R's rue

In August of 1972, I boarded an aeroplane for the very first time. I was bound for the Fiji Islands via New York City, Los Angeles and Honolulu. It was the start of a year away from home - teaching under the auspices of Voluntary Service Overseas on what is probably the remotest of all the Fiji Islands - Rotuma. So my recollections of the year's singles relate mostly to the first eight months of that year though I must say that over the weekends on Rotuma,  I often listened  to an hour or two of Radio Fiji which included music programmes. I was not entirely cut off. As I previously did for 1969, 1970 and 1971, here are three of my favourite singles from 1972:- Don McLean - "Vincent":- Derek and the Dominoes - "Layla":- Roberta Flack - "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face":- from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/XrZlgoB

  This afternoon Gorgeous Dave and I went over to the Storyhouse to see “ an audience with…”  The 1:1 talk between  David Harewood and the new director of the theatre proved to be an interesting listen. With much candour the actor, director and writer explored some rather painful memories of childhood racism in Birmingham in the 1970s before linking that ingrained trauma to a psychiatric breakdown when in his 20s. The subsequent racism he experienced as a patient ( mostly concerning being over sedated by a fearful mainly white nursing team) resonated with me, and I recalled one snowy night in York where I faced my own inherited racism during one pragmatic shift It was 1987 and it was winter night filled with snow in York. I was transferred to take charge of an elderly ward as staffing was dire. I was a very junior staff nurse supported by two support workers. The support workers were two Jamaican ladies of mature years. I was told to refer to them with a...