Monday October 25, 1976

Work at 9.30. Sarah isn't too well. Bugger about and manage to finish for 2.30 or so. Home by 5.15. Have a bath and then Lynne comes up at 8 o'clock with my luggage. Put on my new trousers, red shirt and cardigan. Just the two of us to the Hare & Hounds at 8.30 for an hour. She goes home afterwards [to Gipton Wood Crescent that is] because Aunt Lil has her evening meal ready. Quite a good night at the Hare. We are becoming more and more close I think. [We are] staying over here this coming weekend. She's coming on Friday and going straight to Thornton-le-Dale after we've been out. The weekend after I'm going to Thornton-le-D with her on Friday [Nov] 5, and coming back on Sunday [Nov] 7, to go to Auntie Delia's luncheon.

See the Queen on TV at 11 o'clock tonight officially opening the National Theatre, on the South Bank. [The South Bank of what? Not of the Ouse, I think]. A modern, updated version of the National Anthem was played at the opening and, in my opinion, I think that perhaps the composer should be hanged with piano wire. Nauseating it really was. Bed at midnight.

Oh, by the way. Auntie Mabel, Marlene and Frank, Mark & Debbie came at 6.30 for an hour. Sorry, I forgot to mention it earlier.

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Sunday May 12, 1974

4th after Easter. Good lunch and feel like a lazy afternoon, which unfortunately cannot be because of driving lesson. I do quite well, but John makes terrible errors throughout the whole of his lesson. It was entertaining anyway.

Mum and Dad go to Marlene's at about 5, and Sue is at Peter's all day.______. I think the boy will shake off his shyness and insecurity within a couple of years.

See tv all evening. Read Mrs Fitzherbert by Anita Leslie. The poor soul married George IV in the 1780s but was never acknowledged in law. Socially however she was always given royal precedence. Bed at 12.


"Waterloo" by Abba.

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Saturday January 19, 1974

Dad wakes me at 6.30. Feel absolutely gone to the world. Deaths door seems very near. Have a shower and listen to a dreadful BBC2 programme. Wake Sue at 7.45 and go for my train at 8. Work is absolutely fabulous. Whilst discussing old people I recall something old Auntie Mary (born 1878) told me about being related to somebody called Jackson who was Lord Mayor of Leeds. On researching this I discover that a William Jackson was Lord Mayor in 1895-6. Knowing Auntie Mary is a reliable source I am enraptured. Jackson went on to become a Member of Parliament. I am the great-great-nephew of a Conservative MP! If I mention this publicly I'll probably be lynched, what with the Three Day Week and the toilet paper shortage. 

 Frank and Marlene and the kids come for tea.Mark brought his Formula One racing cars. 

Frank makes Dad mad by referring to him as 'Uncle Lawrie'. He's only a decade younger than Dad. 

 At 8 John and I go to the Hare and Hounds. Denny and I have a laugh about pretending to be engaged. 

All the mob gathers in honour of the 19th birthday of Linda which takes place on Monday. At 10.30 I go in Philip Cartwright's car to the Cow & Calf. Dance until 2am. The college girls are great fun and we joke about cottage cheese manufacturing! Everyone piles into different cars, and poor Christine W and myself are left in the back of Pete's van. Home at 2.30. Wait in the garage until John comes home with the door key at some later hour. Well, 20 minutes later actually.

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Sunday November 18, 1973

Sir Gerald Nabarro-Oh-No-What-Ho has died in his Worcestershire constituency (very painfully) at the grand old age of 60. From all accounts it seems he fell into a coma whilst looking in at the Royal Wedding on his 23 inch colour tv set. He never regained consciousness. Anyway, that's one potential pedestrian killer out of the way. Yes, the death of this great public figure gives me a better chance of crossing the high street without being flattened beneath the wheels of one of his 27 Rolls-Royces. Indeed, this is a great day for living pedestrians throughout the civilised, and indeed uncivilised world.

At 3.45 John and I were accosted by Andy in his Dad's car. He escorted us, and Chris, to Guiseley Swimming Baths. After thirty minutes in the water we drank some revolting coffee in a cafeteria and went home. The chlorine lingers for hours, but I must admit, it does my sinuses a world of good.

Marlene, Frank, Mark and Debbie come for tea. We spend an enjoyable evening. The kids are tremendous fun - so typically Wilson. See the second repeat of the first repeat of 'Shadow of the Tower' a drama based on Henry VII. It remains entertaining. Strangely enough, when the series was first screened (late 71) I began shaving. You may think I'm mad, but I remember silly things like that.

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Sunday June 17, 1973

Trinity Sunday. Lynn wakes me at 10.30. It's Father's Day. It's a commercial thing invented by the people who makes greeting cards - and a cheap copy of Mothering Sunday which is now also very commercially backed. Give Papa 7 cigars costing 77p.

Sue and Lynn made Mum and Dad's breakfast. He also received a 1lb box of toffees and some nutty chocolate.

Very, very cloudy day but warm. Dress and read until 12.30. Blast! Starting revising for Economics tomorrow. Life is one long swot these days. June rings at 2.45.

Have lunch at 2. Read Albert and Victoria until 3. Auntie Mabel, Uncle Jack, Marlene and Frank, Mark, and Debbie came at 3 and stayed until 8. The children, Mark, 5, and Debbie, 3, are beautiful with blond hair and hazel eyes. Auntie Mabel and I go onto the lawn and organise races for the children. Frank takes me to Westfield Fisheries at 6.30 - fish and chips 9 times!

Sit until 8.20, and get a lift to Rawdon in Frank's car. They drop me off near the Emmotts. Auntie Mabel laughs when I say "see you in church". Go to Emmotts. June and I drink lager. At 9.20 we walk to the Fleece, arriving at 10.10. Bust the fly on my jeans in the gents toilets. June gives me a safety pin and we went into Horsforth park so that she could fix my zip. June is the one and only. Come home at 11.40.

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