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Wednesday September 26, 1973

A very interesting afternoon at school where Maggie Edwards, Irene, MM and myself entertain six old age pensioners - all over the age of 80. They sit and tell us ancient anecdotes of how they lived in the 1890s. Believe it or not one old boy cycled from Rawdon to Sheffield four times a week! And this routine went on for about a year! How has he managed to survive for so long after such hard work?

See the tv in the evening. Chris rings at 8 o'clock and wants to know if I'm going out. I say 'no'. But I am tempted. He and Andy are going off somewhere - poor Marita is in bed with cold.

John and Dad went out driving until 8.30 - it's the first time John has been at the wheel, and I think I will have a go tomorrow.

See Harold Macmillan on tv talking about 1963 - his last year of premiership. What a tremendous fellow he is. It's a damn shame he cannot live another 50 years to further his aims. You can tell from the conversation that he was born 30 years too soon.

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Tuesday September 25, 1973

A truly historic day. John is seventeen. And to think he's been a regular in the local pubs for 9 months now! When I was his age I didn't even go in off-licences. I was 17 and a half when I first crossed the threshold of the Emmotts - although, I did have a half of beer at the Hare and Hounds in Menston on Nov 5, 1970, aged 15.

Andy rings at 7.30. We meet him and Christine W at Rawdon traffic lights at 8. Go to the Queen's at 8.10. The place is almost deserted. Two large coal fires burn merrily in the grates. We enter a competition to guess the weight of a Tetley dray horse which is to be weighed in Leeds on November 18. MM arrives at 9.15. We sit until 10.30 - MM left on his own in the car at 10.15. We catch a 51 bus at about 10.40 - I almost fell to sleep on the back seat. John, Christine and I bid farewell to Andy and Chris at Rawdon - we walk down towards Yeadon. John takes Christine home and we have some fish and chips at Westfield. A 55 came at 11.20 and we were home for 11.45.

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Monday September 24, 1973

Boring morning at Benton. Christine and MM went to David's at 42, Tennyson Street, where I joined them at 2.0 o'clock. We played records and drank some cheap sort of sweet sherry until 5 o'clock. Christine angered me by say Chris 'influenced' me. What absolute rot!

Arrive home at 5.30. Salad for tea. Mother argues about my job again. I am determined not to leave school until November 27. What's seven weeks anyway? See 'Coronation Street' at 7.30.

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Sunday September 23, 1973

I told John this morning that I would NOT be going out tonight. "I must cut my drinking habit to a minimum" I said. He laughed because he knew I would be sitting in one pub or another before the hour had gone 9pm. How right he was! Oh yes indeed.

How I do loathe Sundays - the feeling of impending doom (Monday morning) always hangs over ones head.

In the afternoon Mum, Dad, Lynn and Sue go to Pudsey to see Auntie Hilda and Co.

John and I have baths and listen to 'Solid Gold 60' on Radio 1. My, doesn't time fly? Hard to believe that John Philip Rhodes is 17 on Tuesday. Will he receive a card from Christine W? I ask this because they always seem very cool with each other - not like June and I were. Miss White was born on a very historic occasion - the 25th birthday of Princess Margaret. On that day HRH was eligible to marry above the reach of the Royal Marriages Act 1772. The poor dear decided not to. I hope she doesn't regret it now.

Dave collects us at 8.30 and we go to the Queen's, where I am terribly bored. I miss June tremendously - I don't know why. Can she be worth it?

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To be coninued

Saturday September 22, 1973

Get up at 11 o'clock. That nice fellow Captain Phillips celebrates his 25th birthday today. I suspect that His Grace will be a major-general before Christmas (joking really). But seriously, it must be a terrifying experience to know that one has a mere 8 weeks of sanity left. After November 14 he will cease to be a Wiltshire nonentity and assume the splendours of royalty.

At 1.30 we go to MMs and leave in the Datsun for Elland Road and Leeds United. George Best is missing from the Manchester United squad - he must still be undergoing strict training. Unfortunately, it is a 0-0 draw. Leeds were the better side throughout. MM is infuriated with the negative result. Brings me home in the rain. Mother and Father are visiting Uncle Bert and Auntie Jadwega in Nottingham.

I eat a massive amount of food and ring Chris at 7 o'clock. He and Marita have a date and are not coming out with us until later. Andy and Christine W are meeting John and I in the Yorkshire Rose between 8 and 8.30. What a rotten pub it is! Andy has been supping since 7.30. See Judith Rushworth, who I keep bumping into in weird places. What a laugh she is! At 9.10 Andy and I go to the Thistle Wines and buy 8 pints of beer and 4 lager. We get on the 9.20 55 bus with John and Christine W. We have a laugh with the bus conductor - who always jokes with Andy. Back at Pine Tops at 9.40. Christine White's first visit to Pine Tops. Play records and sup ale. Chris and Marita arrive at 11 o'clock. They had been to Dick Hudson's - a horrid tip. Lynn and Sue arrive home at 1.0 and the party goes on until 2.30. Aren't we having a gay time lately?

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Friday September 21, 1973

Groves today discovered that I do not wish to go to college next year. Christine told him in Current Affairs - which seems and appropriate time and place to tell him - but I was so surprised by Christine leaking my news that I had no satisfactory explanation for him. He was not upset and wants only what is best for me.

MM wants to know what is happening this evening. It's all in the air. Christine wants me to go out with a certain Helen Taylor, from the lower 6th. The poor girl fancies me, so I'm told. I cannot go out with any girl so soon after my broken affair with June - my only love. MM even offers me the keys to his house for tomorrow night so that I can take HT back there. I decline. However, I did accept his offer of a seat in the west stand at Leeds United. How could I refuse such hospitality?

Chris rings at 7 and says that Marita and he are going to the Tudor Bar at Burley. I ring Dave and he takes John and me. MM, Linda S, and Christine W also arrive. A very pleasant evening. We decide to go to the Pentagon in Bradford, but MM, Linda, Christine and Dave go home, leaving the five of us to fit into Marita's car. We all sit in the back singing 'Glory, Glory, Leeds United' - Andy wearing Marita's tin helmet. We stop off at our house so that I can put on a tie, and everyone settles down in our comfortable lounge and we remain there until nearly 2 o'clock. Playing records - yet again.

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Sunday March 25, 1984

 Moorhouse Inn British Summer Time begins 3rd Sunday in Lent Bacon sandwiches and the Sunday Telegraph. Fuss about the Queen's visit to ...