Friday August 6, 1976

Carole rang me at work this afternoon to say the usual things about feeling the same way about me, &c, and that she's written a letter and wants me to reply.

Dave L rings at 7 o'clock and says he'll give me a lift down to the Hare at 8.15. Ten minutes later Lynne rings and says she has arrived home a day early and we meet at 8.30 and go to the Hare. Everyone at the pub except Peter M and Christopher. Carol Smith says she saw Peter with Carole outside at about 8 but they didn't come in.

John & Maria, Jimmy and Elizabeth all come in together. A pleasant enjoyable evening. Jimmy tells me he's making a pond in the garden at Ridgeway, and I'm enthralled. I tell him I'll go round tomorrow and investigate. He's quiet all night and when I enquire: "What are you pondering about?" He replied: "My pond."

Maria is massive. Dave L says that when you walk past somebody it's over in a flash, but walking past Maria takes some time. One could read several chapters of 'War & Peace' and still be negotiating her bump. She is a big blue mass.

Home at midnight to watch a 1941 Ingrid Bergman epic. Not very good really. Make coffee for Lynne and she disappears over the horizon at something like 1.30.

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Friday July 16, 1976

Buy a pair of shoes at lunchtime after having spent all morning showing a 16 year-old girl the library & the cuttings and filing system.

That night: Lynne comes at 8.30-9 o'clock & we go to the Hare. I previously presented her with an old pair of jeans I no longer wish to wear & a white rose. We laughed a good deal but once we were in the pub the communications seems to have lagged somewhat. Dave L was out with Sandra and so was Christine & Stuart, who go on holiday to Austria & Italy next week. John & Maria, Andy and Linda, Chris, Pete M, Jimmy Macdonald, &c, all in the pub. At 10 we moved on to the Black Bull in Otley for an hour. Lynne sits with Maria deep in conversation whilst John, Dave, Jimmy, Chris, Pete, stand at the bar.

John bought four New Zealand White rabbits for £4 today from a mate at work who was going to drown them! The soft hearted nit! This benevolent act of reprievement will now boost the rabbit population of Tranmere Park and the launching of John in ther career of breeder extraordinaire.

Home with Lynne to Pine Tops at 11.30 for bacon & egg sandwiches with Mum & Dad. The two of us sit until about 3 o'clock and she drives away into the dawn looking tired and shagged out.

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Tuesday July 13, 1976

John and Maria come at 8.30. They like my virtually non-existant sun tan and join Mum, Dad and I in a glass of Bacardi & coke. (No doubt you've gathered I bought some cheap Bacardi in Ibiza). They're having difficulty getting possession of the new house and it seems that Maria has written some vicious letters to people in high places in order to get things moving. Bits of scandal I hear include items as ludicrous as Carole emigrating to New Zealand to become a missionary, and much more.

CB rings this afternoon to tell me she's got the job at Bradford Mothercare, but is doing eight weeks training at Doncaster first. Christine at Mothercare!!!

Dave L has managed to get a job teaching rural studies in Gloucester - Dad heard this today when he visited the Lawson residence in a professional capacity to solve the mystery of Gary's disappearing bicycle. I shall have to ring David shortly.

See 'Bonanza' on TV and retire to bed afterwards.

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Thursday May 13, 1976

Pay day. Meet Dave B for lunch at the Ostlers. Purchase the LP 'Elton John's Greatest Hits' and ordered 'Island Girl' and 'Someone Saved My Life Tonight'. Busy time really. Lunch 12.30-2pm. Writing it all in brief because I cannot be bothered with detail. Home on train at 6pm and hear that Harry Monkman died at Falmouth in the night. I last spoke to him a week last Wednesday when he passed comment that his lawn was in a far better condition than ours. He'd just put tons of fertilizer all over his, at great expense, and I'm saddened that he'll never see the lush growth that his labours will undoubtedly produce. He must have been 80, and I feel a bit sorry for Maud, who is almost blind. I was never fond of him.

Ring Dave L who came out of hospital today. He will be out and about tomorrow night - but no alcohol whatsoever. Glad he's home. Probably going to see 'Cabaret' on Saturday. Dave B brings me the 'Who Loves You' LP from Denise. She bought me it in return for the Cow & Calf excursion last week. Play both LPs - they're really great.

Hear that Uncle Peter came for lunch today. He's brilliant - salt of the earth.

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Saturday April 3, 1976

In brief: My Birthday Party at Oakwood Hall.

Carole and I go to Leeds before lunch and spend about three or four hours messing around in the shops. I bought a blue cheesecloth shirt with the money Mum and Dad gave me this morning. We have our usual squabble in Miss Selfridge and Carole ends up the owner of a Spanish-style green blouse - which she loathes. Women!

Home at 4 to find Dad mending the telephone and see Jackie, who arrived three hours earlier.

Later: Coach arrives at 9.20 and 19 people travel. MM and Marita in the car. Even Denise and Tony came. The place was horribly hot all night and packed to the brim. I attempt to get intoxicated and only got slightly pissed, spending £8 in the process. Lynn and David didn't come, which left something of a gap but otherwise all was a great success. Christine B, Chris and Peter bought me a 'Southern Comfort' pub mirror - brilliant. Back to Pine Tops - that is only family and Dave L for Jackie's sausage sandwiches and a photographic session. Hysterical just isn't the word.

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Saturday March 27, 1976

Dave L is back in our midst. He took Carole, myself, Sue & Peter up to the Cow & Calf pub this evening after a dead hour in the Hare with only Andy and Linda in attendance. Peter M came in and he accompanied us to the Cow in his own vehicle. The astounding thing about the whole evening was the free juke box!

People were marvelling at Dave's beard. He certainly has given himself a Biblical touch. To a fish & chip shop in Burley-in-Wharfedale where we gorge and feast ourselves in Dave's car. Back to our place for coffee and Mr Lawson took Carole home.

Meanwhile: Earlier that day. Carole and I went to Bradford where she collected my bomber jacket and whilst I was rooting for Mother's Day cards she went and bought me a gold crucifix on a gold chain. I know she likes buying me things, but somehow it gives me a feeling of uneasiness. We didn't argue once - unusual for us when shopping, because Carole is never the same as when she's dragging me round those sweaty, hot department stores.

-==-

Tuesday January 27, 1976

I despatched a letter to David in Worcester on the John/Maria subject. I hope he'll get home for the celebrations this coming weekend.

Work was quite busy and I'm still doing the YP indexing with Sarah, who tells me, incidentally, that her father has been promoted and sent to Sheffield. Is this goodbye to Sarah Collis? If it is I won't bother coming all the way to the YP from Ripon, because she's the only decent person in the place.

I come home from work to find Dad in bed completely taken over by 'flu, and Mum isn't in a much better state, and is making dinner.

John rushes in and has a bath and then goes straight to see the priest (Father Scannell), with Maria, at Burley-in-Wharfedale. John hob nobbing with Roman Catholic priests in the dead of night! Who'd have thought it? You could knock me down with a feather, you really could.

It came to me today that my life with John is more or less over. For twenty years we have seen each other every day, and it's going to be hard getting used to not having him around. For 20 years we've shared a bedroom, and in just over six weeks he'll be gone forever - sad really.

Molly Macdonald rings at 8.30 to confirm that the wedding day is March 13, and it will take place at Burley, and that the reception will be at Acacia House, and that each family can have 25 guests each not including the principal participants. I am confimed as best man, and Lynn, Susan and Elizabeth will be bridesmaids. I'm having a nervous breakdown.______________.

Bed at midnight after no sighting of the -happy couple'. _________.

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Saturday January 24, 1976

I am in a state of great shock and acute excitement. Carole left at 10 o'clock before I got up and I didn't stir until 12.

John went off to see Andy at the Station on Henshaw Lane and I did nothing at all until lunchtime.

Dave L rang and I was surprised to hear he's home for the weekend. God knows what he'll be doing tonight because Linda hasn't invited him to her 21st.

Carole rings at 2.30, or 3 o'clock and John and I go round to Maria's. Richard Wellock and a friend are there supping tea and Carole is looking shifty, and I wonder what the Hell is wrong. Richard and friend go and Carole and I are left alone listening to the Santana LP. Mr & Mrs Mac go out and John and Maria are sitting in the dining room.

Carole looked at me and said: "We didn't go shopping to Leeds this morning, you know." I replied "what did you do then?" And she said: "It's something to do with Maria." I felt my knees knocking together. The truth rushed over me like a waterfall. She is pregnant. John's going to be a daddy in August, and I am going to be an uncle. I cannot describe the emotion of it all. Happiness mixed with a reserved sense of doom. He will be 20 in September and Maria will be 18 in July. What Mum will say I just cannot imagine.

At the Yorkshire Rose for Linda's 21st John and Maria announce that they are getting engaged next Saturday. Chris and a few others soon find out that she's pregnant, and Peter M is upset that John won't be able to go on holiday with us in July. Get drunk, and go back afterwards to Maria's until 2.30. They're telling her parents tomorrow and so I'll make myself scarce before the announcement.

And to think that last Wednesday I was joking with Maria about her being pregnant and now it's all true.

-==-

Wednesday January 7, 1976

Make a start to planning the holiday. John doesn't want the girls to come. That is just one of the many simple facts causing problems here. By ditching Maria for the holiday he expects me to also drop Carole for 2 weeks so that we can have a holiday abroad together with Chris, Pete and probably Keith (Brown). I think this is a bit unfair on Carole, who has set her heart on laying besides me on some distant Mediterranean beach this summer.

David L takes Carole and I to Yeadon to see 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail'. I saw it at Bradford with Gillian Upton last summer, but still found it absolutely hilarious. Carole is quiet, and I put it down to the fact that I'm going off on holiday without her. She says that Maria wants her to go off to Belfast with her this summer. If she goes she'll be a braver person than I am. Going on holiday for a week and coming back legless, eyeless and armless isn't really my idea of a relaxing break. David too can forsee only danger in the girls chasing off to Ireland for the summer.

Home at 11.30 after calling in at the Clothiers for a quick one. Carole's mood gets me down at times. She's not boisterous like me, and I cannot understand the things that madden her.

-==-

Saturday January 3, 1976

I don't emerge until nearly lunchtime, and when I do eventually arise I hear from Mama that Uncle Harry is on his way over to see us. He rang them yesterday to let them know he spent Christmas and New Year in Spain and that he is seriously thinking about buying property in that fair and sun-blessed land.

They both go off shopping leaving me to play records on the stereo at full volume. I watch TV all afternoon. Laurel and Hardy followed by a Mae West & W.C. Fields epic, which in turn is followed by a Marx Brothers classic.

Uncle H arrived at 4.30 with a camera just like mine, a bottle of 5 year-old Scotch whisky and news of the Costa Brava. He looked extremely fit and well and was a few inches the better off around his girth. He also invited us all (girlfriends and boyfriends included) to stay with him at his cottage in Ravenglass for the weekend 7/8 February.

Salad for tea. John runs me to the Hare & Hounds where we have a few drinks. I then go for Carole and CD joins us at Oakridge Palace - the Phillips ancestral pile.

We get a bus to the Fleece and stay until after 10pm. Dave L, Sue, Peter, John, Maria and all the others are in and Chris's party gets going at about 11pm. I cannot render myself even remotely sloshed, and neither can Dave L. We just stand about watching people slide under the tables and chairs. CD, Alison and poor Darling Carole are all smitten with the vomits, and I put a stop to the loud party rabble at 3am by ringing Chris from a phone booth at the top of the street pretending to be an agitated neighbour. Chris was in on the plan of course, and he played along nicely. Everyone seemed a good deal quieter when I got back.

At 2am I discovered Carole in bed with cronic stomach pains. __________________________.



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Friday January 2, 1976

Snow still covering most of the area. I can't help thinking that this Bing Crosby type weather is two weeks too late. Crispy snow is all very well on Christmas Eve, but I can't agree with it coming and hanging around at the beginning of January. Most unpleasant and awkward.

Mum is 41 today and Dad is 42. They don't look a day over 35 and I'm proud to be the owner of such a handsome pair of parents. We all gave them cards. I didn't give them a present because I bought them whisky on New Years Eve. Carole came up at 9pm with a present for them. Lovely and thoughtful of her.

At 9.30 Dad takes us to the Hare where all the others are assembled with the exception of Dave L. We drink gin and orange, and Peter N even had his own bottle of gin with him. At 10.30 Raymond took Carole and I to Harry Ramsden's, where we had fish and chips wrapped and delivered to Pine Tops by Dave B while the two of us went by bus.

We all sat about laughing and joking about the New Years Eve party and the saga of the size of our Christmas tree in comparison with the Macdonald's tree. Dave took Carole home at about 1.30.

Carole is going to town tomorrow and doesn't particularly want me to go with her. She seems hurt when I refuse to beg to go with her. I fancy a lazy day in bed anyway and the thought of trailing around town is OUT.

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Friday December 19, 1975

Dave, from No 40, Hawksworth Lane, arranged a trip to Annabella's disco in Bradford. All the gang went, by coach of course, and we drank and made merry until 2am.

Carole and I were squabbling again and I realise we haven't quite seen eye to eye lately.

CB was with us. I bought Dave L all his ale. I don't object to this of course because you know as well as I do that I'd do anything for David. These college chaps can't afford to eat or live - let alone booze.

Home at 2.30. John was three sheets to the wind and proceeded to make more than a bit of a racket on our arrival at the palace.

Goodnight one and all.

-==-

Tuesday December 2, 1975

I have received a brochure from Swans, the holiday people, and the trips for next summer look quite reasonable really.

When I mentioned to Maria the other day that we ought to go on holiday together she glanced over at Carole and said something about ________ being too moral for her liking. What the Hell does she expect? When I go on holiday I do not put sex at the top of my list of priorities, and besides, how can she say that about ______? Very childish of her.

A wet and cold day again. Get a letter from David L asking if I am actually going down to Worcester before Xmas. I think not because I cannot leave Carole, and somehow I don't see her fitting in at the college. Don't get me wrong. I'd love her to go, but I have to make a decision one way or the other.

I saw a Rhodeses coach in Guiseley today and felt like laying down in its path so that my death would be on the pathetic driver's conscience for the remainder of his days. I do intend getting my revenge at a later date. Oh, Sweet Vengeance! I could go on and quote large chunks from Baroness Orczy's 'I Will Repay' but I won't bother.

I don't want to write any more tonight because I am in a lazy mood and at this time of the year a lad has every right to be bloody lazy and idle. Who cares anyway? You wouldn't spend all night filling in a useless diary so why the Hell should I?

Goodnight, dears.

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Friday October 31, 1975

All Hallow's Eve, no less. However, I failed to see a witch, wizard, ghoul, ghost, nymph, gnome, or anything like that on my travels this night. How can we be expected to believe in things like this when they don't even bother to make an attempt to scare people to death on this truly evil night?

Quite busy at the YP today and I worked through my lunch hour and came home at 3.30. I didn't feel all that fit this afternoon. Stomach ache and all that. But it goes before I'm home.

Tonight Dave L rings. I'd quite forgotten that he'd be home and the sound of his voice made a pleasant change. He meets John and I at the Hare at 8.15, but I leave minutes later to meet Carole. Mr Phillips sits contemplating me for a few minutes and then says quite sharply: "Please tell your friends to be more quiet when bringing Carole home in the early hours of the morning." I mumble and stumble for a few minutes, and before I can answer he goes on to say: "...and I must say it isn't a pleasant sight to come downstairs at 3 o'clock in the morning to find someone using my garage as a public convenience."

I was very nearly embarrassed. But Michael Rhodes is NEVER embarrassed by any one or anything.

After half an hour in the Hare we go to the Craven Heifer. I am dying to say to someone that we, the Rhodes clan, may one day be resident at this public house. Carole, Maria and CD sit in a corner like three old witches, which is quite appropriate for All Hallow's Eve, and they leave CB, Dave L and me gassing away merrily. Dave and Lynn and all the others are with us too. At 11pm we emerge and CB pinches a sign from a house next door which reads: "BUDGIES FOR SALE". Back at our place I display the stolen sign in Monkman's garden next door. Let's hope that someone will bang on their door at 6.30 tomorrow morning and ask for a pair of blue breeders!


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Friday September 19, 1975

A wet, unpleasant day. Work was quite busy and I was glad to make good my escape at 4.30. The girls are not in when I get home, and I'm told that Lynn and Dave have gone off with the Baker family to Whitby for the weekend. Grief, they aren't home for two minutes before they're off again.

John came home from work rather early and is propping up the tea table and looking far from well. I am dumbfounded to hear he isn't going out tonight, and am even more stunned to see him stagger upstairs to bed at about 6.30. John ill isn't natural at all. He was never designed to be bed-ridden. I loathe it when he's off colour.

I go to Carole's at 8 and sit watching the television with her horrid 11-year old brother until 8.20. (Dave L dropped me off at C's incidentally). Chat with Mrs P and I like her a lot. Now I know where Carole gets her character.

To the Hare and Hounds. Quiet really, and only Dave L, Keith and Helen, CD, and C. Smith are present. At 9.30 we all go to the New Inn. My first view of what could be my future home, and I'm quite surprised really. Cosy with great prospects and I'm warmed within to think it's not a rough hole in the ground. Back to the Hare for a final drink before going to Wikis which is incredibly dead. Everyone leaves at 1am except for Carole, CD, and me, and I suffer the horror of walking up, or rather scaling Thorpe Lane in torrential rain. Frogs and toads were leaping around everywhere, and I felt far from jovial.

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Saturday September 13, 1975

Up at about 10.30 which is unusual for Saturdays. Have breakfast with Mum and Dad and then sit with the Daily Mail in my dressing gown. The Daily Mail isn't stuffed down my dressing gown of course, I mean I was sat reading the DM wearing my dressing gown. Phew, glad I've got that little matter cleared up.

Carole rings and says she's off into Leeds with a schoolfriend - to get a new dress, and I say I'll meet her at 8pm.

Mum and Dad go shopping and buy me 'Fool' by Al Matthews, a good record and the first I've bought in years.

Go down to Carole's at 8 and she looks stunning in a beautiful, new dress. Her hair is gorgeous too, and I'm so glad now that she had the patience to wait around for me whilst I was carrying on pretending not to be the least bit interested in her.

Very few people in the Hare. David's gone to the dogs again, and I think with MM and Marita too.

Move on to the Lister's Arms with Peter and then back to the Hare at 10.30. CD, Carole and I go to Helen Claughton's party on Otley Road, and CB goes with Roger. Jimmy Elkington is playing around like a ridiculous big kid and Pete Lazenby is there quite drunk. We don't drink anything and leave just after 1am. Walk Carole to Harry Ramsden's then come home.

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Friday September 12, 1975

Go round to Carole's where she is looking much better, and is quite ready to go out and about once again. Have a laugh with Mrs P. She overheard me telling Mr P that I am taking Carole to the Hare & Hounds. She hasn't told her Dad where I take her, and I suppose he really didn't want her drinking until she is 18. He didn't say anything, but Mrs P was just about crippled with laughter in the kitchen.

Go to the Hare, where David arrives at the same time. All the gang are in again and we stay until 11pm. Mum and Dad came in at 9 and stayed for about an hour and a half, telling everyone about the New Inn. I only hope they get it after all this.

No one can persuade David to go to Wikis, and in the end Carole, self, Keith, Helen, John, 'George', Raymond, and Ray's mate and his ladyfriend, go down. A brilliant night, and Carole and I are hardly separated except for when she gets up to dance. My foot is still somewhat weak and dancing isn't quite the thing I fancied. Peter ( I didn't mention him in the list, did I?) brings Carole and me home at about 2.30, and I go straight to bed. John gets in from 'George's' 10 minutes later.

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Wednesday September 3, 1975

I'm not going to say a single thing about work today because so many things of much greater importance occurred.

At lunchtime (12.30) I met David, Marita and MM in the Wellesley. We all had a few sandwiches and several drinks but the atmosphere wasn't much good. ________. At 1.30 me and Marita had to return to work, whilst MM and David went off in the direction of Leeds University in order to sabotage the library therein. What a great life these millions of unemployed lead! Since 'signing on' on the dole this morning they've just enjoyed themselves in order to forget the traumatic experience. Dave said that fifty three people - mostly old, spitting men in flat caps - were in the queue in front of him in the social security place this morning. I for one would absolutely hate the idea of having to go (there). The humiliation of it all cannot be worth the mere few bob one receives for it. I'd rather do without.

At 4.30 Dave collects me from the YP along with MM and Marita and for the first time in what seems like years, I get a lift home. Arriving home early I mess about in the garden because I've forgotten my key and Mum isn't in until 5.25. Sue gets home just after me, and we have such a laugh. I'll certainly miss her when she goes to Italy on Friday.

John tells me that Carole hasn't been well this week and probably isn't fit to go out tonight. Once again I'm going out with a girl who doesn't have a telephone. So at 8 I decide to go round and see her. I walk all the way to Menston, and her mother makes me tremendously welcome. Her (Carole's) aunt keeps calling me Nick or Nicholas, but she soon gets the hang of my real name. The two of us go over to the Hare where Lumsden is celebrating his birthday. Christine B says she's going flying in a private 'plane on Saturday night, and we laugh about it. Darryl Wills - EP reporter - catches my attention, and the next time I look for Carole she's gone. Andy is pissed and says she's buggered off, and like a maniac I go round to her place in Keith's car. Before I know where I am, half the Hare & Hounds roll up, and they all have coffee. Carole says she's sorry but I still feel mad about it. I'll get my own back somehow. Keith drops me off in Guiseley.

-==-

Friday August 29, 1975

Friday night on the town once again. We go down to the Hare & Hounds as usual. When I say 'we' I mean me and David. Since John got possession of the Spitfire I've been excluded from his chauffeuring activities, so good old David always offers to do the honours at weekends. Carole is away for the weekend, in Norfolk visiting relatives, and so I'm free for a couple of nights. Christine beamed when she heard of it.

David and I took turns to buy rounds at the bar and I can't help being amused by David drinking port. At the mention of port I think of some bloated Horace Walpole-type figure sitting about on a Queen Anne sofa, with his gout-ridden leg reclining on a cushion. David is attracting a sizeable girth at the moment, but he just laughs off any attempts to tell him of this. Nobody can get David to go to Wikis, and even Peter Mather's offer of money is refused.

Christine B, Christine D, Peter M and I went to Wikis and CD and I danced continuously from 11.50 until 2am. I nearly died when at 1am the DJ roped Christine and I into doing the competition which consisted of blowing up a balloon until it burst - well, he told me it was a balloon, but I can assure you it wasn't. After standing on a floodlit stage inflating items of a contraceptive nature, CD and I continued to dance for another hour.Tired and shagged out I walked up Thorpe Lane with CB and CD. CB stayed the night.


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Thursday August 28, 1975

Meet Carole on the 6.30pm 55 bus and go up to Yeadon to see 'Barry Mackenzie Holds His Own' at the cinema. I saw it a month ago with David and Christine but I feel that all films starring Barry Humphries warrant a second visit. I did thoroughly enjoy it, and think Carole was quite amused, though not over the moon about it. The cinema was horribly hot and we kept getting funny looks and glares from the other film-goers when we hooted with laughter, and I can assure you that when Carole laughs she certainly makes sure everyone knows about it. Once again she excelled herself tonight and dressed as though she was going to a Buckingham Palace garden party. Everything about her it just what I like in a bird. I only hope we'll last out OK. She is a Scorpio, which does make her my type - like Sarah for instance - and I'm in constant fascination of her.

On the subject of Sarah. She departed for Corfu late tonight, and so I won't be seeing her two weeks. I have given up altogether with her. She is a darling but doesn't need me at all and I see no point in persuing someone who isn't interested in me.

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