Sunday August 17, 1975

Up at 9am, or at least I was. John and Chris remained asleep until well after 11, but me being the athletic type makes staying abed all morning an impossibility. Sit in the hot sun with a lemonade, and Sue and Jackie from Chiswick join me later.

See in yesterday's Daily Mail that the Birmingham Pub Bombers got life imprisonment. Also saw that London had its worst rain in 100 years. Over six inches fell in under 24 hours!! It makes going abroad seem well worth while when reading items like that.

Chris and I take out tradition dip in the Med after lunch, and at about 4pm it begins to rain & does so for about an hour. We stay in the sea for the major part of it and watch the thunder and lightning crack and flash over the Majorcan hills. Return to the hotel greatly refreshed and the place feels a good deal more healthy for the cool rainwaters.

Don't go to the Caracola Club in the evening, or at least Chris and I don't, and instead we stay in the Manchester Arms until after 1am with Diane and Denise, from Carlisle. They drink pints of lager and I'm on straight pernod. Diane goes home to sleep at about 1.30 and Chris goes off for a walk with Denise. I make my way back to the hotel and clamber into bed where I sleep soundly, undisturbed by the drunken arrival of John at 5am.

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Tuesday November 26, 1974

Still bloody windy everywhere. Arrive a few minutes late at the YP but no one dare say anything. After all, look at all the times I've arrived half an hour early? See in the morning papers that the Duke of Edinburgh visited the victims of the Birmingham pub bombs yesterday afternoon.

A lot of angry relatives were outside the court in Birmingham when the pigs who killed all those people were remanded for the murder of one of the girls. Justice must be done, and in a big way, because these people will not be fobbed off seeing sentences of just a handful of years passed. Why should they?

See 'Jennie Churchill' again. Tuesdays certainly seem to come round quickly. I think I'll do some research into the Churchills tomorrow. Lady Randolph fascinates me.

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Friday November 22, 1974

At lunchtime I go into town and purchase a Metro Card for £5. This gives me access to the buses until December 21, and I should save a pound or two in the process.

See from further reports that 19 people died in Birmingham yesterday. Several anti-Irish attacks have been launched throughout the country, but nothing too serious. Our beloved Home Secretary, Roy Jenkins, promises new legislation to deal with these terrorists and many MPs want to see the re-introduction of the death penalty. I don't think for one moment that the feeble Labour government will do anything to appease society in any way, and poor Lord Hailsham can talk himself blue in the face about all this being 'treason', but Uncle 'Woy' won't be led from his weak, spineless, narrow little path.

Go to the Hare & Hounds and then the Commercial. Everyone agrees that Christine White is a changed person since she started this liaison with that bloke from York, and I for one quite fancy her these days. All back here to see Peter Cushing in a Frankenstein movie. Laura sat in her coat all night, which amused Mum, and Carol tried to make life difficult for Lynn & Dave.

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Thursday November 21, 1974

Go into work at about 10 o'clock. I absolutely refuse to go in at 9 when I've worked until midnight. Kathleen's half day. Home at the usual hour and see the TV all evening. Monty Python was especially hilarious, but I am sobered by the 10 o'clock news bulletin which reveals dastardly news from Birmingham. The IRA have killed nearly 20 people and have wounded 200 by blowing up two pubs in the centre of Birmingham. The bloody swines who have done such a thing do not deserve to live. I realise that the death penalty is a rather pagan institution for the 1970s but what else will pacify the many people who will not rest until they have seen justice done?

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