Filofax 1988
10.11.88 / 01 / first time in court
First court visit.
04.11.88 / 01 / computer demo
There was a ‘computer demonstration’ at work. We had a fax machine by then but nothing else. Computer systems for architects were very expensive and there were no industry-standard formats as yet. There were a couple of good well-established CAD systems specifically aimed at architects, but they required a huge investment in money, machines and training. It was too soon to be doing this by about five years. We just ended up with a word processor.
31.10.88 / 01 / legal process
Started legal proceedings against my former landlord to recover my possessions and end his threats. I got abusive phone calls at work. The gym was my refuge, he couldn't call me there. The police were supportive, I wasn't the first victim and they'd been wishing that someone would sue him for years.
08.10.88 / 01 / scotland
My long-awaited work leave was blighted by inability to walk. I had to have some kind of holiday, so I booked onto an old people's coach tour of Scotland. This meant that I would be seated most of the time, carried about from place to place, and my luggage would be carried to and from hotel rooms. I was the youngest person by 20 or 30 years.
We stayed one night in Leeds, then to Rothesay on the Isle of Bute. We had a meandering drive up the western Highlands, via beautiful Inverary and Oban. We stayed in Inverness, then up to Wick for a night, where I had the worst burger I have ever encountered. Next day we visited John o'Groats, where we caught a ferry to Kirkwall in Orkney for the day. I almost missed the coach back. It left me with a desire to return to Orkney which I did in 1995.
30.08.88 / 01 / hip injury
The cycling injury in my left hip from the previous year suddenly recurred in August as I was walking along the street. From this point it got worse and worse. I had ultrasound physio twice a week for the rest of the year, but it only brought limited relief. I couldn't get an adequate diagnosis, so it kept reinjuring to the point of becoming a permanent problem. I had a walking stick but was obliged to put more weight on the right hip, which then injured in exactly the same way - it must have been a natural weakness waiting to happen.
This would dog my life for the next 25 years. Eventually I worked out what had injured - a certain tendon near the attachment to the pelvis - and could then take steps to protect and rest it for healing, but it took ten years to stabilise. I had weeks when I could barely walk. It would reinjure every five years or so, usually when I was hurrying down the street in cold weather. And then I would be on a walking stick for six months.
It changed the way I dressed. Shoes with cushioned soles were a necessity, hard soles leave me with painful hips from the impacts. I couldn't carry a briefcase or similar lopsided load, it had to be a backpack to distribute weight evenly. You can't wear a suit with trainers and a backpack, so I had to work out how to be casual at work from then on. I have a sharp limit to the amount of weight I can safely carry, as shopping, or luggage, or in the gym. I daren't run or cycle in the street, because a wrong move will reinjure me. I can do both in the controlled environment of a gym.
Genuine relief came in 2012 with more precise physiotherapy and a visit to a 'gait and posture' specialist off Harley Street (26th February 2013 but not recorded in the Filofax). He found that my legs were unequal lengths, everything was out of alignment, and prescribed custom orthotics. It was expensive, but worth it. The injuries healed properly at last, as much as they could ever do, and I've never had the same problems since.
20.08.88 / 01 / gwennap
Party at a friend's house in Cornwall. It was on a hill in the middle of the peninsula - you could see the sea on both sides. We visited Gwennap Pit, a natural amphitheatre caused by mining subsidence, where John Wesley preached to thousands. It was the first time I had been to Cornwall.
28.06.88 / 01 / landlord
The start of a bad time. I had to flee my lodgings with what I could carry, to escape a threatening landlord. The minister rescued me and I lived in the manse for a while. Unfortunately I had to leave many valued things behind.
28.05.88 / 01 / not raw
Didn't get into RAW. Some bozo at the head of the queue smashed a glass door and they wouldn't let anyone else in. Can't remember where I went instead.
14.05.88 / 01 / raw
RAW was a great club night in the basement gym of the YMCA in Tottenham Court Road. They put a dancefloor over the top of the gym floor, made of ply sheets on timber battens, painted in blue and white stripes. It bounced as we danced. This was the first place in London to have Asahi beer in its unique can - I kept the can for a long while after. I seem to remember Dave Dorrell on the decks, the music was a mashup of funk, hip hop and amusing samples - the Coldcut remixes of Eric B and Rakim capture the sound precisely and were probably played. It wasn't quite 'acid house' but there was already a sense of euphoria - the glorious spring of the Second Summer of Love. I could see a Life Guard in full uniform, with some chicks - it's Swinging London, I thought.
10.04.88 / 01 / disc-o-theque
Disc-o-theque was a club night at the Astoria theatre opposite Centre Point. It was part of a deliberately tacky and ironic 70s revival in London clubland during 1987 and 88. I wore a real 1972 suit, French, tailor-made and very nice, accessorised with neon tat. At a certain point in the evening they would play the Gap Band 'Oops Upside Your Head' and people got down on the floor and did the rowing boat dance. The symbol of the club was a winking smiley, available as a Perspex or glass medallion on a chain for medallion men. This was ahead of the use of the smiley as an acid house symbol, so it seemed of limited value. How I wish I'd bought one.
xx.xx.88 / 01 / water and fire
I spent much time during the first half of the year in the Methodist play ‘Water and Fire’ - many rehearsals and touring performances including at Chichester Cathedral. The minister of my church was head of drama for the whole Methodist Church in England, so we had a very busy church drama group trying out new plays and musicals straight from the writers - of variable quality - and of course pantomimes.
08.02.88 / 01 / timesheet
First work hours recorded in the Filofax - was this the point at which it occurred to me to do this?
01.01.88 / 01 / new filofax
Bought in late 1987 after a change of job. 'Wellington' black rubber binder with magnetic catch. The ritual of buying a new diary insert, and writing in all the birthdays and other fixed dates. What pen to use? It had to fit in the loop and not drop out, and look good. I never found a permanent solution.
