I Only Went To Fix Her Radiator
The halls of residence were strangely quiet that night. It was a Tuesday evening and gone was the usual steady stream of loud groups, heading up to or returning from the Poly bar. Gone too was the usual raucous din usually heard from that bar, every night was usually party night. Even each student block was eerily silent. It could only mean one thing, episode two of Twin Peaks was about to begin.
It was November 1990 and the previous weeks pilot episode blew our minds. It was like nothing we’d seen before, so weird and funny. The vibe from that first episode spread like wild fire throughout our campus and now tonight, everyone is eagerly awaiting the next instalment. Of course, these were times long before on demand, catch up and binge-watching TV. It was all about a time and place. It was an event. Our small TV was in the kitchen, and everyone was on strict instructions to finish cooking so the light could be turned off and my five flatmates and I in block A2A would huddle around and watch avidly. We were hooked.
So why is 1990 currently in my mind, well I’m rewatching all of Twin Peaks for the first time since those student days, (that's 48 episodes plus a film!) The memories of watching Twin Peaks have forever been so wrapped in pure nostalgia, that I have been scared to rewatch it. I was worried I might be disappointed and that would extinguish those wonderful memories. When the surprise Season 3 arrived in 2017, I knew I would have to go back to the show. However due to lack of an HBO/Showtime subscription it wasn’t until Amazon Prime had all seasons available that I built up the courage to return.
To my surprise the original stands up very well. It’s less weird and more funny than I remember but as with all David Lynch’s work you’re probably watching a memory within a dream! All episodes of 1990s season one are perfect. The same can’t be said of 1991s season two with its bloated 22 episodes, most without Lynch at the helm. So, in fact you only need to watch the quality ones. Which are 1,6,7,8 and 22. The 1992 prequel film – Fire Walk with Me – is a horror flick with none of the humour of the series but still essential viewing, (but watch the seasons 1 and 2 first as although the film is a prequel, the identity of the killer is revealed in season 2 and the film would give it away). Then in 2017 along came Season 3 and they refrained from making it a nostalgia fest. Although, amazingly, after 27 years a lot of the original cast returns, this is more than just the strange goings on in a small town. It’s a cosmic battle against good and evil. Talking of evil, the original evil entity in Twin Peaks is called ‘Bob’. (A nightmare inducing performance by actor Frank Silva). So, with that full rewatch done I can say, without the cloak of nostalgia, that Twin Peaks falls into 3rd place of my all-time favourite TV shows after Succession and Dark (pushing Breaking Bad into 4th place.)
However, 1990 was so much more than just Twin Peaks. It was a pivotal time in my life. Things were changing for the better for me. I was now in my 3rd year at Oxford. The first year had been spent living pretty isolated in a caravan. I think I was trying to be like Jim Rockford, a 70s analogy that was lost on most people in 1988 (and presumably totally lost on everyone in 2024!) My 2nd year was in a tiny room on the Cowley Road developing an (un)healthy obsession with The Cure's Disintegration album. (By the way I’m loving the long awaited new Cure single released last month). Bar The Cure though, the music scene was not to my liking at this time, yes there was the Inspiral Carpets and the Wedding Present but there was just so much crap around; Snap, MC Hammer, New Kids on the Block, Glenn Medeiros, the list of durge was endless. I would have to wait until 1992 for Suede to really show me the way. So, these first two years had limited interaction with any girls unfortunately. That combined with previously being at an all-boys school meant I was struggling a bit (a lot) socially. I was also still reeling from a relationship break up a few years earlier. I was a bit of a hermit and didn’t go out much initially. A guy from my thermodynamics class kept asking me to join him at the Friday night rave. I would always make up some excuse, but he persisted. On one such occasion, I lied and said I was going out that night elsewhere with someone else. He asked where and for some reason I replied; ‘’I don’t know I haven't made up that part of the story yet!’’ He laughed and I think he liked my honesty and picked up on my nervousness. We became friends and went to that rave.
In the third year however, things changed. My running suddenly improved. I had been exposed to so much free time and had used it training long and hard around Oxford. Although looking back in my diary, I was doing some strange training and racing;
Sunday Westminister Road Mile race
Tuesday Three hour run
Thursday 200m sprints
Sunday Oxford Half Marathon !!!
Great results came thick and fast. I won my first road race which was the first win I had outside of school and college leagues. Confidence was improving in all walks of life. The week following that road win and the same time as Twin Peaks fever was enveloping the campus, I went to a party at a neighbouring block. I spent time talking to a girl. When I told her I was studying engineering, she asked if I knew how to fix a radiator. I said yes. She took me by the hand and lead me off to her room! I genuinely thought she wanted me to fix her radiator! What she said to me when we got to her room perplexed me even more.
''I just wanted to get you out of that awkward situation'’
‘'What awkward situation?'’ I quizzed
'’The fact that there was two of us fighting over you''
I was so naive I hadn’t realise that for the past two hours I, for once, had two girls vying for my affection (and engineering skills). I was on a roll, winning races and I now had a date for the Christmas Ball! Things were snowballing for me, the confidence with the opposite sex also propelled my success in athletics (or vice versa).
''I was going to drown, then I started swimming. I was going down, then I started winning''
Adrian Borland
I quickly had aspirations of stardom. I was given the honour of running through Oxford with a police escort carrying The World Student Games Flame, and handing it onto Roger Bannister at the Iffley Road track. Although I don’t have any photos of that unfortunately. Nowadays you can’t bake a cake without plastering it all over social media, those were very different times. Anyway, I set myself huge goals, I wanted to be a top distance runner. As well as to continue to bleed my new girlfriend’s radiator regularly! At this stage in life, aged 20, it never crossed my mind for a second that I might fail.
Although things progressed well for the rest of the 90s, those dreams from 1990, which were clearly lacking in any real wisdom, were ultimately shattered by injury. I am very different now. Since his death I have inherited my Dad’s temperament. My motto now is ‘Be More Bob’. Please note the ‘Bob’ in that refers to my Dad NOT the Bob from Twin Peaks!!! Anyway the riches I have found in love and life have easily belittled those stupid dreams of 1990. I’ve been forced to acquire the skills to adapt to different sports and disciplines, whenever injury got in the way. Of all the pastimes I’ve dabbled in, Cyclocross has become my true love. The new cross season is now under way. After a dry and hot start, we are beginning to see some bad weather that will produce some fun in the mud. As always, I thoroughly enjoy it, every aspect. One month in and it's four wins from five but with the National Trophy series starting next week, I’m sure to be given a riding lesson from the big guns. Race every weekend, try to stay fit and healthy for the National in January, that’s the plan anyway. This week’s main session was a killer, I was barely functioning afterwards!
These last 14 years of racing cross have been such a joy. However, I have an end in mind. The long winter season means time away from my Girlfriend and giving her more work to do, it can’t go on indefinitely (cyclocross that is, not the relationship). For a while now I’ve been aiming for a target to be content enough to call it a day with. That target is 100 cyclocross wins. As I am currently on 90, it could mean that next season may well be my last.
So, what am I getting at here reminiscing and rambling on about 1990? What have I really learnt in the intervening 34 years? Well, obviously that's impossible to summarise in a few sentences…..but I'll give it a go;
When I am trying to pick up the thousands of leaves scattered around my garden, I don’t worry that there are still so many still left on the ground when I finish. I’m am just satisfied that there are a lot less leaves now than when I started. In 1990 I wouldn’t have thought that way. I’d want them all.