Tag: Sex Gang Children

*The Week That Was – 7th May 1984

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Records of the week: Sex Gang Children – Beasts, In Excelsis – Carnival of Damocles

7th May 1984
Got up. Didn’t do much. Went down club. Zoe rang before. Gave Shaun Chick a game of snooker – he only just beat me. Came back. Watched TV. Hill Street Blues. Steve Davis won the snooker.

8th May 1984
Managed to get up in time. Stef was in a mood first. 2. Went up library. 3. Did Maths – shit. Pissed around in art room with Burd. Lunch – sat on bench having fags etc. English language – didn’t do too badly I don’t think. Came back on bus which was all right. Went down. Jamie ain’t allowed out. Came back. Watched Young Ones which was pretty crap.

9th May 1984
Jim came into school for no reason. Did Social Studies in morning – pretty bad. Lunch – lay in the grass with Sarah and Vicki. Social again – which was easy. Wrote 7 poems. 7. Went up library. 8. Maths – shit. Went down Witchampton. I beat Roo at snooker. Went to Burd’s – played football. Roo’s old man brought me back.

10th May 1984
Half day today. English Comprehensions – was quite easy. Tried to get out of hall for a fag. Doubled up on bus. Rupert was supposed to come over but fuckin’ didn’t. Played drums, went down the track. Re-dug the camp and started doing some more til it pissed it down. Went to Houldey’s. Dried off. Came back. Had a bad talk with Zoe. Drew on wall. Did taping.

11th May 1984
Another half day today. Had a fuckin’ boring Physics exam today which I totally fucked up. Came back home – took dog for walk. Went down to the track and did some digging. Went to Houldey’s. Had a chat with Mr Houldey. Met Mr Shearlock – had a chat with him. Went down to club. Met Jez and Roo. We decided to really get PCH together. So Carly knew Paul Chick had a guitar so Roo bought it. I ran around with things. Saw Peter Chick – more an accident. Came home.

12th May 1984
Got on bus for Poole. Met Jez. Roo didn’t get on cos he couldn’t afford it. Jez left his bass guitar with me. Still no Black Flag so bought Sex Gang Children and In Excelsis 12″s. Put bass in Bandstand. Met Fish. We went to the Quay. Got bus back. Jez got on. Saw Simon. Told him to ring. Got back home. Went down track. Watched Automan (?). Went to track again. Simon rang. Jez rang. Went to where Jez was. Baby’s (indecipherable) then came round so he couldn’t go to the disco. Roo pissed off. Then I did. Watched film. Went to sleep.

13th May 1984
Woke up at 12. Burd rang, said he was coming over. He came with Roo. Played Subhumans to them. Started cleaning out garage. Took everything out. Put some back. Took some to dump. Put some on fire. Roo was getting on our tits. He pissed off. We had a game of football in garage. Started a fire in there. Jez went home. Went to Jim’s. Came back

*The Week That Was – 16th April 1984

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Record of the week: Ian Dury – Sweet Gene Vincent, The Mob – Let The Tribe Increase LP, Self Abuse – Soldier, Sex Gang Children – Mauritia Mayer

16th April 1984
Couldn’t get to sleep. Only about 3 hours. Mum had a laugh at us sleeping together, stayed in bed with Zoe most of the day. We went to Wimborne and both spent her money. Met Jim who was looking for Bernice. Came back on bus. Zoe didn’t feel too well. Got back into bed. Jim came round. Took some photos. Sat and talked. Me and Zoe got up to things while Jim was singing the Jam. Still couldn’t get to sleep. Eventually did.

17th April 1984
Got 7 hours sleep. Mum came up to wake us up. Huh. Got up. Burd came round. Did some songs with drums. Rupe came along. Took some photos. Jim went. Came back in. Did this and that. Jim came back. Muz came round. Me and Zoe went into other bedroom. Them lot came in doing moonies. Zoe weren’t feeling too well again. Went down the rubbish dump – ‘ad a laugh. All sorts happened – some too rude to mention. Put on DOA.

18th April 1984
Got 4 hours sleep. Woke up Rupe. Watched breakfast TV. Woke Jim and Burd up who slept in the other room. Went out, took some photos. Took Zoe down to Bournemouth. She got on bus. Went back to Wimborne. Met Jim, Burd and Rupe. Jim went on. We went to Dan’s. Bernice ill. Met Jim again. Went to Dan’s. Went round Wimborne. Met this girl who fancied Roo. Hung a tampon on a tree. Pissed around (?) Rupert to this girl. Came back on bus. Really missing Zoe. Still got a buzz from the last couple of days. Had a chat to Zoe on the phone – both unhappy.

19th April 1984
Woke up 11. Played Zoe’s favourite records. Had an apple. Can’t stop thinking about Zoe. Took dog (for a walk). Did some art for my exam. Drew Zoe. Wrote a decent poem. Waiting for Zoe to ring at 6. 6.30 – she hadn’t rung so I rang her. She wasn’t there. Went out to play drums. Zoe rang. We talked for about 50 minutes. I was glad to hear her voice. Went to Burd’s. Roo was there. Went down bus shelter. Talked about the party. Rung Roo’s girl up – had a laugh. Came home. Played Mauritia Mayer and Christian Death.

20th April 1984
Woke up. Gave my mum card and presents. Read book. Ate food. Went to Houldey’s. They gave me some wine. Came back. Dandy and Becky came in. Then went. Zoe rang – thank god. I’m really missing her. Talked for a while. Went to Houldey’s later again. It was Mr H’s birthday today as well. Came back, put on Christian Death with strobe and Mauritia Mayer.

21st April 1984
Got up. Fucked around. Decided to go to Poole. So went to see Pam who’s doing alright. Saw Dusty. Went down Poole. Saw Justin. Saw Lisa and her mate – went to park to drink cider. Came back. Zoe rang. Had a chat. Can’t stop thinking about her. Went to Houldey’s I think, I dunno. Came back. Watched Woody Allen – fucking good film. Can’t remember anything else.

22nd April 1984
Got up – practised drums. Ate food. Rang Zoe – had a nice chat. Had a bath – I was smelling a bit, and went to Houldey’s – took Mauritia Mayer. Went down BMX track. Met Jamie and Burty. Went back to Houldey’s. Came home. Went back – cleaned Beki’s window. Took record back. Went down BMX – had a laugh. Bought some fags. Went to Houldey’s. Came back. Watched film. Made semolina. Went to bed.

*The Week That Was – 12th March 1984

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Record of the week: Confessions Of Sin – Richochet or Roundabout (?) (live), Anti-Sect – In Darkness There Is No Choice, Sex Gang Children – Mauritia Mayer, Abyss, Deuche

12th March 1984
Rupert might go tonight. Physics – started new group, Pregnant Combine Harvesters. Maths – shit. Social Studies – had a laugh. H.E. – piss funny. Walked down to Wimborne. Collected moped. Found out I’m still not legal. Rode back. Rupert’s mum took us to Wimborne – got bus for Bournemouth. Went to gig – looking forward. Disgusting Pukey Scarves – not too bad. Someone (?) – good. Josh and John – fucking ace (bit like SPK). The Thing – just like Hawkwind – fucking good. Confessions Of Sin – bloody fucking amazing. Ended with Loose (again), bassist chucked his guitar about. Saw Neville there. Came back 10.45, got home 11.40 and here I am now.

13th March 1984
Going to look for new moped tomorrow. R.E. – ok. P.S.C.E. – wrote a song about Newtown (?). Maths – shit. Biz – crap. English – good. P.E. – played a serious game of basketball. Come home. Rang Simon, said practice was on. He rang back 10 minutes later – said it wasn’t. Went on moped to collect records off old Ratty. Was in pub. Had a coke – no d ‘n’ d. Went up to Simon’s – who wasn’t there. Came back. Ran out of petrol near Murray’s so left moped there. Pick it up tomorrow. Came back with Mum. Played records. Lost track of time doing art. 12.15 Mum told me to turn records down. I thought it was 11.15.

14th March 1984
Thinking of getting a DT50 depending how much. H.E. – time plan exam – piss boring – fucked it up. Lunchtime – went down to practice football – had a laugh. R.E. – ok. English – reading some ace poems. Biz – ok, electric typewriter. Maths – shit. Mum picked me up. Went to 3 Legged Cross and decided to get Kawasaki AE50 – looks good. Collect on Sunday (?) £625 (?) – on the road. Go get moped in a mo’. Went down – had a laugh. We got Burt’s trousers down for a laugh – he wasn’t too pleased. Went for a drive about on moped. Went to Horton and back. Watched football Derby 0-1 Plymouth.

15th March 1984
Looking forward to Sunday. Julie’s acting like she doesn’t want to go on Saturday. Maybe I don’t want her to now. Art – ok. P.E. – talking to Daisy in weight training room. Lunch – not a lot happened. Social – not too bad. Biz – ok, getting used to electric now. English – ok. Cleaned out Damien – fucking bit me again. The cat had a sniff at him too. Went to Gaunts. People in school – knocked on windows. We nicked Martin’s trousers – he started crying and went to tell his mum. Came back with a stick. He started smashing Jasper’s lights so Jasp hit him. Mark came back with a stick. They made up in the end. Saw cops on way home.

16th March 1984
English – pretty boring. H.E. – very boring. Maths – don’t remember. Lunch – must have been boring cos I don’t remember anything. Art – ok. Biz – ok. Physics – had a laugh. Writing more PCH. Went to Muz’s and chippy. Got bored so went to Houldey’s. Watched football. Southampton beat Liverpool 2-0. Got bored. Went back to Muz’s – nicked on of his mum’s fags – then she gave me one. Came back. Watching film ‘Tower of Evil’ while finishing Bloodstains cassette cover. Went to sleep

17th March 1984
Get up. Caught bus. Saw Gilby (?). Saw Jasper in Poole so went around with him – he was looking for Muz etc. Found them. Went back to Arndale. Met Lisa. Had a chat. Saw Justin. Not doing an awful lot. Met mother at 3.15. Went to Huxhams, Parkstone – got a bike jacket and reflector. Came back to Wimborne – found out we lost football 5-1. Jim got an own goal. Came back. Still looking forward to tomorrow. Went to Muz’s had a laugh in Gaunts knocking down hedges. Could have gone to Muz’s sister’s party. Started at 10 ended at 4. We didn’t have any way of getting back. Muz was a bit pissed off. Came home. Watched Joan Rivers and Comic Strip. Went to sleep.

18th March 1984
Got up 10. Had a fag. Put on Anti-Sect. Went to collect moped. Had a practice around the estate in 3X. Came back. Had dinner. Took dog. Went out again. Saw Chris. Went down to Witchampton. Saw Pru (?) and Carly. Went to Muz’s – he wasn’t in. Came back. Went out again. Went to Roo’s. He wasn’t in. Waited but left. Went to Muz’s – he wasn’t in. Went to Simon’s – he wasn’t in. So I went to Jim’s – he was in. Stayed there. Wrote a song. Had a couple of fags. Came back. Clocked up 43 miles. Watched Spitting Image. Had some semolina. Watched a film. Long weekend. It’s good. Went to sleep.

The Week That Was – 27th March 1983

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Record of the Week: Sex Gang Children – Song and Legend

27th March 1983
FEEL ILL

28th March 1983
AT SCHOOL – QUITE A GOOD DAY
FELT ILL LATER

29th March 1983
ILL AND AWAY

30th March 1983
ILL AND AWAY

31st March 1983
HOLIDAY
Went to doctor – usual
Contemplating getting Atari

20th Feb 2023 – My diary says it’s Maundy Thursday and I had no idea what that is. Then I see that this is something to do with Easter as the following day is Good Friday. Don’t recall ever having a holiday from anything on this day since.
‘Went to doctor – usual’ – what the hell does ‘usual’ mean? Maybe I was going there often and just being told I was ill. I knew that much already!
Part of the reason I was probably sick a lot was that since starting junior high school I never spent the money my mum gave me each day on lunch, instead saving it to buy records at the weekend, which I would then have to smuggle into home, often leaving them outside, hidden in bushes, until the coast was clear. I didn’t want to have to explain where the money came from to buy them. A few times mum would see my ever-expanding collection and ask where I got them all from to which I lied that I was just borrowing most of them from friends.

1st April 1983
DIDN’T DO MUCH
STILL NOT FEELING TOO GOOD

2nd April 1983
GOT THE ATARI
FUCKIN’ ACE

20th Feb 2023 – My handwriting was so bad that I started practising writing with capital letters all the time. Later, when I didn’t want mum to see what I was writing in my diary (not that I think she ever bothered to look) I would return to an illegible scrawl, which my poor eyes are going to have trouble deciphering.
Perhaps strangely, I don’t recall the Atari but have fond memories of other games systems and early computers. I do seem to recall the Atari being a big deal.
Rupert had one now that I think about it but the only game he had was Pong. This was amazing enough for us at the time. We couldn’t believe that we could play a game on our TV. We sat in his living room for ages playing but soon got distracted with things outdoors instead, and then later, distracted with alcohol. Games were expensive too, so if you bought one you’d want to make sure you really would enjoy it.
Hmm – so searching for a picture I think Rupert just had the Pong console and not the Atari that took cartridges (the 2600), which I think is what I had.

The 2600 and cartridges