Friday 26th February 1988

too tired to write much but the cold is a throat infection and no school today.

How am I supposed to work with this? 

I honestly have no idea what to write here so I might as well document something that happened to me a few years after this diary was written and has stuck with me since.

I used to walk home every day at lunch time when I was doing my A levels, it was (and still is) about a mile to my parents' house from school, uphill on the way home and surprisingly downhill on the way to school. 

One drizzly day I was walking back down Green Lane (for Dronfield/Coal Aston locals I got as far as Holmesdale Road) when the woman pushing her pram on the opposite footpath slid a little and yelped as she went. I was watching as time slowed down and she angrily flicked her foot up behind her to see what she'd trodden in. The general dampness of the environment and footpath had somewhat overmoistened the already fairly sloppy dog turd now covering her sole. Time slowed down further and I witnessed the arc of brown crud as it slowly and unstoppably made its way to her ill-advisedly open mouth/nose/eyes... time snapped back to 1s/s as she simultaneously screamed very loudly and threw up. I think she saw me, I know she heard me laugh and then absolutely leg it down the road to school, I did not stop until I got there and saw someone to tell. 

I have been in situations since where I have giggled uncontrollably for hours but there's only one other situation which has remained with me for long enough for it to have been told over and over. I'll put that in next time 10 year old Neil lets us down with a lack of content.

Thursday 25th February 1988

"Cough wheeze" I went to school today it was terrible I had a nose bleed at dinner time (well Just after) I have still got the cold as you can tell by the first two words. I was tired out coming home from school and as if that wasn't enough we had to get to the doctors for 4 o'clock. My mum has been to open night I've got a good report Yippee!

Who are you writing this for Li'l Neil? I guess I should be a little pleased that he (talking about myself in the 3rd person is not a habit Neil needs to get into) at least added a dimension to this entry by giving us some sound effects.

Nose bleeds, as far as I'm aware, are not generally a symptom of having a cold - therefore the nosebleed incident should be a bit more remarkable but we all know what to expect from this by now. 

Again, the routine doctor's appointment, if there's no mention of the reasons for going there then it'll be for my verrucas - I remember having them a lot, but crucially forgetting which foot they were on when trying to get out of PE. 

I generally got good reports as I was a quiet child who got on with stuff and didn't make a fuss, only once did I get a bad report from one teacher who hated me. I still have no idea why he did, there have only been about three people in my life (so far) who hated me and I've known about it, unfortunately one of them was a housemate during my year out from my degree. I left her an epic note which might serve as a coda for this blog if I ever manage to finish it before I die.