*The Week That Was – 15th October 1984

Record of the week: Cult Maniax – Cold Love LP

15th October 1984
Stayed in. Went to Ferndown Industrial Estate.

17th October 1984
Went to Holtwood Youth Club. It’s quite good.

18th October 1984
Stayed in. Finished reading The Funhouse – good. Reading Delta Star – fucking funny book.

19th October 1984
Went to Hinton Martell. Applied for Youth Club leader. ‘They’ll let me know.’ Sure

20th October 1984
Doing fireworks – down track. Jasper’s a fuckin’ selfish wanker. OH WELL – THAT’S LIFE.

Bravo – 13th October 1984

You look so hard
You marked my card
I’m down to die
But I wanna know why
Bravo

6th July 1984 – As an awkward and different teenager, purposefully outside normal society, I was always a target for the normies. At the time I couldn’t understand it. No matter how I looked or acted I was still a human being just like everyone else. I would be kicked and punched and called names just for being different, for being a punk. Whatever hatred and misunderstanding they had of me they passed along and I returned the favour though never took anything to violent extremes. I could let people be if they could do the same.

Rising Free – 12th October 1984

Broken boredom ecstatic relief
I have fallen for their false belief
They got me rising so high
My head is in the clouds
Right where it was before
But with a different level of crowds
Broken boredom always on your toes
I have to wear their uniform clothes
Was so high, now I’m tired
I rose to the summit
My body was exhausted
I had to submit
I rose free wearing their chains
No code to decipher what’s in my brains

Hong Kong Gong – 8th October 1984

Ring the bell
The plastic’s here
Meltdown, meltdown
The atmosphere

Plastic plastic on your shelf
Is it really good for your health?

Who cares? It’s making money for the Hong Kong Gong
If you can’t see that, something’s gone wrong
But you can’t tell cos you’ve never seen the light
You’ve always been told what’s wrong and right
So doped up you don’t feel a thing
Until you hear the Hong Kong Gong ring

2nd July 2023 – During my life, there were various countries that were associated with manufacturing cheap plastic items. In the late 70s, as memorialised by the Epileptics, it was Hong Kong, then still controlled by UK. Other poorer Asian countries would then take their turn even as their products improved and eventually, as in the case of China, they took over such a large percentage of manufacturing that innovation started taking place there instead. Many in the West spent their time scoffing at hard-working Asians struggling to make a couple of dollars a day whilst they sat around getting fat, lazy and smug.

*The Week That Was – 8th October 1984

Record of the week: Black Flag – Keep It In The Family 12″

12th October 1984
Hinton Martell Youth Club. Murray and Graeme went down as well as B + B.

13th October 1984
Bennett came round. Gave me £10 to get fireworks. But I spent it. Bought Cult Maniax LP, UK Decay 7″, KUKL LP, Black Flag 12″

14th October 1984
Went to Wareham. Got my records back off Paul. He might come round next Saturday.