1977: a day in the life of a student – and I signed up for Leeds!

My LSE diary for 17th January 1977 was more detailed than usual and gives a pretty good idea of a day in the life of a student. Not a typical one in my case as I actually managed to attend a number of lectures! I also forked out £36 to sign up for Leeds – an Urban Geography field trip I hasten to add!

The day started with a startling letter from a law firm. I was living in a room in an old decrepit house in Archway at the time, and it would appear I was the only person paying rent. The letter asked if I wouldn’t mind letting the other tenants know their rent was due – and even let me know where to send the money!! The inference was they wanted me to be a rent collector; I did not even know any of the other tenants. Bloody cheek. I wonder if Prebble & Co. are still in existence?

Anyway, I was at LSE at 12 noon for my first lecture of the day – Man and His Physical Environment. 12 noon seems a pretty reasonable and eminently civilised time for a first lecture, which is probably why I made it. This particular lecture was on Natural Disasters. Very good it was too, and I gained some useful tips on where not to go on holiday – or to live.

Lunch was sandwiches in the Ents room with a bottle of Newcastle Brown and then, unbelievably, back upstairs to Social Geography followed by part 2 of M&HPE. It would appear from my diary that I was rather drawn to one or two women at these lectures, a solid incentive for me in those days.

I am pleased to say I managed to make it back to the Ents room at 4 o’clock, then signed up for Leeds then down to the 3 Tuns for a bit of rest and recuperation. It would appear that parting with such a large sum of money caused a certain amount of stress that required treatment with libations in fairly large doses. Carole, Diane and Jane and her twin sister were in residence. Or at least I think it was a twin. Ted kept topping me up with beer so I cannot be entirely sure…