Friday, June 2, 1989

4 Cans of Whitbreads, 2 Cans of Carlsberg ...

Slept in today until 10.30, when J.P. came by to pick up his Geography Reader, which I intended on using last night, but never did. I spent the bulk of the morning finishing up the first part of "The 37th Heir," which is eight pages long. So the whole story may eventually exceed 20. I hope I can finish it before I leave here.

When I finished, I dropped off two library books and bought a turkey sandwich for lunch. Then I came back to The Grange and hung out in Jane's room for coffee and tea with Cat, Sean, Barry, Bruce and Helen.

Stayed there for a few hours, and then returned to my room and re-designed it a bit, because I felt like it. Looks dead good, I think.

After dinner I talked to Jane a bit more, then borrowed her cassette recorder to do some taping. Following that I went to the off-license for four cans of Whitbread Best Bitter and two cans of Carlsberg lager for the evening.

It turned out to be a great evening. Started in Jane's room, talking, and then went over to Sean's room to watch some movie ("The Honorary Consul") starring Michael Caine, Richard Gere and Bob Hoskins (in the film, not the room.)

After that, everyone in St. Martin's started to break off for bed, so I traversed into St. Hilda's and ended up in one of the Spanish girl's rooms, where a group had collected. I talked to J.P. and others for awhile, including Fiona, one of the Spanish girls from Madrid. I talked to her for awhile about Viv and Madrid, though in hindsight, I'm not sure that I was altogether coherent. Matricia made some ice cold coffee, so I passed.

When this got boring, I went downstairs and found J.P. (who found it boring a bit earlier than I had), who was watching the Woody Allen movie "Bananas" in the common room. The movie ended at 20 past one, at which time BBC2 went off the air.

We, however, were still going strong, even though J.P. kept insisting that he was going to bed. I ended up in Louise's room, with Louise, Kevin, Neil, Irish Johnny and others coming in and out. They were waiting for a pizza that they had ordered, which finally arrived about an hour and a half after they had called in their order.

Irish Johnny had had a bad day, as he had found out at 2.30 this afternoon that he'd been dropped from his architecture course. He should be able to find placement somewhere else, but he was distraught, as he really wanted to stay in Hull with his friends. When I saw him, he was alright, but from what I was told, earlier in the day he was in pretty bad shape. I hope that he'll be alright.

Anyway, at around 3.30 a.m., I wandered back to my room and went to bed. A good evening, this was!

(Pictured is Carl, Irish Johnny and Neil, in St. Hilda's Hall. This photo is courtesy of J.P.)

Sunday, May 21, 1989

Soaking in Some Rays ...

Well, it was again very beautiful outside, so this morning after buying a Sunday Times, listening to the White Album while reading it, I went outside to soak in some rays and study a bit. Well, neither was a major success, but I did manage to get a little bit of a tan. I still can't believe that Hull has been getting so much of this nice weather.

There were a lot of us hanging about outside, carrying on pointless but interesting conversations, as yet another lazy Sunday passed me by.

Eventually, darkness set in and I prepared to watch one of my favourite movies on the telly... "The Lion in Winter." It was the fifth time I'd seen it, so I knew what I was in for. J.P. was the only person who originally started watching it with me and enjoyed it. It's a bit heavy for some people, I guess. Unfortunately, three-quarters of the way through he was really tired so he kipped out.

I was the only person to watch it the whole way through, but I wasn't alone, as Louise Fenton and her friend Sharon came in and watched the end of the movie. Afterward, Louise came back to my room for some coffee and we talked about various topics. She ended up staying there for about 45 minutes (a little bit longer than "Dark Side of the Moon," anyway).

After she left I dozed off, and eventually went to bed. Oh yeah, I also called and talked to my parents today. Everything for the trip next month is all a go, but they said that the plumbing in the house is all screwed up for some reason.

(Pictured is Ian and someone else whose name escapes me, using cushions from the common room to relax in the sun outside The Grange halls on another beautiful warm day in Hull.)


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• Number One Song in Britain This Week: "Ferry 'Cross the Mersey" - Gerry Marsden, Paul McCartney, Holly Johnson and The Christians (for the Hillsborough Disaster)
  
  
• Number One Song in America This Week: "Forever Your Girl" - Paula Abdul

Thursday, May 4, 1989

Lorna is Now Bright Red ...

Woke up bright and early today, ate breakfast, and got to the library before 9 a.m. to get right in and begin typing my essay. Since I already had it all in order, I was able to type straight through with only minor corrections until 12.15, when I let Buffy use the typewriter while I wrote up my conclusion.

When all was said and done at 1 p.m., I had typed about 2,500 words and was satisfied that I had successfully answered the question. I'm still worried, though. I left Buffy and J.P. (who said he didn't start writing his essay until today) to type, and went over to hand mine in.

From there I went to the store and treated myself to another jumbo turkey sandwich (odd: today it cost me 75p, while yesterday it was only 65p), before heading to Modern Prose Fiction class, where Allan McLaurin discussed Graham Greene's "It's a Battlefield." I got the scoop on our essay topic, and left there an hour later to check books out of the library for my next - and final - essay in Geography on Thomas Malthus. Should be fun. I'll be so glad to get it out of the way.

It was yet another beautiful spring day here in Hull, which almost prevented me from going to class. But afterward it was relaxation outside behind St. Hilda's, playing soccer, laying around, etc. Lorna is now bright red, yet she still insists on lying out in the sun. How odd.

Well, it was also Margaret Thatcher's 10th year in power today. No big deal - I figure she will be in for quite a time yet. Wouldn't mind a Labour government though... It'd be nice to see a 1 dollar to 1 pound exchange rate!

That evening I spent most of my time talking to Sam - first in my room, then with Louise Fenton for awhile, then in his room with Cat for awhile. Several hours, actually. Enjoyed several coffees and covered scores of topics. Sam and I are getting along quite well these days. He actually invited me to come to visit his house in Scunthorpe next weekend to meet his wife, Jenny. It should be real good to get away.

Cat told me that we may have some more money coming our way from the school. I sure hope she's right!