Wednesday October 22, 1975

Up at 7.30 and dash around like something not right for half an hour. As usual it is to Leeds with Jim. Nothing scandalous or anything in the office at the moment so I'll narate something else instead.

I will have to start sorting out my vast collection of letters and other items of nostalgia. Drawers and cupboards in my room are packed with them. Letters from June Bottomley, Christine, Judith, Carole and Dave Lawson are just about taking over the upper part of 58, Hawksworth Lane, and certain indelicate subjects raised in Carole's latest despatch make me somewhat edgy.____________.

After tea we sit in front of the television. 'Carry On Doctor' gives everyone a laugh. I always watch these films with the intention of passing sentence of death upon them, but end up bent double with galloping hysterics.

At 8.10 John and I get in the car but it won't start. In a torrent of abuse I hurry down the lane only to miss the bus and find myself walking all the way to Carole's. I meet her with Mrs P coming out of Oakridge Avenue and I get the impression they had given me up for dead. Mrs P winds her way to Highroyds and Miss Phillips and I nip into the Hare. It is boring in the Hare tonight. After a rum with a few Coca Colas we go back to Carole's for yet another drink. At 11.15 I miss yet another bus and walk home yet again.

-==-

Thursday July 17, 1975

Another wet and humid day. Busy at work, though I can say Kathleen's been much more cheerful since her holiday.

Sarah and I went into town at lunchtime and I bought a pair of clogs for £6.99. When I got them home only Lynn seemed to like them, and Mum wasn't very talkative at all really. I don't know what is the matter with her lately, because one day she's a bundle of happiness and others she can be nasty and uncooperative and spiteful. Is it her age perhaps? I always thought that women didn't change, as it were, until they were 45 or 50 or so. However, I'm no authority on it.

Sarah bought a pair of knee-length socks and a pair of plimpsolls. We had a quick one in Whitelocks before returning to the grindstone. A wonderous thing that girl is.

At 8.45 tonight Dad drove me down to the Hare for my appointment with Caroline. I don't think anything about her at all, and was quite repulsed by her when she hooted with laughter tinged with mockery at the fact that I'd failed my driving test twice. Admittedly, she's quite attractive, but beauty is only skin deep. After standing with Caroline for ten minutes I spy Judith R with Kathryn. They stand with us until 10.30 along with Jimmy Elkington and a drunken Jehovah's Witness. Caroline won't let me buy her a drink, and we don't speak. I go back to Judith's for a coffee and chat with her and Kathryn until 1.30. Walk home, and it was quite fine.

-=-

Sunday June 29, 1975

5th after Trinity. Sunny, but windy day. Get up at 10.30 and have breakfast. Mum and Dad go off to Nottingham for the day leaving us to our own devices.

Lynn goes to Dave's for the day to do the cooking whilst his Mum and Dad are away for the weekend - I'll leave the rest to your imagination (only joking), and John goes off to 'George's' for the same thing. I feel almost starved all day, and after sitting through a boring Bette Davis film I leap into a cheese sandwich and devour a nice hot bath.

An hour in the bath re-vitalises me for the evenings onslaught, and after a bit of persuading I get Sue and Peter to come to Harry Ramsden's with me for fish and chips. At 7.45 after devouring a pleasant meal, I head off towards the Hare & Hounds, where I meet Carol just getting off the bus. All the mob gathers as usual, and I find solace in Miss Rushworth, who seems adicted to the Hare these days.

Christine D and I walked home up Thorpe Lane. We laughed ourselves hoarse, and the incline of the hill didn't make things much better. Lately, I've come to appreciare the wit and humour of CD, who has everyone in stitches every time she opens her mouth. Have a coffee with her before returning home at 12. Lynn and Dave greet me on my arrival home, and I bid them goodnight.

-==-

Friday June 6, 1975

Hot, tropical day. Is summer really here at last?

Not wanting to bore you, I'll just say that the UK is staying in the Common Market after a massive majority of the people voted 'yes' in yesterday's first referendum. That's all I'm saying on the subject.

Down to the Hare as usual. Sit with Judith R and Kathryn until someone, I think it was Carol S, informs me that Christine is in the vicinity, and what's more, she's finished with Gary. I hurry to her side and discover that this is true, but she says they'll be back together when she's been transferred into town. Mary, a friend of hers is in for the night, and John shows interest in her until he discovers she is a married woman with an eighteen month old babe. Aaarghh! They depart at 10.30 and I fall for the charms of Shirley once again. We go to Wikis, along with John, where we remain until the usual hour of 2am. She drags us back to her friends place on Tranmere, Chris Hales too, until the unearthly hour of 4am. The sun was coming up in the sky and the birds were singing when we finally made our way home.

Shirley is quite a stunning piece, but she's 15. I feel like a child molester being near her. _____________________________________________________-.

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Wednesday June 4, 1975

The 20th birthday of Mr Ratcliffe. The post brings a letter from him, telling me of his journey down (to Hayes), and certain details about the hotel itself. A letter too from Judith R, and one from good old Dave. Tonight I persuaded John to write to Dave to remind him about the records he borrowed in April & is still in possession of.

This referendum thing ends tomorrow after what seems like months and months of campaigning and useless BBC programmes. Tomorrow night we'll all be able to breathe easily again. I'm still not going to vote, but I hate to think I am making no contribution to such a historic event. One never knows. I might be voting 'YES' by this time tomorrow night.

The Derby was run at Epsom this afternoon. Grundy won. I looked in on one of those midget tvs in the Press Hall. The Duchess of Gloucester paraded herself at the racecourse knee-deep in plaster. HRH broke her leg whilst skiing some weeks ago, but she is carrying out engagements undaunted.

Lynn and Dave sit in the dining room compiling a photo album. I retire at 10pm for a bath.

-==-

Monday November 25, 1974

Tiring day. Awful weather & a cloud of utter misery hangs over everything. Kathleen celebrates her birthday, which was yesterday, with doughnuts and cream buns with nuts on top, &c. Nothing else of interest at work and arrive home at 6.30 in a raging mood about being held up in the Leeds traffic. All the buses were full, and chaos reigned everywhere.

Laze around in front of the TV all evening. See 'The Family Way' Starring Hayley Mills and John Mills, and it proves to be a 'fabulous' film. Fabulous appears in inverted commas because it's such a Judith-Rushworth-type word that no one could possibly say in a serious vein. 'Fab' went out with flower power, cow bells and the Beatles. But seriously, the film was a gem.

Mum and Dad go to the pub and don't come back until 11.30. Nothing fantastic in the news. Mr Jenkins has banned the Irish Republican Army & all other organisations of the same type, but didn't do anything really powerful to deal with the terrorists. Banning the IRA won't matter one bit - are the IRA going to mind being illegal? I think not. Nothing has changed. Also U Thant, the United Nations' boss from 1961 to 1971 has died in New York. I can't say I ever knew who he actually was, but the name sticks out as being a leading one in the 1960s. Bedat nearly 12.

-==-

Tuesday October 1, 1974

Sick of the YP at the moment, which is far too busy for my liking. Am getting on quite well with the new girl called Eileen (Byram), who is quite a pleasant __, though I found myself working much harder when Mrs Beaumont was sitting at the other side of the table. The Old, or pehaps I should say, Young Witch thought she was Catherine the Great of Russia. Eileen's got far more intellect.

Ring Denny at about 11. We are both having a day off on Oct 4, which should prove amusing. It think I'll taker her the tent back which has been hanging around in one of our out-houses since the Grassington weekend.

Mum is in a rotten mood when I arrive home, and think she doesn't like the idea of working full-time. However, Dad says she had a nasty experience with the bank manager this morning, and this must be a contributing factor to Mama's moody, explosive temper.

If my calculations are correct, the Duchess of Gloucester should have given birth by now. She's not been seen in public since the end of April, and I thought the baby was due at the end of September.

On the subject of gorgeous women, of which the Duchess of Gloucester is one, I'm looking forward to seeing Sarah Jane at Wikis on Friday. Dave B won't let it drop about me taking her off him last week, but I can seriously say she was MINE after about ten minutes of chatting up. Bloody awful boring evening. Help Sue with her homework, then go leap into the bath, purely for the want of something better to do. By the way, saw Judith Rushworth at the bus stop this morning. She's at college after all, and seemed to be in a much better mood than when I last saw her. Dad says that Mrs Rawnsley's been walking around today dressed completely in black, and he suspects a family bereavement.

-==-

Thursday July 11, 1974

Denny and I are going to Ibiza on September 14. Obviously, we aren't sharing a room or anything so permissive, though Auntie Hilda says it would be a lot more inexpensive if we did, and goes on the say: "anyway, you don't often find single rooms in Continental hotels, and even if you do they cost the earth." Anyway, Denny refuses to share a room with me._____. Denny, the darling, says it will only cost £16, excluding spending money. Can't be bad, can it?

Quite busy at the YP. Rains all day, and Judith and I are soaked waiting for the train. At 6 Judith R accompanies me to Guiseley Library where I get 'Queen Mary' by James Pope-Hennessy, which I first read at the age of 13. However, the recent murder of Mr Pope-Hennessy urged me to re-read it. Quite a good book, but I detected several mistakes. For instance, he says that Prince Henry (1900-74) was created Duke of Gloucester in 1935 on his marriage to Lady Alice Montagu-Douglas-Scott. This is untrue. Prince Henry was created a duke on his 28th birthday in March, 1928. Pope-Hennessy was done away with by his Irish-born homosexual partner in January, and by all accounts he was a friend of the Queen, who was grief stricken by her grannie's biographers death.

-==-

Monday July 8, 1974

Wake up at 6am dying for a drink. Stagger to the lounge and attack a couple of oranges to quench my terrible thirst. Leave for the YP at 8, meeting Judith R jut before leaping onto the train. She received the letter I wrote last week, and found it amusing, or so she said. Nice girl Judith is. One cannot go far wrong with a girl like that. A pity she doesn't fancy me - I quite fell for her in the autumn of last year, but am quite recovered now of course. Guiseley Station is looking even more posh in readiness for the Royal visit on July 10. Philip is coming to Denny's 18th birthday celebrations no doubt! Looking forward to getting pissed that night.

Janice is 19 today. She's been a good deal more civil since Stuart Beaumont made a honest woman of her, and I quite like her now.

Ring Judy at about 8.45. She says that Jackie is going to marry the bloke she's been living with for the past fortnight. I laugh at the thought of it. John is quite relieved. Sit in the bath thinking about my next holiday in September. Will John and Sheila approve of me taking Denny to Windsor? They've only got the one spare room. Anyway, I can do no more than ask permission to bed down with the dog in the dining room. Really looking forward to seeing Denny on Wednesday. I expect she will be in love with some Spanish waiter or something.

-==-

Tuesday June 25, 1974

YP all day. Nothing much happens, but I can say that Sarah is growing even more beautiful. I could quite fall for her.

Walk home with Judith Rushworth after reading in the EP that the disturbance on the train this morning was due to the fact that we killed two cows in the Green Bottom Tunnel. Not very pleasant I must say. What the Hell were cows doing roaming through tunnels in Guiseley at rush hour?

At lunchtime I went round Leeds trying to find a Royal Albert teapot to match Mum's tea service which we bought in Windsor. Schofield's had no Royal Albert of any description, and Lewis's had every kind of Royal Albert except for 'Country Roses'. That's life I do suppose.

Home at 6.15. Judy rang at 6.30, and in a roundabout sort of way she wanted to know why I hadn't phoned her last night. The darling said she'd been late due to the fact that she'd waited until 9 o'clock for me to ring her. I asked her out on Friday but she says she's staying in. My future with Miss Beevers look somewhat dim. Do nothing all night. Looking forward to having the day off tomorrow.

-==-

Monday May 20, 1974

Up at 7.30. See Judith Rushworth at Guiseley Train Station and Pamela. J was in hysterics about my list of possible bridegrooms which I drew up last week. She says she'd like to see more. At the YP I discover that Kathleen is on holiday for a week and that Anne is in charge. She is furious. Ray didn't come in last night and all the filing and work is piled up waiting to be done. She rings Ray and his wife informs us that he is ill. I immediately offer my services for night duty and Anne is greatly relieved. Sarah looks beautiful - the week without seeing her has made me realise just how pretty she is. Leave at 9.10 for home, passing Carol on the way. Mum comes in at 1.0 and we have fish and chips for lunch.

Valery Giscard d'Estaing is the President of France - the youngest in one hundred years. No doubt he'll put Wilson in his place about re-negotiating the terms of entry into the Common Market. M. Mitterrand would have been a better president from the Labour government's point of view, but I am glad the right wing managed to scrape through with a victory. Communists presidents are all very well, but not when they are only 22 miles across the English Channel!

Read Anita Leslie's 'Edwardians in Love' and see that 64 years ago this very day King Edward VII was buried at Windsor. I expect that morsel of information thrills you to bits.

YP at 5 (again!). Quiet and pleasant evening, and go for a drink with my racing correspondent friend. Home at 12.15 to find Mum and Dad drinking coffee. Poor Uncle Bert is seriously ill in hospital again and Auntie Eddy rang from Nottingham & was very upset. Poor Sue took the call and it choked her. Mum and Dad are going to see him at the earliest opportunity tomorrow. Mother has said all along that Uncle Bert was far worse than any of us realised and it now seems she is correct. She says they'll amputate his foot, or even his whole leg, within the next few months, and Mum is invariably right.

-==-

Friday May 10, 1974

Wake up at 10.45 with the alarm clock ringing merrily.(Excuse the handwriting but I am sitting up in bed resting the volume on my knees - not a very satisfactory method at all). Doing nothing until Mother comes home for lunch, then she surprises me by saying she is having a driving lesson at 2 - which means this is the second one this week. She gets so nervous about drivming, so much so that she makes everyone else petrified too.

Go to the YP by train at 4.20. Arrive early as all the girls are just leaving. I have a very good night and finish all my routine work by 8.20! Judith Rushworth rings at 9 and we talk for 15 minutes about nothing in particular. I ring Mum but Sue tells me they're out and I joke with her and Lynn for a further quarter of an hour or so.

Read through the Duke of Windsor's file and am especially interested in the abdication period. The poor Duke of York hated the idea of kingship and from newspaper accounts it seems as though the king and his brother finished up deadly enemies. The refusal to give the duchess the style and title of 'HRH' stems from this rivalry. Anyway, I was very glad to see that Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon, now visiting Canada, found time to call on the old Duchess of Windsor, who is visiting New York. Margaret and Edward VIII have a lot in common.

My taxi came at 12 and I was in Wikis at a quarter past. Meet dear Denny at the top of the stairs and she is worried about John, who disappeared about ten minutes before my arrival. I go check the lavatory but he is nowhere to be seen. Have a good deal to drink and have fun with Denny. Judith, the Alfa Romeo girl, comes over and sits with me and I act with great civility considering the way I have been treated. She gives me a lift home and we cry with laughter to see John staggering up the lane at 2.30. Where had he been? I follow him in and discover he'd slept on a wall behind Wikis, after going outside to get some fresh air. A likely tale, but it must be true. Bed at 3am.

-==-

Thursday May 9, 1974

Quite a nice day actually. Poor Judith R was rather downhearted this evening after undergoing a distressing scene at the bank. Anyway, I soon got her out of it, and we had a hysterical walk home. Tomorrow, when I am working nights, I intend compiling a list of eligible bachelors, purely for fun of course, and send it to Judith. The poor girl wants to settle down with a fat account and a peer of the realm, and knowing Judith, she'll do it. Home at 6.30. Dad tells me a good story about Prince Philip. Jim Barton, a local policeman, was on duty at Leeds City Station when the Queen and Prince Philip were in the vicinity; anyway, Barton was standing guard all alone in a siding as the Royal Train slowly pulled out, passing within yards of the PC. Feeling very much embarrassed the policeman stood to attention and saluted. To his amazement the prince, standing at a window and sporting one of his famous grins, raised his hand and thrusted two fingers into the air, leaving poor Barton stunned on the windswept siding. Of course, I don't believe it. It seems very much in character with the prince, but would he do such a thing to a policeman? Besides, one cannot believe anything a bobby says, especially in the Leeds area anyway. See tv in the evening and toy with the idea of ringing Philip Cartwright about the incident last night. Read 'Mrs Fitzherbert' by Anita Leslie. Very good. -==-

Monday May 6, 1974

Holiday in Scotland. Very busy day and feel dog tired. Glad to get home. Mum enjoyed her driving lesson this afternoon and is doing quite well by all accounts. The Queen was in Yorkshire today with the duke, and arrived at RAF Finningley - which is remarkable really because the Royal Family rarely venture into the wilds of South Yorkshire.

See 'Lord Peter Wimsey' at 9.30 - so cleverly portrayed by Ian Carmichael. Bed at 11.30 after seeing 'Emmerdale Farm' trash on YTV. Judith can imitate the lingo perfectly and keeps me in hysterics with her: "Can you smell gas, Dad, or is it me?"

-==-

Wednesday April 17, 1974

Up with the larks at 7. Kathleen works wonders with my new rota at the YP. My first night shift begins tomorrow night at 5 until 12. The company is even to pay my taxi expenses which is a marvellous move. It seems therefore that my luck is in full strength this week. Forsee a lazy day tomorrow with no work until 5. Home with Judith who is very high spirits today. Driving at 6.30 - slightly better on last week though I feel as though I will never make a driver of any good repute at all - this fact is mirrored in the distraught face of the instructor. At 7.30 John says he's going out to the Emmotts, having had a conversation with Chris. I agree to go with him.

Andy, Linda, Christine W, Chris and self make up the party. Quite lively discussion. Conversation ranges from hospitals to cars, Napoleon and Josephine (were they really the great love story everyone, except ITV, makes out?). Christine really seems to loathe John now, and he realises this. Chris was moody again and didn't talk much. Christine, John and self have decided to stop going to the Emmotts. We are quite sick of the place now. Both John and Christine like the Hare and Hounds. Home at 11.30 on bus. Write a 'heart rending' letter to June then decide not to post it. She really does create more chaos with my life than everything else put together. Everyone laughs at my infatuation for her. Chris says she is too immature by far to appreciate my feelings for her. He's probably very correct.

-==-

Thursday April 11, 1974

Up at 9 o'clock. Decide to go with Lynn to the cinema this afternoon. The weather is deteriorating slowly, and by Saturday will shall be six feet under the snow no doubt. British weather never fails to let us down at Bank Holiday time. At 10 I go into Guiseley to get a birthday card for Judith, who is 19 tomorrow - find an amusing one. I make a call at the library and glance at the first volume of the diaries of Bruce-Lockhart, who died in 1970. They seem quite interesting, but I've read Nicolson's diaries for the same period, dealing with the Duke of Windsor, Mrs Simpson, Sybil Colefax and all that lot. Glance at the Times whilst in the library and see that the Earl of Snowdon made his maiden speech in the House of Lords yesterday. He spoke on disabled services or something equally mundane. He didn't make the same mistake as Lord Harewood, who made a very controversial maiden speech on hanging or something. Princess Margaret came to Harrogate today, arriving at Yeadon of course. Unfortuntately, Lynn didn't want to accompany me to Yeadon so I decided not to bother going on my own. Anyway, I only saw Princess Margaret the other month, and she won't have changed very much I do suppose. At 2.15 Lynn and I go with Mama and Papa to Yeadon. They go to Morrison's whilst Lynn and I go to the cinema. See 2 horror films which last until 6.30. Lynn is rather terrified, but I am unmoved. The trouble is that my imagination doesn't begin to work until hours after the film is finished. Horror films are often more gripping in the dead of night. -==-

Wednesday April 3, 1974

Overcast, but warm day. Nothing of any interest happens at the YP, though Anne seems to have given everyone a cold. Carol went round sneezing all afternoon.

Still no word from June, and I'm now feeling quite desperate. My apetite is nearly non-existant, and for four days I've had a terrible sinking feeling in my stomach. At about 5.20 I passed the Bottomley residence on the 33 bus, and saw a pair of June's jeans fluttering in the breeze on Mrs B's little washing line. So, although I've had no word from the darling creature herself, the trousers proved to me, and indeed to everyone who cares to look, that June does actually exist. This is a relief anyway, because for a day or two I have felt that the whole of Saturday evening was a mirage or dream, conjured up by my poor demented brain.

The bus journey made a nice change from the train, which is all very nice, but Judith tends to become slightly overbearing at times.

-==-

Monday January 7, 1974

Interesting day at the YP. Now that I've finished typing I find I can plod along with the work much more efficiently and I find I take more interest in what I'm doing.

See some new pictures to file of Lady Jane Wellesley, and quite an attractive thing she is too. File the obit. of Lord Nunburnholme, who died on New Year's Day. The files will be completely taken over by the peerage before I'm finished.

Poor Chris went to London today for one week on a banking course. The poor blighter will simply dissolve without his usual ale at the Emmotts.

Dave went back to Worcester. He rang late yesterday to see if I was going out - however, I decided to remain indoors. I must remember to write in a few weeks time - he gets horrid fears that we will lose touch completely.

Miss W was in a foul mood today, probably because it's her 60th birthday tomorrow, and she must be feeling older.

Generally a terrible day weather-wise. Rained constantly.

Walk home with Judith, that vivacious creature from Fieldhead Rd. I can't understand how she manages to be so lively.

See tv all evening. Mum and Dad go to Esholt. Retire at 12.15 and have a shower. Bed 1.30.

-==-

Thursday January 3, 1974

Awake feeling terrible. A runny nose, watery eyes, dry throat, blocked ears. Terrible. Stagger to Guiseley for the 8.20 train. See Judith who says I should not have ventured out in my condition. The weather is also terrible. Icy wind and very thick frost. I can feel it getting on to my chest. A nasty cough is round the corner.

Poor Dad spent the day in bed after being horribly sick in the night. The meal at the CW cannot have agreed with his digestive juices. However, Auntie Hilda has also been violently sick recently, but her case can be diagnosed very easily. If you drink an entire bottle of Bacardi you cannot expect to feel bright and breezy for a couple of days. She denies that the drink is the culprit, saying it must have been something she ate at our buffet!

Stagger home from the YP and go early to bed.Decide not to go in tomorrow because I do not intend killing myself for the sake of a cheap little newspaper.

Sit, propped up by pillows, until 8.20 when I fall asleep.

The papers are still full of the Prince of Wales and Lady Jane Wellesley. Somehow I can't see anything coming out of this affair at all. The Mail says Charles is only using her as a cover for Lady Cecil Kerr, a Catholic. I don't know what to think.

-==-

Tuesday November 20, 1973

The coldest morning of the year. I meet Judith, who has been off work since last Monday with a cold. We walked to the train in the icy blasts. After parting from Judith I met Anne on Wellington Street and accompanied her to the office. I also have lunch with her - off pork - and later show her how to file obits and personalities. Carol laughs because I have been lumbered with the new girl, but I don't care. Anyone is better than Janice, who treats me like dirt. See in the EP that 'Barry Mackenzie' is coming to the Leeds Odeon today until Sunday. I must persuade Chris, or anyone, to see it with me - such an hilarious film.Arrive home to find a letter from Dave. I reply immediately. Dad and John are tiling the bathroom, a slow but worthwhile job. Boring evening really. My cols is only worsening. Bed 11.0pm. --==--