Apropos of nothing, I started thinking about my first year as a Londoner (from Sept 1974 - July 1975) and remembering all kinds of things, so I thought I would record them here while I'm still thinking of them. I have written before about specific events, like buying 10cc's "Sheet music" album, severe stomach pains, seeing Fairport at the Royal Albert Hall and Richard and Linda Thompson at the Queen Elisabeth Hall, but there is a lot that I have missed.
I think that I have a tendency to be very hard and judgmental about my earlier self; maybe this is undeserved but totally appropriate for this year. It wasn't so much a case of burning the candle from both ends; I was stuck in a triangle with each one pulling in a different direction and I don't think that two of them got the attention that they deserved.
But first: I was in love with being a Londoner! On several occasions I had spent a week in London, mainly staying with friends, but this was full time. I was totally in love with the underground: until the end of 1974, I used to walk to the West Hampstead tube station and ride on the Bakerloo line to the Elephant and Castle stop (the university was next to the station). The train used to be very crowded in the morning and I didn't enjoy this very much. The train was less crowded in the afternoon, but after a few months of this (I had a three month season ticket), I decided to switch my allegiance to a different station. This was Golders Green, on the Northern line; I'm not sure if this was further to walk than to West Hampstead, but at least the trains were less crowded. Coming home was more complicated, as there were several 'Northern lines', and I had to ensure that I would take the correct train. In retrospect, it might have made more sense to walk to Hampstead station, which is the stop after/before Golders Green, but this would have been a bit hilly near the station, whereas the walk to Golders Green was flat. I'm sure that I abused my season ticket: if going out in the evening, I would buy a ticket to wherever, but return with my season ticket. One can't do this anymore.
But there were so many places that I could have visited but didn't: Soho and Chelsea come to mind. I could have visited recording studios, but I was too cool for that. Had I known, I could have visited Richard and Linda Thomson in their Thurlow Road flat - a bit further on from the Hampstead underground station.
So what was the triangle to which I referred in the opening paragraph? University, youth movement and girlfriend. The youth movement received the majority of my time. University was tough going at first; I had just spent a year in Israel whereas most of my class-mates had come straight from school, so adapting to an academic setting wasn't easy. I was still very young, barely 18. In the first year, we had lectures and tutorials; we also had what might be termed a 'pastoral' tutor with whom we could speak about problems. I remember having great difficulty with the woman who lectured us on microbiology as her lectures were very hard to absorb. We had three different lecturers for chemistry: one for organic chemistry, one for physical chemistry and one for analysis. The organic chemistry lecturer used to make remarks about whatever was written on his students' sweat-shirts, so I used to wear sweat-shirts with Hebrew lettering in order to confound him. We also had a lecturer in something (farming??) who was an ex-Israeli, so I felt quite comfortable with him.
In the first year, we also had something similar to school, whose name eludes me, <something - general?> studies, that were intended to enrich us; these weren't examined courses. As I still considered myself quite artistic, I plumped for the course on poetry and literature. I remember that one time the lecturer organised a theatre visit for his students - we went to see one of the Norman Conquests. I asked if I could bring my girlfriend along (yes) and she turned up in terrific clothes (a tailored suit?). I had never seen her dressed like that, but as she said, one dresses up for the theatre and dresses down for the youth movement. I kept in touch with that lecturer throughout my university years and even went to his house and met his family shortly before I graduated and emigrated.
Apart from the two concerts that I mentioned in the opening paragraph, I don't remember going to any other concerts. Instead we went to the theatre; apart from the above visit, I remember that we went to see Equus, Heartbreak House and possibly something else. We went to the cinema: apart from 'Play it again, Sam', I remember seeing a film by Claude Lelouch to which I had free tickets so that I could review it (it was also the Passover holiday - I went straight from the cinema to the train station in order to travel home to Cardiff) and probably others. We also went to art galleries - we saw a Paul Klee exhibition that I reviewed and probably went to the Tate gallery.
What are these reviews? Instead of being concerned with studying at the university, I got involved with the fortnightly newspaper. At first, I simply helped to collate the issues but after a while I started writing reviews. The highlight of this was when I wrote a 'personal' column that was full of in-jokes, at least for me. I don't think that my fellow students knew of my involvement.
As I have written before, my course was composed of both academic and practical work periods. At sometime during May (maybe June) 1975 I was sent to a biscuit factory in Harlesden, west London, to see whether this would be a suitable placement. My memories are that I had great difficulty in finding this factory and that it was hot, causing me to sweat in my jacket. When I eventually found the factory, I was given a tour; I wasn't enthusiastic, to say the least. This lack of enthusiasm probably carried through to the interview as the manager there did not find me suitable. Just as well. The lack of a placement should have caused me to worry, but I don't think that I did. In the end, it was only after coming back from Israel in September 1975 and after a few nerve wracking weeks, was I informed that a place had been found for me at Schweppes in Hendon, a much more suitable place.
In terms of the university, the rest is a blank. The scholastic year didn't end very well as related here. I'll continue this in the next few days.
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