I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike – 29th March 1994

Sunday – lazy day – with the one hour lost we didn’t really wake up until midday. We bummed around the house til we made a decision (!) to go bike riding.

The weather wasn’t as nice as yesterday but was okay. Quite cold to start on our bikes but we put our hoods up and braved it. We headed for the Branksome Chine woods and threaded our way down to the beach through beautiful trees and paths. It was bitterly cold at the beach but we cycled along to one of the other chines and up that. Our first real leg tester! As we came up to the top of the hill it became warmer and we made our way home through lots of backstreets and woods, passing by some of the biggest houses we’ve ever seen. We had stiff limbs and sore bums after our first bike ride of the year!

Hurray for random images found on the internet.

Time seemed to run on fairly quickly and before we knew it the evening was upon us. It was brilliant that it didn’t get dark until about 7.15pm. Everyone was in a good mood. Broni even washed the floor, now looking shiny and new.

We watched a video about the Australian rainforest (Lamington National Park) where Bronwyn has been! It looks beautiful and we thought we may have our honeymoon there. We curled up into bed late and fell asleep quickly. Our love to keep us warm.

Happy birthday Rob!

Monday morning caught up with us and we wandered our merry ways to work. Coming home was the best thing. Broni’s eyes lit up when she saw me and she dragged me upstairs and devoured me sensually.

We went and got our passport photos done for our visas. Then I dropped my sweetheart at Kerry’s as she was going out to a meal with her and a friend. This left me with a few hours alone so I carried on writing up my story which is coming along well I think.

Broni came home happy and cheerful. We finished our visa forms which really stressed us out – by now it was time to sleep. We slept magically! Hey, you know Broni actually sang in her sleep yesterday night! Weird!

The Week That Was – 11th November 1979

Record of the week: Madness – One Step Beyond
Highest entry: Madness – One Step Beyond

29th Aug 2022 – I think it’s pretty much impossible for pre/early adolescents not to love this song. I still love it now though its familiarity has worn a little thin.

11th November 1979
Nothing
2p

12th November 1979
(tick)
Not a lot
2p

13th November 1979
today
2p

14th November 1979
Six weeks til me bike comes
2p 195p*

30th Aug 2022 – It’s funny to see the affected writing using me instead of my. Is it an English thing? It feels like it. Northern perhaps? Scottish or Irish influence? Blackie from the Hard-Ons still uses it when he’s sending emails, messages etc. It also reminds me of Gilesy who never says fucking but fooking. It sounds weird to me but it seems to be his thing.

Anyway, me bike was an Eddy Merckx 12-speed racing bike ordered from the huge catalogues that appeared once or twice a year. I didn’t know who Eddy Merckx was but the catalogue spiel sold me on it. I thought it was something special.

I don’t know where these came from but I think they were free. Grattans was the name of one. They contained everything such as kitchen items, clothes, tools, toys etc and usually at a cheaper price than in the shops, though by the time shipping charges were added they probably ended up the same.

For teen boys (maybe girls too) the fashion pages were prime material to get excited about, especially the underwear sections. Without any access to porn, this was as good as it got. I still prefer to be stimulated by a semi-clothed body rather than a naked one. I’ve got an imagination that I want to use.

15th November 1979
1. Dr Hook
2. Lena Martell
3. Queen
4. Jam
5. Commodores
6. Abba
2p

16th November 1979
(tick)
If I don’t find something to say soon I’ll do something about it
2p

30th Aug 2022 – Seems I was even annoyed at myself at the time for what felt like boring days. I bet they weren’t boring at all and filled with forgotten episodes or creative stupidity.

17th November 1979
Ipswich v ?
Graeme came

30th Aug 2022 – Why I didn’t write more? We would’ve got up to loads of mischief but maybe the mischief was so prevalent that it wasn’t worthy of mention. We usually walked up to Queen’s Copse and dicked around there. To be honest, there wasn’t much to do there, occasionally we’d stumble through farmer’s fields and get chased by bulls, piss on electric fences and find dead snakes. I got my mum to take a couple of pictures with her Polaroid Instamatic as Graeme and I pulled ‘punk’ poses that we’d learned from whatever magazines we’d come across.