Wednesday February 16, 1983

 We got up at 6:30 with no feelings of trepidation and only a mood of confidence can be said to have dominated the breakfast of eggs and toast. It is Ally's idea to go to Hipperholme ridiculously early in case anything untoward should befall the bus driver en route and make us late for the interview. We went out at 8:15 looking suitably 'interviewish'. We sped to Hipperholme on bus so dirty it was impossible to see out of the windows. An amiable bus driver put us off at the correct stop. It was 9:20, bitterly cold, and an hour and ten minutes early. Unlike most sane people who would, in a situation like this, have gone and found a cafe and have a cup of tea, we stood in an open bus shelter full of broken bottles, and covered in graffiti proclaiming 'Huddersfield Town is Shit' &c. Into the Viking Taverns building at 10. Mr Sutcliffe made himself known to us and offered us coffee. At 10:30 we went downstairs to a cavern (like a pub without a bar) and were joined by four other couples of similar appearance to us, all mid-20s. Ally took an immediate dislike to Mr Sutcliffe, but I failed to see why. He was only trying to make us feel at ease. We were all subjected to a maths test. "If a man gives you a £10 note for £3.75 worth of drink, how much change do you give him?" That sort of thing. Then we had to answer 187 questions on personality. i.e. "If your next door neighbour squashed your cat with his Aston Martin would you a). weep, b). get another cat, c).let his tyres down. I enjoyed that bit though Mr Sutcliffe seemed to think we'd find it disturbing. At 12 we went up to the Hare and Hounds (a Viking Tavern) to await a second personal interview. We went in at 2:30. It was a quick ten minutes and he barely touched on anything. Ally found it most disturbing. If successful we would start as trainees on £7,800, a joint salary, and says we could have our own pub within a year. It could mean going to Sale, Cheshire, as relief managers, &c. We'll hear within two weeks. We left in the cold and drizzle and got a bus to Halifax and then a bus to Bradford via Shelf. I could take redundancy next week and find myself in a new job the week after. In at 4:30. Early to bed.

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