OTHER NOTES:

and this morning i began to 'dig' again...in relation to the identity of the 'two doctors' at that building 'over the grass' from the back of CUP/EFL department.....and that laboratory...

let me start off by saying that there is a certain type of englishman that i tend to talk about as being 'grey'....because they have a similar hair colour to myself...light brown which lacks colour to the point that it looks 'grey' - even when you are young....and 'grey eyes' unlike my blue eyes with black circles around the iris....pale complexions, very thin....tend to be 5 foot 7 or taller...i.e. 'not short'....

andrew nicholls at langley seniors was a case in point...and when i was to meet him - whilst talking to DEB MCD on a solihull street one day in the early 80s...well he embodied that 'type'....he had started work at a solicitors....dressed in a grey suit and carrying a briefcase.....

i have great difficulty in distinguishing 'one grey man' from another...my problem of course....perhaps it is 'racist' in a way....i can remember dabydeen saying that it was 'racist' if i couldn't tell black people apart, after first meeting a group of people....even if they all look rather similar (and it wasn't true anyway, in relation to the handsworth course - as i was to point out but there again, they all looked very different - apart from the twins - who were to tell us all that their own mother couldn't tell them apart)...the chinese were to complain of the same thing 'you think that we all look alike' they were to say to somebody - a foreigner...not to myself but i can remember the comment....

anyway, why was the above significant?

it was because of that strange young man...a very 'grey' young man, who had turned up....who precisely fitted my above description....who had turned up at that CUP EFL interview....

he was to tell me the following:

that he had been put up in a 5 star hotel the night before - all expenses paid by CUP.

that he only had one term's worth of teaching experience - and that had been at a UK university - teaching adults and not children.

that he had a degree and an MA....and that if he didn't get the job - he would do a PHD....and become a 'doctor' i suppose.....however he was quite sure that he had got the job - he was to tell me....at the end of the day. He was looking at me in a strange way and 'not joking'....he was adamant that the job was his...in the bag.

i did a bit of mental arithmetic and 'nothing added up'....the guy was obviously bright....so why was he being so dumb? it was quite obvious who the 'successful candidate' would be...the woman who had been head of young learners for 5 years at the british council in lisbon....she would get the 'young learners' video officer' post.....and NUTTALL had made that one, quite plain during lunch....so what 'cloud' was 'grey man' on? He had heard the entire conversation....

anyway, i was to convince him to leave early....see previous notes...we walked to the bus stop....by that point in time - i was simply thinking of the journey home...i didn't need to make any more polite conversation with him and so i turned my back...to then turn around again and to see his 'grey' face....he looked miserable.....i felt as if somebody had wrung my heart out - only for a second...but i felt terribly sorry for him....until i had reasoned that there was nothing i could say or do that would make it any better...he was obviously deluded.

the bus then came...i got on it....he then got off - a couple of stops later on - still on that main street - a few shops around - not the centre of town...i wondered why...he could have walked that distance in the time that it had taken the bus to come and he had no 'impediments' that i could see....anyway, i thought no more of it and was to get off at the railway station, later on....i had 'had enough' that day...of the whole lot....

upon remembering the above....a dreadful thought struck me...those two 'doctors' had been 'grey men'....the type that i tend to lump together and cannot distinguish between....

that is all i can tell you....