Saturday November 1, 1980

_. Cold. To Bradford at lunchtime with Ally on a shoe buying expedition. After three hours we emerged from a shop with a pair costing £18. She is desperately low on footwear and this, I fear, is only the beginning.

With Jill and Tim to the Bod at 8 meeting Dave G, Garry, Billy, Denise Akroyd, Chris Ratcliffe, Dave L, Jacq, Paul, Chris & Audrey Rycroft, Lynn, Dave, Sue, Pete, Dave & Elaine Allinson, &c.

Elaine Allinson and Dave B.

Ally on top form doing the rounds and chatting with everyone. She is more sociable than me. Back at the house. Dave L danced and was killer wearing Ally's shower cap. Billy gave a brilliant one man performance stripped to the waist. Garry, on his return from the Bod, collapsed and was carried to bed. Elaine was a great addition to the party. It all fizzled out at at about 2:30. Sue wasn't on top form because she had suffered a fall in the Crown, and was in some pain. Chippy and Deborah came to the Bod but never made it back to the house. A good thing really because Lynn can be violent where he is concerned. Bed at 3-ish.

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Friday October 31, 1980

_. Left Ally at 8 and made my way to Leeds. She has decided to stay at home and splash gloss paint on her bathroom. Why should she enslave herself to that twisted Welsh fiend at Bradford AHA?

I phoned her several times throughout the day for bulletins on the bathroom progress and received favourable reports. The paint was winning 7-0 at half time.

Ally came over for a candlelit dinner with Mama and Papa. Dad related some amusing anecdotes about his old sergeant in Goldthorpe, Horace Jacobs.

Out to the Shoulder at 8:30 . Met Sue, Pete, Gerald and Debbie. I felt a cold coming on. Like a bronchil pug. Escaped the smoke-filled pub and the two us went to the Drop, where I had three large, medicinal whiskies with the approval of Jean Hanson. They had the effect of a cloud lifting from my brow.

Home in a stupor. The hideous Esther Rantzen on a chat show. Mum says Denise visited me the other evening when we were Flexitexing. What can this mean?

To bed with Clementine Churchill.

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Thursday October 30, 1980

_. Sarah and I refused to pay our union subs and stand defiant in the face of death. However, inspecting my contract [signed as recently as May] I see that I am virtually hog-tied to NATSOPA. Jim Rawnsley begged me to reconsider because he knows only too well just how vindictive trade unions can be. It might take them years, he says, but in the end they will find a way of getting rid of me.

To Lidget Green at 6. Paint the bathroom green. We went to the Bod for the last hour. We discussed Catherine Brook _______. Fish and chips afterwards but encountered a thug embossed in tattoos, and blessed with a flowery command  of our rich language. I escaped with my fish and me life.

Back to Ally's. Re-arranged the sitting room and squabbled until nearly 3am.

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Wednesday October 29, 1980

_. The YP Library staff all received letters from the M.O.C. [Mother of the Chapel] Miss P. McKone, reminding us of our huge arrears with our NATSOPA subs and informs us that in three weeks time we will be sacked if we haven't paid up. The union is in no position to threaten and I am blazing with rage. This means war, or certainly resignation from the odious NATSOPA.

On to Club Street at 12. I flooded the bathroom whilst attempting to remove a radiator. I did have doubts about this all along.  Ally had hysterics. She went out for the afternoon and I finished the wallpapering. Quite a favourable attempt. We dined at 6:30 and I continued decorating until 10. Drove to Pine Tops afterwards.

Dave G phoned at 7. He is definitely coming on Saturday, but he and the lads are dining at the Georgian Restaurant first. It's s Saturday tradition that cannot be broken.

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