Saturday August 12, 1978

Sun rises 05:41 Sun sets 20:30

I had a bit of a rough night and didn't get much sleep before about 4am. Sneezing, wheezing, coughing and gasping all night long. A few tablets and cups of 'Lem Sip' eased things a little and I finally nodded off. Up with the larks at 9:30 feeling much better.

At about 11:30 Dad, Sue, Pete, John and I went to Leeds and met Dave B, Richard & Chris B, and Mr & Mrs Henry Baker, and Mandy B outside Young's dress hire where we were fixed up with morning suits for the wedding. ___________________.

Home at 1:30. John took some lunch with us. Just like old times in fact. John really was on top form today and had me rolling about in hysterics in Young's.

Afterwards I went with Lynn and Dave to Lawn Road and finished daubing emulsion on the bathroom walls. Dave was near to collapse and at one point he was to be found in a medium sized heap upon a roll of carpet in a bedroom. We returned home for dinner at 6 o'clock.

Jacq's been to Scarborough today with 'the crowd' from the Y.W.C.A. She phoned at 7:30. Sue, Pete and I met her in Guiseley and we had a quick drink at the Station Hotel. They both drank Tequila! On to the Crown (Yeadon) which was dead, and then to the Westbourne at Otley where John and Maria were supposed to be supping. They never materialised. The pub is revolting and rough. Karen Cole was there. Making a quick exit we ventured to the Clothiers, which was also thoroughly miserable. I just failed to enjoy tonight. We all came back to Pine Tops to watch a late night film. ________.

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Friday August 11, 1978

Moon's first quarter 21:06

Something of painful day in the rear. It's going to take fortitude, faith, and tremendous courage to keep battling on over the weekend.

I forgot to mention that in yesterday's Daily Express they published large black and white photographs of Princess Margaret holidaying in Italy with a new geezer, Mario d'Urso. It's Sarah's view that any new men in the life of the princess will now be received with approval at the palace because anybody is an improvement on Roddy Llewellyn. I disagree. Can you imagine a Court Circular from the future listing 'Princess Margaret, the Mrs Ronald Biggs' for instance?

Carole phoned this afternoon to enquire after the state of my bum. She was her usual warm self and we chatted for ten minutes. She and Fogarty are going to Es Canar in Ibiza in September. My God, who'd have thought she'd be doing this after last October's nightmare? I haven't seen Carole since June when Jacq, Sarah, John Mac and I went to Harrogate.

By this afternoon it came to pass that I have caught a dreadful cold. I broke the world sneezing record while stood on top of a pair of ladders filing pictures. However, I'm not going to let it deter me enjoying myself this evening.

David L and Jacq collected me ~ he'd picked her up at the Station Hotel ~ and we went to the Black Bull, my first visit to Otley since Christmas. From here we went to see Lynn and David and Lawn Road. Dave L was very impressed by the decor. It will be so good when it's all finished. Lynn looked very tired.

David L wanted his seafood and so we dashed to the Menston Arms in search of the 'Prawn Man', but were out of luck. Our last hope was at the Commercial where Annie (Lindley) supplied us with jars of mussels. She enquired after Mum & Dad, who never go out these days.

Jacq and I told Dave that we will definitely go to see him at the Barn Motel, Hockley Heath, Warwickshire. Jacq suggests we combine this with a visit to Derek & Carol Sate. Derek may be taking the boat out. __________.

Back at home Mum almost bit my head off for some reason and stormed off to bed. I watched the end of 'Tale of Two Cities' starring Ronald Colman. Very old and sad.

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Thursday August 10, 1978

Pleasant, enjoyable day. Sarah and I ventured to the Jubilee pub (opposite the Town Hall) where I had a couple of pints of lager while she knocked back DOUBLE Dry Martini with lemonade. A hardened little boozer is S.E. Collis.

I asked Kathleen whom she thought might be the next Pope. She said she had no idea and knows no princes of the Church other than Cardinal Heenan, who happens to have confirmed her when he was Bishop of Leeds.

Tonight at 7:30 Dave B and I went to Lawn Road and messed about until about 10. Not a particularly enlightening evening and my poor, scarred arse didn't help much. Poor Dave has only four weeks of normality remaining. My deepest sympathy goes out to all wretched souls now on the verge of that catastrophic leap into matrimony.

Jim and Margaret were here watching Caligula (John Hurt) get axed from the party leadership in 'I, Claudius' (again). The boozing lasted until 2:30am. Jim tells me Cardinal Benelli is favourite in the pontiff stakes and it's hardly worth it putting a bet on him.

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Wednesday August 9, 1978

Ventured to the YP today. They were all surprised to see me. Saw Eileen for the first time since July 6. I was surprised, nay stunned, to see Kathleen in cheery mood and not glum and mourning the loss of the Holy Father. I thought that devout Roman Catholics would be grovelling and wailing and wearing the deepest black? Evidently not. Ladbroke's have shocked some MPs by taking bets on Pope Paul VI's successor. It's going to be Cardinal Benelli, or some geezer who answers to Pignatoli. Benelli was, until last year, Pope Paul's right~hand man and closest playmate who carries a lot of weight. I tell David L to put five bob each way on Benelli. All we can do now is hope and pray.

Had a quickie with Jacq at the Oslters at lunch.

This evening David L came up at 7:15 with the tattered remnants of my trousers, my camera, "flush" cubes, records and belt. We went to collect Christine at Horsforth and came back to Yeadon and met Jacq at the cinema at 7:30. We went to see 'Star Wars' which has been on since Christmas. Both Dave and Jacq have seen it before. Christine and I did a good deal of laughing. Acclaimed as a very good film, it isn't really for me. For a start it isn't adapted from a book by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It cannot compete with 'The Great Gatsby' or 'The Last Tycoon'.

Afterwards we had pancake rolls and chips from the Chinese take~away in Yeadon and deposited the ladies at Horsforth and Leeds respectively. Dave mentions he's going to visit Maria at Molly's on Friday.

To bed with Lady Chatterley at 12:38 am.

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Tuesday August 8, 1978

More bloody rain. My God what a revolting summer it's been.

Up at 9:30. Fish and chips for lunch with Mum & Dad. Mum heard from Auntie Mabel that Uncle Jack (Myers) now has only weeks to live. I'm so sorry for cousin Jackie.

Tonight: Too knackered to go to Lawn Road. Instead I sat with DH Lawrence reading of Constance Chatterley and her lover.
The book's been missing for years and only on rummaging in the back of a cupboard did I manage to lay hold of it again. Read 60 pages in fact. Why they made such a fuss about it back in the deepest, darkest, pagan 60's God only knows. I thought the 1960s were supposed to be permissive? I've read more explicit stuff in 'Look and Learn'.

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Monday August 7, 1978

Bank Holiday {Scotland}

Very wet, revolting day. Lounged in bed until 11 and then had a bacon and egg sandwich and cup of tea. My rear feels slightly more painful today. Had a hot bath.

Uncle Peter dropped in at lunchtime for a sandwich. At 2 Dad drove me to Otley Hospital. A fat, old doctor with half~moon spectacles took a brief look at my buttocks and told me to come back on Monday next week to have the stitches removed.

Home for 3. Watched the end of a 1940 Jack Benny film and did a little reading. To be quite honest, I'm bored silly just lounging around the house. Jacq phoned to enquire about the state of my bottom.

At 7:30 Delia and Sarah came to see Lynn and Mum about the flowers for the wedding. Sarah thinks I look unwell. She suggests I get a doctor's note and have the rest of the week off. I decide to take tomorrow off, but go back on Wednesday.

Wedding fever is now gripping Pine Tops. Mum and Lynn spent the night chatting about flowers, cakes, cards, and booze. Saw a far~fetched Roger Moore film and retired to bed at 11:30.

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Sunday August 6, 1978

11th after Trinity

Got out of bed at 10:30 feeling quite fit and unaffected by my traumatic experience. I phoned David L to apologise for leaving half my blood in his abode and he says it looks like a massacre has taken place on Tennyson Street. He laughed a good deal.

My chief problem is sitting down. Armchairs are impossible. I remedy this by laying flat on the floor. Mum and Dad think my predicament is hilarious. Mum inspected the stitches. Dad, Lynn and Dave went to Lawn Road leaving Sue, Mum, Jacq and "Scar Arse" to prepare dinner. Susan was alone and Peter made no appearance. ______________.

On the news we hear that the Pope died tonight. Princess Michael of Kent must have been secretly over to Rome and slipped some John West salmon into the Vatican kitchen.

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