Reading the Daily Mail. The Prince of Wales has injured himself skiing in Switzerland. They thought HRH had broken his hip, but in fact he is only bruised.
Deep snow. To Leeds with Jim [Rawnsley] and Jennie. A two hour journey through snow and ice. Jennie, such an inquisitive child, kept firing questions at me. "What is a coup d'état?" "What is a 'fresco'"? &c. _____________.
The YP was hideous. Sarah and Carol J sat all day talking about their exploits at the Regent at Chapel Allerton. I was bored by it all.
Read in the papers that Nelson Rockefeller, former vice-president of the USA, died on Saturday.
TV tonight: Monty Python's Flying Circus followed by a Nanette Newman drama - a love story in wheel chairs. Seen it before. On the news they were banging on about direct elections to the European Parliament. We are all voting on June 7 for something I know nothing about. Geoffrey Rippon, MP, made an appearance, and it was like seeing a ghost. I thought they'd executed him at the Nuremberg Trials along with Edward Heath, Mussolini and nurse Edith Cavell. Obviously I am mistaken. Bed at 12:35am.
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20170205
Sunday January 28, 1979
4th Sunday after Epiphany.
Awoke with no apparent loss of limb and most of my faculties intact. Mum asks whether I was sick in the night and I fully expected the Spanish Inquisition, but she was fine about it. I even threw up in the kitchen.
I feel diabolical about Jim & Margaret. What must I have been like in car coming home from Menston? It is quite out of character for me to suffer pangs of guilt and embarrassment but I am doing so. "I told you it would be a good do" exclaimed a laughing Peter N.
Heavy snow all day. Phoned the Odeon Cinema and then Dave L and he said he'd come over at 6:50. Dined with Mum, Dad, Sue and Pete and watched the snow heaping up in the garden.
Dave arrived saying the roads are treacherous, but we went out all the same. Dave's is the only car on the road. We laughed and compared ourselves to the likes of Ernest Shackleton and Mr Cabot. The car skid all over the road and we hit Leeds in a shroud of white. We were the first vehicle to access the metropolis since before Christmas.
The film was good. Peter Cook and Dudley Moore in 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' ~ a highly delightful comedy based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's book. We laughed our heads off. Outside at 9:30 we had a shock awaiting us. We made our way to the car and blamed the horrible scraping sound on the mounds of snow in the car park, but this was not so. People emerged from a neighbouring vehicle and a man, in fits of laughter, informed us we were trying to make our exit with only three wheels on the car! Some thieving swine had removed one of Dave's rear wheels. I laughed. David sat stunned with incredulity. A helpful guy in the vicinity helped to jack up the car and in half an hour had affixed a spare wheel, and tightened up the others. We came home in silence, occasionally questioning the sanity of the dogs who had vandalised his car. Home by 10:30.
Lynn and Dave had arrived with Dave's uncle Tony and they stayed with us until 1am. I was dog tired.
-=-
Awoke with no apparent loss of limb and most of my faculties intact. Mum asks whether I was sick in the night and I fully expected the Spanish Inquisition, but she was fine about it. I even threw up in the kitchen.
I feel diabolical about Jim & Margaret. What must I have been like in car coming home from Menston? It is quite out of character for me to suffer pangs of guilt and embarrassment but I am doing so. "I told you it would be a good do" exclaimed a laughing Peter N.
Heavy snow all day. Phoned the Odeon Cinema and then Dave L and he said he'd come over at 6:50. Dined with Mum, Dad, Sue and Pete and watched the snow heaping up in the garden.
Dave arrived saying the roads are treacherous, but we went out all the same. Dave's is the only car on the road. We laughed and compared ourselves to the likes of Ernest Shackleton and Mr Cabot. The car skid all over the road and we hit Leeds in a shroud of white. We were the first vehicle to access the metropolis since before Christmas.
The film was good. Peter Cook and Dudley Moore in 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' ~ a highly delightful comedy based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's book. We laughed our heads off. Outside at 9:30 we had a shock awaiting us. We made our way to the car and blamed the horrible scraping sound on the mounds of snow in the car park, but this was not so. People emerged from a neighbouring vehicle and a man, in fits of laughter, informed us we were trying to make our exit with only three wheels on the car! Some thieving swine had removed one of Dave's rear wheels. I laughed. David sat stunned with incredulity. A helpful guy in the vicinity helped to jack up the car and in half an hour had affixed a spare wheel, and tightened up the others. We came home in silence, occasionally questioning the sanity of the dogs who had vandalised his car. Home by 10:30.
Lynn and Dave had arrived with Dave's uncle Tony and they stayed with us until 1am. I was dog tired.
-=-
Saturday January 27, 1979
Brilliant sunny day, but another layer of snow fell in the night. Out of bed at 11am to clear the drive. Mum and Dad went out to the Dales, probably Grassington, and I was left alone with the record player and cups of coffee.
At 1pm, Sue, Pete, Chippy and I went to the Shoulder [of Mutton] for a few. Afterwards we went on a Wellington boot hunt to Shipley but had no joy. It would seem that panic buying is not restricted to butter, petrol and sanitary towels. Wellington boots are hard to come by in these days of misery and hardship. Came home for tea at 4:30 and I gave Chippy the negatives of the holiday photographs.
Tonight: out with Sue, Pete, Chippy and Debbie to the Shoulder. I felt like a spare part. Christine made an appearance with Doreen but they stood at the far end of the bar. I think I am out of favour for some reason. She said she would phone tomorrow. At 10 with Sue and Pete to collect Jim and Margaret & then on to the Menston Arms where Pete's cousin Pauline Sanderson is having her 21st birthday party. She is the fattest girl in Christendom, but quite sweet. Her parents Uncle Bob and Auntie Olive [Margaret's brother and sister~in~law] invited is back to the party afterwards, and nobody needs to ask me twice. I only wish I had said no. Don't get me wrong. The party was marvellous but I fear I made a bloody fool of myself. I became very drunk and proposed marriage to Pauline, but can't recall whether she accepted or not. I was attacked by a vicious canine specimen and every time the dog came near me I yelled abuse at it. Susan said I used the word 'piss' is every sentence. I was horribly sick on pernod and don't recall Jim [Nason] driving us home. I was also sick at home too.
-=-
At 1pm, Sue, Pete, Chippy and I went to the Shoulder [of Mutton] for a few. Afterwards we went on a Wellington boot hunt to Shipley but had no joy. It would seem that panic buying is not restricted to butter, petrol and sanitary towels. Wellington boots are hard to come by in these days of misery and hardship. Came home for tea at 4:30 and I gave Chippy the negatives of the holiday photographs.
Tonight: out with Sue, Pete, Chippy and Debbie to the Shoulder. I felt like a spare part. Christine made an appearance with Doreen but they stood at the far end of the bar. I think I am out of favour for some reason. She said she would phone tomorrow. At 10 with Sue and Pete to collect Jim and Margaret & then on to the Menston Arms where Pete's cousin Pauline Sanderson is having her 21st birthday party. She is the fattest girl in Christendom, but quite sweet. Her parents Uncle Bob and Auntie Olive [Margaret's brother and sister~in~law] invited is back to the party afterwards, and nobody needs to ask me twice. I only wish I had said no. Don't get me wrong. The party was marvellous but I fear I made a bloody fool of myself. I became very drunk and proposed marriage to Pauline, but can't recall whether she accepted or not. I was attacked by a vicious canine specimen and every time the dog came near me I yelled abuse at it. Susan said I used the word 'piss' is every sentence. I was horribly sick on pernod and don't recall Jim [Nason] driving us home. I was also sick at home too.
-=-
20160710
Friday January 26, 1979
No hangover, for a change. My day at the YP was nauseating. The NUJ are all back to work.
Phoned Christine. She is working at the Fox tonight. She hasn't phoned me since before Christmas and says it is because her boss is bugging her appliance. I have been through this sort of thing with her before. For months I can receive a phone call every day, and then suddenly they dry up, and I have to make the effort. She knows I will always be around, on hand. My services only come to the fore at times of loneliness & misery. I don't mind this. We have an unwritten agreement.
David L came at 7:45 and we went to the Fox. Sat at the bar until 10 reminiscing. We always talk about days gone by. Things like the vodka party with Serena in Worcester, Oh, and the female usherette with the torch at Yeadon Cinema in the power strike of 1971. Christine amused us too. She improves with age, does the creature. Her hair is the most exquisite masterpiece this side of the Louvre. How can a girl with so much beauty not believe in God?
At 10 Dave's stomach was crying out for food and so we went to the Commercial for jars of mussels in vinegar.He had 2 jars washed down with lemonade. Annie, the landlady, took one look at me and exclaimed: 'Oh look. Shirley Temple's had his curls cut off''. I don't think I've been down to the Commercial since Jacq and I made regular Sunday lunchtime trips.
I accidentally knocked David's glass off the table and gave Annie's cat a shower. Outside, the sky was so clear. David made an attempt to show me the Great Bear and the Plough but as usual I was over-awed by the great firmament.
-=-
Phoned Christine. She is working at the Fox tonight. She hasn't phoned me since before Christmas and says it is because her boss is bugging her appliance. I have been through this sort of thing with her before. For months I can receive a phone call every day, and then suddenly they dry up, and I have to make the effort. She knows I will always be around, on hand. My services only come to the fore at times of loneliness & misery. I don't mind this. We have an unwritten agreement.
David L came at 7:45 and we went to the Fox. Sat at the bar until 10 reminiscing. We always talk about days gone by. Things like the vodka party with Serena in Worcester, Oh, and the female usherette with the torch at Yeadon Cinema in the power strike of 1971. Christine amused us too. She improves with age, does the creature. Her hair is the most exquisite masterpiece this side of the Louvre. How can a girl with so much beauty not believe in God?
At 10 Dave's stomach was crying out for food and so we went to the Commercial for jars of mussels in vinegar.He had 2 jars washed down with lemonade. Annie, the landlady, took one look at me and exclaimed: 'Oh look. Shirley Temple's had his curls cut off''. I don't think I've been down to the Commercial since Jacq and I made regular Sunday lunchtime trips.
I accidentally knocked David's glass off the table and gave Annie's cat a shower. Outside, the sky was so clear. David made an attempt to show me the Great Bear and the Plough but as usual I was over-awed by the great firmament.
-=-
Thursday January 25, 1979
Left the YP at 12:30 and met Jacq in a pub the name of which I have forgotten. It's the one behind the Yorkshire Crown in what looks like a cellar. We had a few drinks and I gave her £5.
Derek Sate has had a street named after him in Buckinghamshire ~ 'Sate's Way' & so he's now joined the ranks of the likes of Queen Victoria, the Duke of Marlborough & Clement Attlee. He's also now in possession of a Cadillac ~ with air conditioning ~ and the usual automatic toilet roll holder. He's just been up to see her for the weekend with Carol, who is having trouble with boils on her head.
Tonight: Chippy phoned at 6:30, Dave Lawson phoned at 7 o'clock, and Dave Glynn at 7:30. Popular aren't I? Dave L is home until Monday and we arranged to go out tomorrow night, Dave G just wanted a chat, and Chippy says he will collect me at 8. Plunged into a hot bath & then out to the Shoulder (of Mutton). We were joined by Dave Wainwright, whose car broke down outside. A pleasant night, though Oakwood Hall was empty of familiar faces & quite dull compared with last week. I made a concerted effort to curb my drinking consumption after midnight. Home at 1:30 joking with four girls in a car on the way back. We sat and chatted at the roadside for ten minutes or so.
-=-
Derek Sate has had a street named after him in Buckinghamshire ~ 'Sate's Way' & so he's now joined the ranks of the likes of Queen Victoria, the Duke of Marlborough & Clement Attlee. He's also now in possession of a Cadillac ~ with air conditioning ~ and the usual automatic toilet roll holder. He's just been up to see her for the weekend with Carol, who is having trouble with boils on her head.
Tonight: Chippy phoned at 6:30, Dave Lawson phoned at 7 o'clock, and Dave Glynn at 7:30. Popular aren't I? Dave L is home until Monday and we arranged to go out tomorrow night, Dave G just wanted a chat, and Chippy says he will collect me at 8. Plunged into a hot bath & then out to the Shoulder (of Mutton). We were joined by Dave Wainwright, whose car broke down outside. A pleasant night, though Oakwood Hall was empty of familiar faces & quite dull compared with last week. I made a concerted effort to curb my drinking consumption after midnight. Home at 1:30 joking with four girls in a car on the way back. We sat and chatted at the roadside for ten minutes or so.
-=-
Wednesday January 24, 1979
 |
| Auntie Mabel: had dinner on the boil ... |
A night in front of the TV. 'Coronation Street', then 'The Aphrodite Inheritance' , and Daphne Du Maurier's 'Rebecca'.
I bet you didn't know that Daphne Du Maurier's daughter is Viscountess Montgomery of Alamein. She is, anyway.
To bed at 11:30pm. Auntie kindly offered to come into the bedroom to switch off the light once I was safely tucked up. I think she might have forgotten that I am almost 24. I told her I'd switch off myself, and we said goodnight.
Found a copy of 'Rebecca' on my bedroom bookcase and glanced at the first few chapters. It was first published in 1938.
-=-
Tuesday January 23, 1979
No snow today, but we all expect something. Sarah was a cow all day and went out of her way to be tiresome. Kathleen too, is quite insane. Eileen was the only civil person on board today.
Home with Marita this evening. She talked of how bored they were at New Year & I had to remind her that it is her 24th birthday next week. I enjoy doing this, because I know she hates growing older and to be reminded of such anniversaries. It's about time MM pulled his finger out and made a honest woman of her. I do suppose he's waiting until he's chairman of ICI before making the purchase of the ring.
The poor Shah of Iran is now in Morocco & that nauseating geriatric, the Ayatollah Khomeini is fuelling up in readiness for his departure to Teheran next week.. Yet another throne falls to the chant of revolution. The Shah and his Empress are good friends of our Royal Family.
Mum phoned Auntie Mabel tonight & I said I will go over and see her tomorrow for tea and then watch Daphne Du Maurier's 'Rebecca' ~ serialised on TV. She invited me to stay the night and suggests I can go to work on Thursday morning from Pudsey. Auntie hasn't been out of her garden gate for a week because of the snow. She must get very lonely living alone. Besides, I do enjoy her company. She will be 60 in March. Marlene is going to throw a party, and the arrangements are all very hush hush.
Peter came up here at 7:30 and we sat playing cards around the dining room table. Quite fanatics we are becoming. Television must have destroyed social & family life altogether.
I pack a few belongings for tomorrow and retired at 12:50am.
-=-
Home with Marita this evening. She talked of how bored they were at New Year & I had to remind her that it is her 24th birthday next week. I enjoy doing this, because I know she hates growing older and to be reminded of such anniversaries. It's about time MM pulled his finger out and made a honest woman of her. I do suppose he's waiting until he's chairman of ICI before making the purchase of the ring.
The poor Shah of Iran is now in Morocco & that nauseating geriatric, the Ayatollah Khomeini is fuelling up in readiness for his departure to Teheran next week.. Yet another throne falls to the chant of revolution. The Shah and his Empress are good friends of our Royal Family.
 |
| Anna Massey as Mrs Danvers in Rebecca... |
Mum phoned Auntie Mabel tonight & I said I will go over and see her tomorrow for tea and then watch Daphne Du Maurier's 'Rebecca' ~ serialised on TV. She invited me to stay the night and suggests I can go to work on Thursday morning from Pudsey. Auntie hasn't been out of her garden gate for a week because of the snow. She must get very lonely living alone. Besides, I do enjoy her company. She will be 60 in March. Marlene is going to throw a party, and the arrangements are all very hush hush.
Peter came up here at 7:30 and we sat playing cards around the dining room table. Quite fanatics we are becoming. Television must have destroyed social & family life altogether.
I pack a few belongings for tomorrow and retired at 12:50am.
-=-
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