, naturally, Dave and Ann felt disinclined. In due course left Mike and went to bed.

Saturday, 27 June 1970	Bow, etc.
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Got up to take Sue home fairly early, and back to find everybody, myself included, hungry, so decided to cook up an enormous nasi goreng, and spent a goodly time at that, including the use of no less than 2 lbs rice, and everything else to suit. Then started mixing it all up, and Mike immediately protested that it was nothing like a nasi goreng, whereas Dave thought it was pretty good; we shall have to find out what Mike thinks a Nasi goreng is like.

I can't recall Mike having any connection with the East, while Dave was born in Miri (if I recall correctly) and certainly knew his way around.

Ate that, and spoke at length, by which time it was dawn, and all except Mike hit the sack.

Mike woke me round 1000 with breakfast, which was nice of him, and by the time I got downstairs he was sitting there chatting Ann up, which seemed interesting. Then off to pick Sue up, while she told me what her grandmother had told her mother - that we would, as far as her psychic powers could see, get married, which pleased me no end. Back at home, had a drop to drink, then took little notice of the fact that we are not married and carried on regardless with our favourite Saturday afternoon occupation. That was rather confused by Mike wanting to do likewise with Ann, this was further confused by Dave being fast asleep, so he wanted us to go and take him into town, which I thought was a little rough, but Sue's sense of fairness (or something) eventually triumphed (or was it just our need of food?), and so set off into town and did some shopping; this did not take nearly as long, however, as Mike's intended pursuits, even though we indulged in little side-kicks such as the visit to the Crossmead Garden Party (what a grotty affair, completely out of keeping, it would seem, with Crossmead custom), so to Smith's and bought a quantity of books to read in the coming days. Then picked up an apparently unsuccessful Mike, and off back home, where Dave had finally got up and done a good job of tidying up the living room, even to the extent of rearranging the furniture. Read in the evening - “the Sex-Mad computer”, less interesting than other books on the floor, such as “The Logic Design of Transistor Digital Computers”, and much less to do with computers.

Sunday, 28 June 1970	Bow, etc.
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And on with life; no particular compulsion to get up early this morning, though I was supposed to go to makan with Sue, and also collect the Old Grey Mare (well, Light 15, and she is grey) from Andrew, who arrived somewhat late at 1245 just as I had phoned him, and suggested, for some reason beyond my immediate comprehension, that I buy the car from him for some nominal sum rather than that he lend it to me; had little enough money to spare, but eventually agreed to pay him £2 for it, agreeing not to resell to anyone else, and to sell it back to him at £2 + cost of whatever I do to it. Then off to take him home, and collected the reg book, also a few diagrams form the workshop manual, and in the heat of the moment, we forgot about the £2. In any case, as a result was late for makan with Sue, but over, and they had kept some for me - then took Sue out for a drive in UXO 80, which she likes very much, and I can see that I am going to have quite a bit of fun with this car. Home, and spent the afternoon messing around somewhat, but finally cleaned up and took Mike back to Birks, and ourselves to Exmouth for a final rehearsal of the concert, which was a bit of a shambles, and then off to visit the Dyers, friends of Sue's, and Sally, all that was there apart from Granny, was apparently overjoyed to see us, and made us makan with the greatest of pleasure (for we were broke), and spent a great deal of time talking to Sue. Then took her to a place in, of all things, Elvis road (passé now, I suppose), and to the pavilion in time for a pretty awful performance, and in the middle out to see Sally, who was at a nearby pub, and who bought us a drink - kind of her. Back, and afterwards off to Nightley for a rather odd barbecue, the funniest part of which was the expression on David Cawthra's face when he saw UXO 80. Did not stay there long - all they were cooking was sausages, and that not very well, so after a while set off home, and had a bite to eat there before turning ourselves to other subjects.

Monday, 29 June 1970	Bow, etc.
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And on to the end of term - how different this has been from any other! In any case, did not hurry by any means to get up, and when I dd Sue had contrived to arrive under her own steam, bringing up from downstairs a letter from Dad in anything but the best of moods; he had been drawing up a balance sheet, and came to the admittedly rather startling conclusion that I had cost him £1440 since last September in various odds and ends (including, of course, Uni fees, which accounted for a fair chunk), and as a result of that and other small displeasures (such, for instance, as not mentioning the exact nature of the stuff I had received from them) he had decided to recover my fees from Crossmead by cutting off my supply of money for August (dammit, it is only £14; I only left 2 weeks before the end of term). Then out of bed and wrote Dad a letter telling him of these things, and also that we were going to Turkey, whether he liked it or not, and down to post that, leaving a somewhat surprised Dave wondering what we were going to do.

Finally cooked some lunch, thinking about an old Russian proverb which Dad had sent me,

From memory: in the frozen steppe, a Moujik finds a small bird, freezing. He picks it up and sticks it into a pile of steaming elk dung.

Bird gradually thaws out and, grateful, bursts into song. Enter ravenous timber wolf, which finds the bird and devours it.

From this the metaphysical Russians draw three morals:

He who puts you into the shit is not necessarily your enemy.

He who gets you out of the shit is not necessarily your friend.

Above all, if you find yourself in the shit, don't make a song and dance about it.

and then decided to see Dr. Fortescue [Sue's father, a dentist], and found I had mislaid my chequebook; searched high and low for it, swearing violently, and eventually off, poor Sue somewhat upset at the way I had treated her, and to Sue's father, who promptly told me that Mike Hadden had rung up to say that he had it; in the meantime Sue was arranging a counter cheque with Lloyds, which eventually worked out, and so off to Exeter and did a bit of shopping, and finally picked up my Pelikan, which had been being repaired, cost £1, and they did a very good job - wonder if they sent it to Hannover. In any case, they even contrived to replace the pigment in the emblem on top - not that it ever stays there long. Bought a packet of Gitanes, then to Tinley's for tea, later to mess around with Pete, finally got INOUT to work, and then to the FPA, where we payed £3, followed by an inordinately long wait, after which they gave us a talking to and stuck their hands up Sue, and told her where to get her pills; then off to Plymouth, but did not get there until 2110 for a 2000 practice, so had some fish and chips, then to talk with Mrs. Norman before going home.

Tuesday, 30 June 1970	Bow ⇆ Plymouth
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Up late, with no reason to do otherwise, though doubtless Sue would have been happier had I contrived to get up earlier; did little before going and getting her, and even less when we came back; thought a bit about computer programs, centred since last night on turning INOUT into a proper program, which is not as easy as it seems - meant in effect that I had to start again from scratch. Sue cooked me what there was in the way of food as a sort of breakfast, and somehow the afternoon fled, so decided to go into Okehampton and see Dr. Twining about injections, and Sue going on the pill, and piled into the Old Grey Mare, and were going past the Burston before it occurred to Sue that she had left something behind; back and saw Chris Calcutt, and asked him about when he was coming to collect his stuff, and he refused to give me any answer; told him he would have to take pot luck as to whether I was there or not.

Then out, where the Old Grey Mare obligingly got stuck in reverse, so dumped her and off in the Ami, and got a card to see Dr. Twining, then messed about in town and found a place which sold size 10 rubber slippers [i.e. thongs] - in Okehampton! In fact, they tend to specialise in outsize shoes, so it is obviously a place to keep in mind. Then up, and Sue asked Dr. Dan about the pill, and he didn't quite know what to do, but wrote the FPA a little note saying he had no objections, and couldn't see why they didn't make up their own minds about it.

As a general practitioner in Okehampton, Dan Twining of course knew the Fortescues, and in fact was relatively friendly with them. Our request for the pill for Sue rather strained the bounds between patient confidentiality and relationships with her parents.

Then spoke at length about jabs, and in the end had tetanus, Sue also smallpox, and were given prescriptions for TABC each,

TABC is an old, worn-out abbreviation. 50 years later I went looking for what it meant. I was pretty sure that the C stood for cholera, but there's almost nothing to show that. The closest I came was this answer, which lays no claim of being authoritative. It claims “Typhoid A & B and Cholera Vaccine”, which at least agrees with my memory.

and took them down town to the chemists,

For some reason we didn't have the injections until two days later.

then off to Plymouth to talk to Paul Widdup, who is a lot poncier than I remember, and had nothing of any great value to say beyond that he suspected my gearbox top was buggered, and so to the rehearsal, where I spoke with David Cawthra and wrote a sort of basic structure of the Edit program. Then back home as usual - had intended to visit the Normans, but Sue had better ways to spent her time. Stayed the night.

Looking at the comments on the following day, it seems that this meant that I stayed the night at the Fortescues.