w/e 21st. March 1976

It felt strange to be saying goodbye to work colleagues I had known for only four days. But come 5pm on Friday 19th. March that is precisely what happened.

After two days of training and looking over my shoulder I was, on Thursday, left to work on my own. I took that as a compliment of sorts.

Harrap’s was my first job through the Alfred Marks temp agency at London’s Centrepoint, and I had no idea at the time that it would be the penultimate one. The next job worked out very well, but more of that in the future.

Looking back from the present I was surprised that I actually ventured back to either King’s or LSE during lunch breaks and evenings to press on with uni work. University was deserted – almost everyone I knew had returned home, including my flatmates.

The combination of learning a new job, working all day and studies in the evening must have taken its toll. Come Saturday morning I was not out of bed until 11am.

During the week I found time to nip over to Paddington to buy a return ticket to Swansea – for the grand sum of £10.21. For just over a week the Joint School of Geography – LSE & King’s – would be camped out at Swansea University. This was my first residential geography field trip – and I was looking forward to it…