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Back to 1980.

In June 1980, my class went back to Germany. We stayed in the same place, Burgwedel, near to Celle which was a British garrison town at the time.

Due to some reason I ended up staying with the same host family, which meant more smoking, drinking and much shouting.

Germany felt so different in the summer, more vibrant. We visited Hanover again, but also Hamlin where I saw no rats.

I can honestly say, in four weeks in Germany I learned very little German. Sad to say I saw it more of a holiday. Real highlight was watching Nottingham Forest win the European Cup and that upsetting the Mother of my host family. Shit Legs she called Viv Anderson. Forest still won.

The real highlight was going back to the Harz Mountains and going on a mile long toboggan run/slide. It cost a bunch, and certainly would not be in compliance now with health and safety. We though the little cars could not leave the track, so we hurtled down at breakneck speed, lucky we did not break our necks.

Back in the 80s, 10p pieces were almost the same size as 5DM coins, close enough to fool all vending machines in town. The local vending company found all these 10ps in their machines, words were had with the local school, words were had with us, telling us to stop. Thing is 10p meant you could play pinball for two hours over there, we felt richer than we actually were.

Especially after I dropped my entire spending money outside a zoo and my friend Simon finding it.

We returned home to go into work experience week. I had no idea what I wanted to do. So, somehow I ended up working for two weeks in the offices of Shell in town, where they looked after getting natural gas from under the North Sea.

It was all pretty dull stuff, recording jet engine running hours, entering that in a log book, ensuring stores and supplies got sent out onto rigs.

Odd thing is that we were able to go to a posh restaurant in town to have lunch. A proper 3 course lunch, but had to pay 5p. That took 90 minutes of the working day, and we dined on fruit salad, followed by steak and rounded off by Black Forest Gateaux.

Productivity never really recovered in the afternoon.

My friend, Simon, wanted to work on the railways, so he was sent to work at the putting green on the sea front that had a miniature train running round the outside. Not that he ever got to drive it, he washed dishes and collected dirty plates for two weeks.

At the end of the two week, Shell arranged us to go out to two of the rigs by helicopter. This was exciting.

We had seen the supply helicopters landing in the town since I could remember, we thought if we waved hard enough they would land in our school playground.

Never happened.

But one Saturday morning we we driven out to Beccles Heliport to board the Seaking, which once it took of flew to Lowestoft than up the coast to Yarmouth before strking out for the Leaman Field. I got two snatched shots as we flew up the coast with the Instamatic, just to prove I did it. We lucked in there.

I wouldn't fly in a helicopter again until 1998 when I flew from Mount Pleasant to Camp Peto in the Falklands. Sitting in a Chinook, which was carrying a bag full of diesel, by way of a hook in the body of the helicopter and the floor being open. So, we flew along with our feet dangling in thin air as the ground slipped by beneath.

Summer of 1980 I went on my last family holiday. At least for seven years.

We went to St Ives, which was a huge improvement on Aberystwyth. But then anything is.

We travelled down on an HST, a real thrill for me, catching the train at Paddington all the way down to Cornwall. Seemed so modern, the mk3 coaches and ge windows to look out of. We saw HMS Art Royal in Plymouth, now decommissioned, looking forlorn, waiting for the cutter's torch.

St Ives is hilly. So hilly and the streets so narrow that the taxi could not reach our hotel from the station, we carried our cardboard cases up the hill.

I had a miserable time, and ensured that my parents did too, as I was lovesick. Suffering from unrequited love, unable to see the object of my affection until September. Not that it did me any good then as I was too shy to actually speak to her.

Oh well.

We did go to Lands End, and walk along the Lizard, which was a Tuesday, as I took a radio so we could listen to the top 20 countdown at lunchtime. David Bowie was number 1 wish Ashes to Ashes.

I was happy.

And when we went to Plymouth, I dragged my parents to HMV so I could buy Back in Black the day it came out.

Those were my holiday memories from that trip.

From then on I decided not go with them again, or for the next three years, staying home and having parties, nearly burning the house down and ruining several pieces of kitchen equipment.