Sunday April 25, 1976

Low Sunday. Out of bed at 11.30am feeling quite fit. I am worried about yesterday's performance (vomit, &c) and realise only too well that I may be getting out of the habit of being pissed. Friday night was always a good night at Wikis and the following day rarely saw me with such after effects and ailments. Am I just getting out of the habit or simply too old for staying up half the night? It can't be the latter.

Sue and Lynn go out at lunchtime which leaves me alone with Mum & Dad. I wash the dishes and clear up in general which must be a flag day. Carole comes at 3pm and after sitting for half an hour without uttering a single syllable we drift off down Thorpe Lane and into Guiseley - an action packed place on Sunday afternoons.

I get a bus at about 4.30. Carole and I are definately heading for the rocks and even she is realising it now. Work 5-11. Scive off an hour early and arrive home to find everyone fast asleep. Devour half a can of baked beans. Certainly a thrilling, exciting day to remember isn't it?

-==-

Saturday April 24, 1976

Wake up at approx. 10.30 and vomit. Unusual I know, because if any vomiting's to be done it usually makes itself apparent much earlier. But that's what happened. Stagger downstairs, but return immediately to bed on smelling the breakfast. Lay in bed until 4.30pm and regret it because the weather is beautiful. Susan and Peter were even managing to sprawl on the lawn - the first time this year that a family member has made an attempt to sunbathe.

Carole came at 3.30 or thereabouts. We decide to have a quiet night at home in front of the television. Carole comes up at 8 and we send Dave out to buy a bottle of apricot wine. Watch TV until it closes down and sup the whole bottle of wine in the process. The two of us don't speak much.

-==-

Friday April 23, 1976

Good Old Saint George's Day. Get to work at 8.30 and spend an hour altering Harold Wilson's file. He doesn't look like a Knight of the Garter at all and I can't help wondering what made him accept the honour. During his premiership no hereditary peers have been created and political honours have not been looked upon in a good light, and now he goes and accepts the highest honour 'bestowable' by the Monarch.

Ring David L at 7.30 and Sandra says he was taken to hospital a few hours before - something wrong with his heart! The whole Lawson house is in uproar and so I quickly vacate the line - promising to ring tomorrow for a further bulletin. David - a heart attack!! Horrific and nauseating.

I inform everyone in the Hare & Hounds except CB who is down with tonsilitis. Leave Carole at 11 and go to the Cow & Calf with Pete M and Martyn Cole. First night out with the lads in ages. I never usually desert Carole. Get intoxicated and don't remember much about the night at all. CD and Carol Smith were with us.

-=-

Thursday April 22, 1976

Work was uneventful and I'm not going into great detail on that miserable subject.

Carole rang twice this evening and both times asked me what was wrong. I insist that all is well, but she feels sure I'm wanting rid of her.

John came round at 9 o'clock for a bath. The Macdonald central heating system caved in over Easter and subsequently the Mac family are parading round Ridgeway smeared in four days supply of filth.

Mum and Dad went out for a drink but returned and 10.30 with fish and chips which John also endulged in. Sue also cut John's hair.

Hear on the midnight news that Uncle Harold is to become a Knight of the Garter after all. No doubt the left-wing rabble of the Labour party will find this is something they can get their teeth into, but uncle is a scheming old lad. A man cannot be Prime Minister for sixty years without picking up some of the tricks of the trade.

-==-

Wednesday April 21, 1976

The Queen, 50. Do not hear the alarm clock again and Mum wakes me at 8.20. To Leeds with Jim Rawnsley and study the national newspapers immediately upon my arrival at the YP. The Queen's party at Windsor went on until 3am today - and at 2.40am Her Majesty's time of birth - she was dancing around the Waterloo Chamber with the Duke of Edinburgh.

Some papers criticised Mr Callaghan for not attending and I can only see this as a snub to the Queen. Uncle Harold Wilson and Thatcher attended and even Edward Heath. She is already a legend in her own lifetime and it's hard to imagine how we could ever manage without her.

Meet Carole at 8.10 but only have one drink in the Hare before returning to our place for a coffee. She is behaving quite differently today bit I pretend I haven't noticed. She is doing her utmost not to be 'lovey dovey' and too serious with me.

-==-

Tuesday April 20, 1976

Back to work which is busy and frantic. See in the papers that Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon are to attend the Queen's 50th birthday party at Windsor this evening.

-==-

Monday April 19, 1976

Wake up at about 11.30 with Carole and Jackie. Feel horrible and revolting with hangover. I was the last person up drinking and the birds were chiruping like hell at 6.30am when I finally submitted to the call of the bedroom.

Jackie gets a lift into Bradford to start work at 12.30 and Carole and I walk home. Yes, we walked all the way to Guiseley along the Rodley canal which brought us out near Esholt Sewage Works on Hollins Hill. Did nothing but argue all the way home and she kept referring to the way in which I treated her last night. She dislikes the way I 'carry on' with other women and says that I don't 'give a damn' for her. I put her straight saying it is obvious that she thinks more of me than I do of her and that she is obsessed with the idea of us having a permanent relationship whatever the cost. My feelings, or lack of them, mean nothing to her & she professes her undying love for me when I've never once offered anything in return. This situation cannot go on. I tell her I enjoy her company but insist that I do not love her and this depresses her. The whole situation makes me sick.

She comes up at 8.50 and we all see 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' - not a good film, and I'm itching to see a programme on ITV about George III narated by the Prince of Wales. Bed at 12.30 and sleep like a log.

-==-