Saturday October 22, 1983

 The Why Not, Hemlington

Marie is stunned by the way the brewery have failed to support us . Margaret MacMahon should have gone because without her disruptive influence the others would have obeyed us. Frost. We awoke to a crisp frost and an equally frosty letter from Fran O'Brien telling us to correct our stock deficiency and asking us to contact him should we require any assistance. This was posted yesterday when we were in the middle of the staff crisis and he knew then that were attempting, on his advice, to solve the problem. It proved too much for Ally who sat propped up in bed crying with the crumpled letter upon her baby bump. I was white with rage and threatening to resign before suffering such a blow again. F.O'B now goes off on holiday for a week and so we decide to phone David Tyne on Monday to seek an audience of him to tell him our problems. We worked alone 11-3:30. We drove to Linthorpe for fish and chips and ate them in Mandy. We took a loaf of bread with us to make sandwiches. Called on Roy at 5:30 who gave us tea and a lecture. He asked us to play it cool and to resign before they have the opportunity to sack us, should it come to it. He was very good. We bought change from him for the bar. As we left he looked at Ally and called 'a proud little thing'.

Hemlington really is a God forsaken place.

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