As I was tidying up my room the other day I came across my box of old diaries and ended up spending about 2 hours just sitting reading through them and cringing at my former self. I intermittently kept a diary from when I was about 11 up until my early twenties - so I've got entries that range from me talking about building a den in the woods with my friend, to moaning about my dissertation, and lots of talk about boys/men!
It got me thinking that it might be fun to occasionally publish some of these old diary entries as a new feature on my blog, so that's what I'm going to do. The exact words from the entry are in italics, with my comments in normal font. All names have been changed (in bold) on the off chance that old school friends or people in real life end up reading this!
First up is the oldest one I have which is from 1996, when I was 11, and is an adorable little homemade leaflet complete with front cover drawings. I only actually wrote in this for a few weeks in the September (the 96/97 on the front was perhaps a bit ambitious) and as you will discover, none of the entries were particularly exciting! As they are all pretty short I've written up a couple - hope you enjoy this little step back into my past :)
Sunday 8th September 1996
Dear Diary,
Today we didn't go swimming (we used to go as a family every Sunday morning) so I got a video from the Spar (ahh the good old days when you could rent VHS from the Spar!). It was Mighty Ducks. When I was halfway through it Clare phoned me. She came round and we went out on our bikes and went on a cycle. When we came back we played hide and seek. At night time Linda babysat. We played consequences (easily entertained) and then I watched some of the Mighty Ducks. I went to bed at 9.15pm.
from Lynne
Monday 9th September 1996
Dear Diary,
Today at school Laura was off Anna said she was sick or something. We had an assembly and sang a song about litter (I totally remember this - a boy had to dress up as a crisp packet!). When I came home from school I went to country dancing. I don't know if I will go back or not.
from Lynne
Monday 16th September 1996
Dear Diary,
Today we went to Strathclyde Country Park it was excellent ("excellent" lol). We went to the shows and Nikola and Dad went on the big wheel. At night I went to line dancing at Gorebridge (such a cool kid!). The dances were really fast.
from Lynne
Friday 20th September 1996
Dear Diary,
Today I went to the beach with Donna, Jane, Viv and Debby we climbed on the "at your own risk" bit it was kinda scary (awww). But it was fun. I got they bangles things (great English there - if I remember rightly they were coloured rubber band bangles that everyone had those days) and at night we went and looked at a new suite.
from Lynne
Monday 23rd September 1996
Dear Diary,
After school I went to country dancing. It's alright. Mandy is still acting stupid. Nik and I had a hoola hoop contest. We drew.
from Lynne
One thing I've learnt from this is at the age of 11 I didn't know how to use commas - lots of mini sentences all over the place where a coma would suffice!
Sunday 8th September 1996
Dear Diary,
Today we didn't go swimming (we used to go as a family every Sunday morning) so I got a video from the Spar (ahh the good old days when you could rent VHS from the Spar!). It was Mighty Ducks. When I was halfway through it Clare phoned me. She came round and we went out on our bikes and went on a cycle. When we came back we played hide and seek. At night time Linda babysat. We played consequences (easily entertained) and then I watched some of the Mighty Ducks. I went to bed at 9.15pm.
from Lynne
Monday 9th September 1996
Dear Diary,
Today at school Laura was off Anna said she was sick or something. We had an assembly and sang a song about litter (I totally remember this - a boy had to dress up as a crisp packet!). When I came home from school I went to country dancing. I don't know if I will go back or not.
from Lynne
 |
| awwww bless |
Monday 16th September 1996
Dear Diary,
Today we went to Strathclyde Country Park it was excellent ("excellent" lol). We went to the shows and Nikola and Dad went on the big wheel. At night I went to line dancing at Gorebridge (such a cool kid!). The dances were really fast.
from Lynne
Friday 20th September 1996
Dear Diary,
Today I went to the beach with Donna, Jane, Viv and Debby we climbed on the "at your own risk" bit it was kinda scary (awww). But it was fun. I got they bangles things (great English there - if I remember rightly they were coloured rubber band bangles that everyone had those days) and at night we went and looked at a new suite.
from Lynne
Monday 23rd September 1996
Dear Diary,
After school I went to country dancing. It's alright. Mandy is still acting stupid. Nik and I had a hoola hoop contest. We drew.
from Lynne
One thing I've learnt from this is at the age of 11 I didn't know how to use commas - lots of mini sentences all over the place where a coma would suffice!
I'm a new follower & i love looking back at old memories or photos, especially diaries. I wrote two diaries over the space of 14-16/17 & what i wrote brings many memories back, i feel like i should write one again just for keeps sake :)
ReplyDeletein 1996 - i would only be 4 in nusery :P & funnily enough i don't live that far from Strathclyde Park :P
can't wait to read more diary entries :)
xxx
chloeh1192.blogspot.co.uk
This is such a good idea! I only kept a diary for a few years, wish I had done for longer. Looking forward to reading more of these posts :) Lynsey xxx
ReplyDeletehttp://lynseymacmakeup.blogspot.com :)
Oh my god I totally want to play consequences now!
ReplyDeleteI've kept all my teenage diaries but every time I read them I either cringe really badly or get really upset. I didn't have a terrible time as a teenager but I'm just much happier now and wouldn't reverse time!
ReplyDeleteI remember I had a real knack of overusing the comma! My English teacher really hated it haha.
haha Lynne this is brilliant! So funny looking back at your former self...I never kept a diary all the way through, went through phases of doing it but it always took me so long to write as I wanted to keep a note of every detail like what I ate for dinner and are always so embarrassing reading back. Might be quite fun to start one back up again. I used to go to country dancing too - cool kids we were haha.
ReplyDeleteLianne x
rubyrubyslippers.blogspot.com
OMG.....that was hilarious!!!!! My memory must be nuts tho......who was
ReplyDeletea) Clare
b) Linda that babysat??
I've changed the names remember, haha!
Delete