This page was entered from memory in May 2024, over 60 years after the event.
Clearly my memory has faded. It doesn't seem appropriate to format this as a diary
entry, but I need a date to satisfy the diary format.
We spent the weekend in a chalet in Port Dickson, along with
friends of my parents, Bob and Melinda Callow. Bob Callow was an architect, but I have very
little recollection of either of them at the time, though my sister and I visited them
later, after they had returned to
England and moved to a house near Corfe.
What I do recall: I was in form 2 of the St. John's Institution in
Kuala Lumpur, and I was not
doing well. My parents had decided to send me to boarding school in the United Kingdom, and the best advice
the could find was somewhat archaic in Whitaker's Almanac. At the time
the Callows were in somewhat more advanced stage of making the same decision for their twin
sons Paul and Nigel: they were to start at
King's College,
Taunton in September. I forget the details, if my parents ever told me of them, but I
ended up there too a year later. So it seems that the Callows had a significant influence
on my future.
Another random snippet: I discovered that the toilet resonated to low G (sounding F) on my
B♭ clarinet. Why was I playing it in the toilet? I have long forgotten.
Do you have a comment about something I have written? This is a diary, not a
“blog”, and there is
deliberately no provision for directly adding comments. It's also not a vehicle
for third-party content. But I welcome feedback and try to
reply to all messages I receive. See the diary overview for more details. If you do
send me a message relating to something I have written, please indicate
whether you'd prefer me not to mention your name. Otherwise
I'll assume that it's OK to do so.