Tuesday, September 9, 1980

Tuesday September 9th

In History we were given an essay on Witte’s industrialisation drive in Russia in the 1890s to be completed by a fortnight on Monday. We spent the whole lesson gazing blankly at our text books, brimming with information, and putting little down. Our class consists of ten people – five boys, five girls (Duncan Verity, Jeremy Beaumont, Sean Laxton, me, and a 7th year lad, Michelle Cliff, Claire Pearson, Tracey Booth, Carol Lancaster and Laura McCully). It became really clear what a lot of hard graft this year will involve, with very little free time for leisure reading or anything other than work.

In Biology we looked at the old favourite of onion cells (“Ooh, it looks like a brick wall” etc . . . . ), and then I had the rest of the day free.

For some of the time I went into the library and read “A History of Russia 1812-1945” by Stephenson and “The Twilight of Imperial Russia” by Charques, before becoming pissed off and going out to mess around on the PET with Sean Laxton, and talk to Sharon Ashton.

Arthur C. Clarke’s “Mysterious World” was about “Monsters of the Deep,” in which I was amazed to hear that at 10.30 p.m. on April 25th 1977, a Japanese fishing boat had actually captured in its nets the decomposing carcase of what looked like a plesiosaur. Although the captain took drawings of its skeleton and film crews were flown out to the ship, the carcase was thrown back, without even so much as toe nail being kept as evidence!

No comments:

Google Analytics Alternative