Nottingham

Flat 8 visitor

I cannot say for certain now but I think the Sheena Easton poster was meant to be ironic rather than a true fan statement.

The poster with Lech Wałęsa of the Polish Solidarity movement was not ironic, there is no doubt we all had a left wing bent, Margret Thatcher had come to power the previous year and was systematically removing the kinder aspects of a civil society, even at our young age we could sense her ideas were based in fear rather than love.

Cooking upset

A pan catastrophe, easy to get distracted in a busy shared flat. Aside from myself and one other the art students in the flat tended to cook communal meals for each other, I was fascinated by their meals based on rice and pasta, being working class I had not come across such things before.

I had come straight from school but the others had spent some time at an art college before Polytechnic, the age/confidence gap felt huge at the time. They were good company though and the collection of records they played expanded my musical horizons.

Post Office Telecommunications

24 hour Buzz service says the Buzby poster on the side of the van. Before privatization and it becoming BT the Post Office looked after the telephone service. The distinctive red and white plastic tents kept the weather out as the engineers joined impossible bundles of copper wire together. Nottingham circa 1981.
The Gasometers have gone but some 40 years later there is still access to the phone network in the same place.

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