Sunday June 23, 1974

2nd after Trinity. Cousin Jackie comes for the day, arriving for lunch at about 12.30. The driving lessons at 2 are quite satisfactory, though I cannot imagine myself as a driver next week. Poor Jackie is separated from her sailor boyfriend, Neil, who is on naval duties in Malta until mid-July. She invites us all to her 18th birthday party on August 3 and she orders us all to bring an escort of the opposite sex. No doubt Denise will accompany me. On the subject of Denise, when I rang her tonight I found very great difficulty in understanding her because of a terrible cold which distorts her voice completely. I do hope she will have recovered by Friday when she leaves for Spain. This Spain business is ridiculous. It's nauseating to think that________.

Mum and Dad take Jackie home at 10pm, and John, Lynn and I see Lord Peter Wimsey on tv. The final part of 'The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club', and it was very good. Also see 'MASH', then go to bed and read until 12.30.

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Sunday May 5, 1974

3rd after Easter. Rise at 12. Weather is quite cheerful until about 1.30 when it suddenly dulls over and begins to rain. Have lunch and a beer and a couple of glasses of horribly sweet sherry. John and I have driving lessons at 2, and we both go together, that is John sitting in the back of the car until 3, and then me sitting in the back between 3 and 4. Get back for tea and find Mum and Dad gone, Sue and Peter doing homework, and Lynn watching tv. We all have tea together.

I read "Anne and the Princesses Royal" by Helen Cathcart, which is a shocking book and I'm sure that I could write better. Cathcart has written hundreds of books on royal personages but the authenticity I find doubtful - too gossipy by far.

No one rings in the evening and when Sue and Peter go and see 'Mash' and 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' at Yeadon Cinema, only Lynn, John and myself remain all evening.

See Charles Laughton in 'Hobson's Choice' - a very good film indeed. Bed at 12. Mum and Dad are quite intoxicated, though more with high spirits than alcohol.

"Waterloo" by Abba.

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