Saturday July 11, 1981

Rooftop view.

 _. Our pleasant little hotel manager gave us an alarm call at 7am and we took breakfast for the last time at the Armadoros. Boiled eggs and jam and bread. We went to the jetty in the harbour and sat on a sack of potatoes waiting for our ferry. Philip and Gill joined us and we said our goodbyes, promising to meet them in the White Cross soon. The Lemnos ferry came at 9 and we sailed off into the Aegean waving frantically at our friends. What followed was nine hours up on deck casting our critical eye over the other characters on board with us. I finished reading 'Eye of the Needle'. Ally nodded off but was awakened with a start by a fat Irish woman struggling past to buy her eighth ice cream. We arrived at Piraeus at 6:30 and took a taxi to the Hotel Aphrodite in the Plaka area of Athens. We dumped our things and made our way to the roof garden, six storeys up, to observe the distant Acropolis. Ally was unimpressed by the Greek panorama. She didn't like the scaffolding. I didn't help by making banal comments, like 'it'll be nice when it's finished', &c. Back on the ground we walked to the Parliament building and laughed at the guards doing their ludicrous prancing march. The presidential palace reminded me of Sainsbury's in Gloucester.  A meal followed in a street cafe in the Plaka. Sloppy moussaka. I bought a couple of paperbacks for the homeward flight. We were back in the hotel at 12.

Waiting for the ferry.

-=-

Friday July 10, 1981

Blurred: the church

 _. A day on Koumbara beach with Philip and Gill. 'The Eye of the Needle' is a very absorbing book. Returned to the Armadoros at 6 and packed our suitcase. AAARGGHHH!!! Hideous to think we are saying goodbye to Ios tomorrow. I shall forever love this place.

The town tonight was more crowded than usual. A local told us that the last weeks in July are unbearable. We found a new and quiet bar, but Philip and Gill were snuggling in the corner, and so we joined them at a table. Phil says they'll come and bid us farewell in the morning.

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Thursday July 9, 1981

 _. Day at the beach. Philip and Gillian were in the bar. The poor beggars had been stranded in a tiny boat off Santorini since Sunday, with no money or change of clothing. It was day trip which turned into a nightmare. The weather prevented the boat from returning to Ios. We had thought of accompanying them. 

We met Philip and Gill again this evening, but after knocking back ouzo I returned to the hotel and was violenetly sick. I had been eating squid, and so you require little or no imagination to envisage the sight of the bathroom.

-=-

Wednesday July 8, 1981

 _. Back to it. To the beach. I have a funny, bloated tummy. No appetite. Why? We retired to bed early after a walk around the harbour. I could go on and on about the Irish tourists in the hotel, but I'm on honeymoon and aren't honeymooners supposed to be oblivious to everyone and everything but each other?

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Tuesday July 7, 1981

 _. Up at 10 for breakfast in the hotel. ___________.Exiting the restaurant Ally suddenly looked like death and she fainted on the stairs just as the manager was coming down carrying a bed. I carried her, out cold, to room 45 [our love nest], where we passed the remainder of the day. Tranquility. I went out this evening and bought a couple of paperbacks. 'The Inheritors' by Harold Robbins, and Ken Follet's 'The Eye of the Needle'. 

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Monday July 6, 1981

Koumbara beach.

 _. Up at 10. Feeling very hungover. Walked to the Koumbara beach and stayed there until 4:30. Very quiet, windy and delightful. We took a large bottle of fizzy orange and sprawled on our beach mats discussing the names we are going to call our numerous children. Joshua Lawrence Dixon Rhodes is a certainty - God willing. Clementine [not after Winston's Clementine though.], Lavinia, Harriet [sweet], and Amelia, &c.

Food tonight consisted of chicken and chips and a couple of bottles of Cambas. A few daft hours in a cocktail bar clowning with the English barmaid, Karen. Very pissed. Back down the mule track eating crab sandwiches....

-=-

Sunday July 5, 1981

 _. 3rd Sunday after Trinity

Up at 10:30 and just made breakfast. Ally needed the orange juice. We walked to the village this afternoon and both bought red Greek trousers [350 drachmas each]. The little man in the shop insisted that Ally should try on her trousers before purchasing, and so she stripped behind the bacon slicer. I cashed a £50 traveller's cheque and bought our ferry tickets for the homeward voyage.

There was a sandstorm on our usual beach and so we took a short walk over the cliffs to a secluded cove full of naughty nude bathers. We had melon and pizza in a beach bar and walked back to the Armadoros.

Out tonight in our matching Greek trousers. I became intoxicated. The owner of our favourite cocktail bar told me he has been married for forty days and is going on honeymoon to Holland in October when the season ends. We did numerous taverns and arrived back at the hotel at 2am.

No sign of Philip or Gillian. Have they gone home perhaps?

-=-

Saturday July 4, 1981

 _. Independence Day, USA

Philip & Gillian.

Spent the day on the nearest beach. Met Philip in the bar at lunchtime. He gave me his copy of last Thursday's Daily Express. Lady Diana will not say 'obey' on July 29.  In the sun until 5:30.

From 7-8:30 we sat in the open air at Club Ios listening to classical music and watching the sunset.

Out at 8 to a restaurant near the windmill. Chicken and chips washed down with Domestica. We were hounded by a horrible American child carrying a reptile. On to a cocktail bar. Ally had Pina Coladas and gin. I stuck to gin. The American tourists were making merry.

Back to the hotel at 12:30.

Friday July 3, 1981

Philip & Gillian.

 _. A windy day. We sat in a beach bar from 11:30 to 6:30. We bumped into Philip Knowles [from Yeadon] and his girlfriend, Gillian. Today is her birthday. We had two bottles of Cambas wine, beer, &c. We were in a collapsed state this evening. I had squid, Ally shish-kebabs. We met Philip and Gillian in a bar at 11pm and had cocktails for a couple of hours. We roared with laughter at a couple dancing in the bar as though they were John Travolta and Olivia Newton John.

We walked back down the mule path. Not easy.

-=-

Thursday July 2, 1981

 _. Took a bus to a different beach after breakfast and stayed there for the day. Lots of naked sunbathers. Things hanging everywhere. We did wonder why some of them bother. One guy arrived naked on his motor bike. That cannot have been comfortable.

Had spaghetti for lunch washed down with beer.

-=-

Wednesday July 1, 1981

 _. Dominion Day, Canada. New Moon. 

The twentieth birthday of Lady Diana Spencer. 

We put in an appearance at breakfast in the hotel. Ally uncomfortable with mosquito bites.

Visited the nearest beach this morning. Ate hamburgers for lunch and drank tins of orange and grapefruit juice. Sunburned.

At the hotel this afternoon a good rub down with after-sun was required. I then slept as Ally pottered around.

Back to the village for dinner. Ally had tomatoes stuffed with egg, and I had a vegetable concoction in a greasy sauce. Home by bus. Bed at 11. Exhausted.

-=-

Tuesday June 30, 1981

 _. Stayed in bed. Later we sprawled in the sun and splashed in the Aegean. We took a bus into the village this evening [10 drachmas each], heaving. Last night we had walked up the road, a hot and sticky experience. We had shish kebabs and cheap white wine. Found a quiet bat at 8. Ally drank pina coladas [150 drachmas] and I swilled ale. Went into a few bars playing English music, and staggered down the mule track at 12:30am.

-=-

Monday June 29, 1981

 _. Ios is beautiful. An extraordinary island. We are fanned by a constant warm breeze. We can lay in the sun all day without any apparent desire to find shade in a bar. We walked to the beach this morning and sat from 1pm until 4pm writing postcards and drinking wine. To the 'village' tonight. A labyrinth of narrow white streets, swarming with cosmopolitan people. Lots of Yanks and people from the Irish Republic. Lots of fat, flabby, white flesh in the bar. I had moussaka and Ally had squid. Back to the hotel before 12:30.

-=-

Sunday June 28, 1981

Hotel Armadoros.

 _. 2nd Sunday after Trinity

We spent our wedding night at 35,000 feet. We touched down at Athens at 6:50am. An insane taxi driver took us to Piraeus where we arrived just in time see the ferry on which we were booked steaming out into the blue ocean. This almost caused our first marital tiff. We aren't good when we both panic.  We found another ship which sailed at 9am, but going via Tinos [where Prince Philip's mother spent some time doing charitable work], Siros, Paros, Mykonos [the gay island, where we changed ferries], then on to Naxos, or was it Paros? They all blend into one, you know. We spent the journey on deck, close to exhaustion. We came into Ios at 10pm. A man looking like Peter Sellers came from the hotel in a dingy car and took us to the Hotel Armadoros, the only hotel. We ate pizza, drank Campari, and retired to bed.

Ally: on deck.

-=-

Saturday June 27, 1981

 _. The most sacred and beauteous day of my life. I was awake at 5:30 having slept in a sleeping bag on the dining room floor. Billy and Dave G were awake, and we sat on the back terrace steps, taking the early morning air. I did laps of Greenfield Avenue, first on my own, and then with Dave. 

Breakfast was a stampede. My brother, and best man, arrived at 10:30 and by 11 were were dressed. I shook only very slightly. In fact John seemed more nervous than me. Mum began to fluster and this made me feel worse. John and I left for the church at 11:40, and at Esholt a multitude were amassed outside. Cameras clicked. Dave Porritt there with the video camera. I kissed Bessie, all in pink, in the church doorway and John whispered: "Who is that?" Of course, they have never met. The bride arrived at noon. I had to turn and look as she glided down the aisle, her full skirts shining like silver. Breathtaking. Her face lit with happiness. This set the tone of the service. We stood 'eyeing' each other and grinning. I think my responses were audible. I did, however, pronounce the 'H' in honour and said 'death do us part' insead of 'death us do part'. Ally said something wrong and then said 'sorry', only to be hurried along by Calvin Ward with a 'never mind, never mind'. We managed to kneel without falling on our faces. What I always thought might be a hideous ordeal was in fact exciting and unfortgettable. Why didn't we think of doing it earlier? We signed the register without a hitch. In the singing of the second hymn 'All People That On Earth Do Dwell' the organist dried bringing everything to a brief standstill. We left the church, arm in arm, to sunshine outside.

Outside the photographers took over. Jack Simon and Graham Lindley, from the YP. The session lasted for over half an hour. The drive in the marvellous old car to the Cow & Calf gave us the chance to talk. We formed a reception committee in the doorway greeting all the guests in a chain of kisses and grasped hands. Auntie Mabel was the only one who looked to be on the verge of tears.

I had no appetite. Poked at my roast beef. I worked out a speech plan with John. Graham said grace in Latin. John stood and proposed a toast to the Queen, not my suggestion, but Frank's. John then said a few words, proposed a toast, and then so did I. Frank then stood, and for a man used to public speaking, he looked very pale. He made a very moving father of the bride speech, saying how Ally had come back to live in the north and that Mum and Dad had looked after her so well. He almost broke down.

Speeches over we mingled with all the tables. Delia and Sarah were sat with the Rawnsleys. They were howling with laughter.

We left at 9:30 in a taxi from the Cow & Calf to Manchester Airport. We flew in the early hours to Athens.

-=-

Friday June 26, 1981

 _. Dull and damp. Breakfast at 8. Frank drove us into Bradford where Ally went to the tanning place, and we went to the John Street Market. Bessie bought us a small table, a wine table? Anyway, the car was laden with flowers, and after collecting Ally we went on to Esholt Church for a pantomime entitled 'Widow Twanky Goes Flower Arranging'. 

It took us ages to gain access to the church. [The caretaker was in Shipley having her hair set], and when Bessie began dismantling the altar, we made our escape. 

#Frank dropped us in Guiseley and we bought a few things in Boots, and then had fish and chips in newspaper as we walked up Hawksworth Lane, giving nervous glances at each other. Our last unmarried day.

Frank, Bessie and Andrew joined us after an hour or so, and we all had a gin and tonic with Mum and Dad before taking Ally away for the rest of the day. It was moving to see her go.

To Otley with Mum and Dad. She bought some shoes. Then to Yeadon, and home for 4. Looking at old diaries: did you know that Ally was mentioned in the very first entry in my journal on Jan 1, 1973?

This evening Uncle Bert, Aunt Jadwega, cousin Reginald arrived, as well as Dave G and Billy. Pure magic. The chemical reaction which took place between Billy and Jadwega was unforgettable. A brilliant double act. The song and dance routines followed, and the jokes. Hours of musical comedy.

-=-

Thursday June 25, 1981

 _. My last unmarried day at the YP. Made my way to Lidget Green at 6, pockets full of holiday money.

Lynn, Dave and Frances came over, and in D walked in carrying a refrigerator, a wedding present from them and from Sue, Pete, John and Maria. Within minutes it was affixed in the space that would, in a normal house, be a kitchen. We busily started freezing things. After salad sandwiches they left to make way for Frank, Bessie and Andrew. They came in at about 11:30 and the usual chaos reigned. I think they will eventually relax when the wedding day comes. We drank tea and opened presents from the Lancashire aunts.

Bed after 12. 

-=-

Wednesday June 24, 1981

 _. Didn't see Ally. She is turning Ash Tree Cottage into Clarence House in readiness for the arrival of her parents.

Winston: blue eyes?

Dined with Mum and Dad. She made fine Yorkshire puddings and eulogised over my imminent passing. Dad was genuinely moved and blinked away tears. "We will miss you, Mike", said Mum very breezily, but I knew how she felt. Or do I? Twenty six years of love and devotion, care and attention, and in the blink of an eye your child has gone -- gone off with another to repeat the process all over again.

Anyway, enough of that. At the office my telephone trilled. It was a portrait painter, working on a portrait of Sir Winston Churchill, and was desperate for an accurate description of the colour of the great man's eyes. One would have thought that this might be an easy thing to pin down, but no. Nowhere does it say what hue twinkled in that Bulldog head. He did of course have sandy, dare I say ginger hair, before he lost it, and so would make a guess at a blue/grey shade.

-=-

Tuesday June 23, 1981

 _. Catherine's second birthday. 

At Club St up at 5:30am and cleaned the windows. It took about half an hour. Breakfasted with Ally and then off to the YP.

Ally's cousin, Patricia Tolley, gave birth to a daughter, Louise Emma at something in the vicinity of 3am. The child is well, but the mother has had a very difficult pregnancy.

Home at 6.

-=-

Monday June 22, 1981

 _. Visitors: Marlene, Frank, Debbie, Karen, Steve, Diane and Paul came over to Pine Tops this evening bearing wedding presents. Marlene & Frank were the first to arrive. She looked shocking, hay fever. The others brought pans and trinkets, and stayed for drinks until 12. Afterwards Ally and I returned to Club Street. Tempers between us had been fraught in telephone exchanges this afternoon. It's nerves kicking in.

-=-