We/I had made it to the party month, again. That’s seventeen by now. This year it would include an 80s fancy dress disco at the Oak. Let me just get that clear, this was 1986 – 80s – check. It was to be a fancy dress disco – fancy dress disco – check.
The rest of December was made up of a couple of weeks of college. We were really into the swing of things by now. When I read through my diary, I can see the pattern… Monday morning – moan – oops, it’s Friday – Saturday – town, football – Sunday – deliver papers, collect money for bills – bloody hell, it’s Monday again.
So, please, put your feet up, treat yourself to a cup of tea and ten minutes of December 1986 in a 16-/17-year-old’s style. Or alternatively, don’t ?
Monday 1 December 1986
So, at last, it was December. Boy had it been a long time…
You’ll have to excuse this bit of a whinge. It’s just me, being me. As a child, without a grown-up’s more rational view of the world, I was unable to grasp the idea that the present is transitory. You, know the vibe, here today; gone tomorrow. Tomorrow follows today, rinse and repeat.
The trouble was, it was eleven months between the here and now of my birthday, then Christmas then… my birthday. It was a long time to wait for all that excitement in a two or perhaps (allowing for New Year) three-week jamboree.
I perhaps should have mentioned in August, that I would get extremely jealous of my sister, having a summer birthday. And don’t mention those people who’d enjoy their birthdays in June or July.
Anyway, that’s enough of my cod philosophy.
It was a nice-ish sort of day, and we didn’t get our Industrial Studies test results as expected. Apparently, “Physics was a bit of a laugh.” Our lesson involved us using (i.e., looking through) collimators*.
Eh? I’m laughing (maniacally) now at the very thought, but I don’t suppose that Physics could ever have been “a bit of a laugh.”
* A cursory search for the term ‘collimator’ reveals that they are lenses with a range of uses and applications across the electromagnetic spectrum.
Tuesday 2 December 1986
Today I atoned for my recent poor record-buying decisions by going out and getting Utter Madness, the Nutty Boys’ second greatest hits compilation.
Between us, my brother and I now had Complete and Utter Madness. Or we were completely and utterly mad? I dunno. Clever huh?
I also bought some plastic sleeves to keep (the outside of) my records in pristine condition. Ooh-er, the lives of the rich and famous…
Wednesday 3 December 1986
Ooh!
More excitement in the polo pool, with new teams picked. My new team won 2-1 and I scored one of the goals.
“Industrial Studies woz a dos” – again. We were playing another game. Learning through play for 16-, 17- & 18-year-olds.
Thursday 4 December 1986
The only thing of note that happened today was that it was Thursday.
Oh, and I bought a Christmas present with a couple of quid I found in my pocket. As Rik in The Young Ones would have said (about something completely different – revising for an appearance on University Challenge or something), ‘Bit of pretty bloody brilliant luck, eh?’
I noted that I had my lifesaving test in the pool tomorrow.
Friday 5 December 1986
No sweat, I passed with flying colours.
Saturday 6 December 1986
Both Liverpool and Shrewsbury lost, to Watford (2-0) and Oldham (3-0) respectively.
We took Christmas cards up to a friend’s house, but he wasn’t in, so we just came home again. “Oh well.”
Sunday 7 December 1986
The good old days #5384.
Man Utd on the telly today, this time versus Spurs. It was 2-0 at half-time, then Spurs went ahead 3-2, but Utd managed a draw in the end.
It was a “horrid day” – because of what, I made no mention. Take your pick… rain, sleet, snow, hail stones the size of golf-balls, wind… whatever.
It was December at 53° N.
Monday 8 December 1986
“Boring day.”
It must have been because I mentioned that I had realised that I had need not have done some Maths homework with which I was struggling with over the weekend. Gah!
For once I ate my lunch in the college refectory. I must have been flush! Not to mention not feeling got at.
Then we went over to the pool to shoot some pool.
Tuesday 9 December 1986
“Industrial Studies was boring again.”
And, as it happened, General Studies was too. Well on that score, if I hadn’t been such a sheep and merely followed the crowd, I’d have been able to listen to things such as some top-notch insights into the co-existence of the two Germanys. Instead, I went and listened to some dreary old jazz, because that’s where the crowd was headed. Apparently, there was a girl that one of them fancied. FFS.
But on the other hand, I followed nobody into doing Industrial Studies and like I said, that too was boring. Oh bugger, why couldn’t these things have been black and white instead of all those dang shades in between?
“Maths was quite understandable,” so, some good news, eh? After lunch I took a solitary dip in the pool – but being a gregarious* type I didn’t really enjoy myself.
* Gregarious as in ‘fond of company; sociable.’ Although only the first part seemed really to apply to me as I found it very difficult to strike up friendships with new people.
As a consequence, when my existing friendships went south, I had some very lonely times. Following them to a series of lectures on jazz on a Tuesday afternoon did not make me part of the gang. Cue some extremely small violin parts.
Wednesday 10 December 1986
Today started very cold but did turn into a nice day.
We played polo, but one of our star players was missing – he’d been persuaded to play rugby. In December! Fool!
Anyway, back in the warmth of the pool, our game of polo ended in a 2-2 draw – the replay was on for next week.
I wasn’t looking forward to tomorrow, describing it as “a bastard day.”
Thursday 11 December 1986
Well, it didn’t let me down – it was “a bastard day, but not as completely bastard as Mondays!”
However, it mustn’t go past without it being noted that it was Dad’s birthday today. Happy birthday, Pops.
Thursdays were always a great TV night too. Consequently, we watched TOTP, featuring The Housemartins, Alison Moyet, Dexys Midnight Runners, a-ha, Jackie Wilson and Madonna*. Not to mention Joey Tempest and the boys with their gigantic hit, The Final Countdown. After EastEnders, which I may well have watched, we still had Tomorrow’s World and A Question of Sport. To look forward to.
I noted too that the TV companies (such as they were at the time – BBC, ITV and C4) had started their “crazy ‘You must watch this at Christmas’ campaign.”
Things were certainly getting more festive, only two weeks to go ?
* Thank you to the fabulous BBC Genome Project for my memory jogger.
Friday 12 December 1986
It was a “boring day today.”
We did have some new neighbours move in next door* and I managed to lose my contact lens on the bus home from college – fortunately, someone found it.
I also bought a record – ‘Saint’ (had he been ‘canonised’ by this point?) Bob Geldof’s not very good, This Is The World Calling.
Tonight, we watched “The Proffessionals (sic),” and the grandparents visited as they always did on a Friday night.
I had a big day tomorrow.
* Considering I was brought up on a council estate, this was a relatively rare occurrence. There wasn’t any great turnover of property. Although, next door to us did seem to have a number of new tenants over the 25 plus years that my family lived in our house.
Saturday 13 December 1986
I turned 17 today – so yesterday was effectively the last day of my ‘Diary of a Sixteen-year-old.’
I either bought or was gifted a Eurythmics 7″ single, The Miracle Of Love and Shrewsbury Town beat Birmingham City 1-0 at Gay Meadow.
Sunday 14 December 1986
Liverpool played versus Chelsea today and won 3-0 with Whelan, Rush and Nicol scoring the goals.
They also won the BBC Sports Team of the Year. And in stretching, to the limit, the definition of the word personality, Nigel Mansell won the Sports Personality prize – the first of his two wins.
Monday 15 December 1986
A day out from sixth form today.
Us A Level Physics students went to Liverpool University for a lecture on Super Conductors. In classic country bumpkin fare, I noted that five of us “[had taken] the back seat.” It’s a long and tedious story and I won’t bore you with the details.
The whole day out was, “one hell of a laugh,” I kid you not.
Tuesday 16 December 1986
A testimonial match for former Shrewsbury Town and Liverpool goalkeeper Bob Wardle* was played this evening.
Steve Nicol scored both goals in Liverpool’s 2-0 victory at Gay Meadow. We had some very good chips after the game from Jack’s Chippie in Coleham.
* Bob played over a hundred games for Town before moving to Liverpool where he was understudy to Bruce Grobbelaar. Unfortunately, he didn’t play a single game for the Reds and his career was cut short by an eye injury.
Wednesday 17 December 1986
Today was the grand water polo rematch.
My team lost 4-3, even though I scored all 3 of our goals. In my diary, I was very phlegmatic, saying “it’s just hard luck.”
At lunchtime, I bought Kate Bush’s single, Experiment IV. It’s not the best of her tracks and it’s not the worst.
Thursday 18 December 1986
Last day at sixth form before Christmas and this evening we had the Christmas disco.
The event took on the form of a fancy-dress party and dressed as Rene from Allo Allo, I was well up with the girls until Nigel took the theme to the nth degree and arrived as Yvette from Allo Allo. Gah!
Theo slept over at ours and this time there was no refusal of service embarrassment.
Friday 19 December 1986
After our 2 am finish last night, I was “bloody knackered” all day. But, at least there was no college today.
Theo left at 11, presumably, he had been picked up by one or both of his parents. Once he’d gone, Mum and Dad went into town, where they stayed until a quarter to four.
For some reason, despite being soooooo tired it was a “boring day.”
Saturday 20 December 1986
I was “still tired” today.
Liverpool scraped a 0-0 away at Charlton. Wigan had a narrow (12-11) squeak against Hull in the Regal Trophy semi.
I was in bed by 10:30.
Sunday 21 December 1986
I arose from my pit at 9:30 and went out to do my papers and collect the bills.
By the time I had finished, I was much better off, having collected Christmas tips from most of my customers.
In motoring news, having turned 17 last week it was off to Dad’s works car park to have a go in the car. Why we had to wait until I was 17 when it was off the public highway, I don’t know.
Anyway, it was, I recorded, “bloody chaos.” It took me until 22 April 1988 (first time actually – I just needed loads and loads of lessons) to pass my driving test. Either the old chap wasn’t a very good teacher – or perhaps more accurately, I wasn’t a very good pupil?!
Shrewsbury Town lost 3-0 away versus B&HAFC.
Monday 22 December 1986
It was a “smelly day today after the dog farted yesterday!” Right. OK.
Loaded with my booty from yesterday’s collection I went to town and bought myself a new jacket (probably from the Market) and a new computer game. What my new computer game was I made no record, but it was “quite good.”
I had finished my Christmas shopping too. Game on…
Tuesday 23 December 1986
Excitement building?
Apparently not because today was “boring.”
Wednesday 24 December 1986
“So, the last few weeks build to a climax.”
Wait, what?! Yesterday was a one-word entry, “boring.” Yet today it’s building a climax. Sort yourself out, son.
Anyway, I went to town to buy some football boots. Mad or what?
Thursday 25 December 1986
Christmas Day Bank Holiday UK & R. of Ireland
Some climax! I was in philosophical mood, pontificating about next week being January and 1987 with lots to look forward to.
I was quite good at such visions, however, what I didn’t realise was that I had to actually DO something to make something happen…
Friday 26 December 1986
Boxing Day Bank Holiday UK & R. of Ireland
Cor blimey it was cold today. We attended the Shrewsbury versus West Brom game at Gay Meadow. Gerry Daly (yes, The Gerry Daly) notched the only goal in a 1-0 home win.
Liverpool lost at Anfield versus Man Utd by the only goal, scored by Norman Whiteside on 78 minutes.
Saturday 27 December 1986
DAY OF MOURNING
In a message for the poor, overworked footballing darlings of today, Liverpool (and other teams) played again today.
Ian Rush scored the only goal in a 1-0 at Sheffield Wednesday.
Sunday 28 December 1986
“Well, what a crap day.”
Most likely this was because I was out doing my papers again and NO tips! (Er, you had them last week numb nuts.)
The most exciting thing to report was an argument with my brother, not to mention my disparaging remark about him. I won’t repeat it here, but brothers, eh?!
Monday 29 December 1986
Shrewsbury Town had a short trip today for their game.
Only bloody Portsmouth! No change there from the people who set the football fixtures, from Shropshire to Hampshire at this time of year. Needless to say, Pompey won by a comfortable 3-0 margin.
In other news, I reported that I had got up at half past nine.
Clearly, diary fatigue had set in… 3 days to go… you can do it.
Tuesday 30 December 1986
“A boring day.”
Oh, yes. So much so that I did some Industrial Studies homework. I was THAT bored.
Apparently, a 1987 diary was on offer…
Wednesday 31 December 1986
Well, what goes around comes around.
Today being the last day of the year, I kept up my tradition (‘you sad bastard,’ I hear you cry) and watched Wogan – the last programme of ’86, not ’85.
I was dead chuffed that I had managed to keep my diary up for a whole 12 months. It was quite a year for me – a death in the family, exams, starting a new phase of my education, a football World Cup and so on.
What would 1987 hold… erm, I don’t know because I did not keep a diary for 1987.