Scott and the team read an emotional entry from Laura’s diary, where the then-teenager describes being dumped by her boyfriend Ben via letter during her A-levels—and it hits all the dramatic beats of teenage relationship meltdown.
This episode features a continuation of “Laura’s Diary,” a recurring feature where Scott reads extracts from a listener’s personal diary entries. Today’s segment focuses on a particularly raw entry from 20th November 1997, when Laura was devastated after receiving a breakup letter from her boyfriend Ben. In the diary, Laura describes the full emotional fallout: Ben broke up with her via post (prompting Scott to comment that letter-writing in relationships is “quite romantic” compared to modern texting), and when she tried to ring him, his mum said he wouldn’t speak to her. Laura’s entry chronicles the intensity of teenage heartbreak—she can’t breathe without him, his jumper doesn’t smell of him anymore, and she’s questioning how she’ll cope alone. Ben’s excuse was that he couldn’t handle her “constant paranoia” and “intense relationship” because of his upcoming mocks, which Laura dismisses as “the most rubbish excuse I’ve ever heard” (noting that she’s at university herself and managing fine). The emotional peaks come when Laura describes wanting to rip up his paintings, staring out at the city lights from York wondering if things would be different if he were there, and the existential teenage realisation that “he was the only thing that made me happy.” Scott’s team member Mary (Laura’s sister) joins him to read the entry, adding a family perspective to the diary feature.
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