the journals of alan rhodes

December 5 Tuesday
Art-Christine in the class. Lunch-went outside pool at the side with Ralph, Dave, Ruth and Mike. Andy came, some guys were throwing snow at us. [Al + I lost Dave + Ruth again in the caf, looked in the lounge where Lesley was. We found them again in the Caf + lost them again + found them again in the lounge [why it was so imperative to keep track of their whereabouts is a mystery]. We sat in the lounge for a while then Mike, Ruth, Alan, Dave and I went for a smoke. Andy came later. Had a snowfight with Matheson and Co., went inside]. We sat in the student's lounge, some guy with frizzy hair talked with us [possibly André Mallosh]. [On the way home Andy + I blocked Somervale with large boulders of snow. Came home...called Dave and asked him to go to Fairview. He agreed. I decided to ride his bike in the snow [he must have left his bike at my house during the fall] and wiped out going up the Apothecary driveway. I got cigarettes at the Apoth. Got to Fairview and met Dave in front of Simpson's. Went to every record dept. in Simpson's, Pascal's, + Eaton's before buying "Pictures at an Exhibition" - ELP. Went to Dave's, got there around 5:30. Went up to his room, he got it painted- 2 walls red, 2 pink (though I couldn't tell in the light) and a grey ceiling- it doesn't look too bad. Had to leave at 6:15. On the way I picked up a hamburger at Mac's].

December 6 Wednesday
B(spare)-power off, Dave and I went to the C.C. at the side of the pool, then sat in the student's lounge in the dark, then outside again in the same place. Smoked up with some people. About 10:15 the buses came and we went home. At 12:30 Mike F. came over (he was tripping). About 1 Bob and Richard came too, sat in the basement. Talked, they left at 4.[...Andy and I were hoping to get some spares since the grade 11's were writing SACUs today. Anyway when we got to the school I noticed that only some of the lights were turned on. I went into NAL [North American Literature] and there were only three people there. I asked Machin [the teacher] what was going on and she said that there was a power failure-- ice on the transformers-- and that we'd been running on emergency power and that only lasted 3 hours...We figured we'd get in about 2 hrs [more of school]. During NAL we got the usual announcements like "all students go back to your homerooms", "All students writing SACUs come to Gym 3", "All students writing SACUs go back to your homerooms" etc. etc. etc.

At 9 am they told us that the hydro men were here and that the power would be off for 30 minutes and we were to report to our "B" block classes. So I went into Math...At 10 to 10 [Kennedy] told us we could do what we wanted but to stay in class...we'd been in there about an hour [when] we noticed that the buses were starting to come in....at about 10:10...someone came to the door and Kennedy told us to go home. I met Andy in the halls and he wanted to go to Fairview. I went to my locker and then to Andy's. Alan was there. We asked him to come. He was slightly stoned and refused. Me + Andy found Dave by the buses and asked if he wanted to come. He said no but we agreed to go to Dave's later. I thought I [had forgotten] my lunch and as me and Andy walked through the Great Hall to get to my locker the lights went on + the fire alarm was ringing...Both of us went home and then...[Andrew's brother] Peter gave us a lift...We smoked up in the car. We got to Fairview and met Diane there...Later on we met Lesley. She'd been on her way to school when someone told her about [the school closing]. So she came to Fairview. At about 1 pm we left for Dave's. Sat up in his room. Remember: throwing snowballs thru the window [if I remember correctly, some of us climbed out his window onto the roof and threw snowballs in at those still in Dave's room]; Dave and Diane on the bed [fooling around under the sheets?]. Andy left at 3:30 and Lesley and Diane left at 4. Lesley asked if I wanted a ride at 5:30...to meet her [at Fairview] at 5:15...Left Dave's at 5. Met Lesley at 5:20. Waited around-- I bought Joe Cocker [the album with Cocker's then-current hit, "Woman to Woman"]- till 5:50 [apparently Lesley's promised ride failed to materialize]].

December 7 Thursday
B(spare)-went to shops with Dave and Christine, sat in the old lady's car. Lunch-Dave, Ruth, Ralph, Mike and I went to the ice near the Pits, then to the student's with Lesley and watched people going in and out of the can. English-spare, talked to Smith and Niven. nite-about 7:30 Richard came over, sat in the basement. Talked, fooled around.