Sunday July 7, 1974

No doubt you've already decided that Miss Bottomley wouldn't keep her appointment at the Emmotts tonight, which we more or less decided upon on the evening of June 30. Well, you're quite correct in your assumption. The ruthlessness of that female beggars belief.

John and I go to the Emmotts at 8. See Keith who remarks upon the fact that we rarely go out on Sundays. He disagrees with our plans to change the date of the party to Saturday. We leave him standing at the bar, staring down the blouse of the barmaid, who I think is a new fixture in the Emmotts, not having had the pleasure before now. Joined by Bruno, who dislikes this nickname intensely, and dear Carol and Christine W. Chris of course comes very late. Leave the E at 9.30 having decided that June and Susan were not going to honour us with their presence. Hell, I must rid myself of this infatuation for a female on whom I have not laid hands in 11 months!

Go to the Commercial at Esholt: very nice evening. Carol is a darling and quite shows poor CW up. Move back to the Station on Henshaw Lane. Never been here before, but find it very interesting. Chris brings John and I back to Harry Ramsden's where we partake of fish and chips which are much improved on last time. Home at 11.30. Loathe Sunday evenings.

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Saturday July 6, 1974

To Leeds with John and Chris in Mr Ratcliffe's small, though efficient automobile. Spend the whole afternoon idling around the shops - none of us actually buying anything, though you can't say we didn't try. The three of us joined finances in purchasing 12 Sobranie Black Russian cigarettes - 37p or thereabouts! Rather a scandalous price, but worth it entirely. Also buy a copy of 'Landslide' by Tony Clarke, a smashing record, recorded in 1967 - it reminds me of Wikis. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVkAEQUeGlE To the Hare and Hounds again. Dave says he hates the places but doesn't actually refuse to go. See Linda West with the same old boyfriend she picked up in the Spring of '73. I expect she'll be tying him down for life. We all move on to the Black Horse at Askwith - sit in the beer garden - where David and John have the usual brawl. Everyone picks on John and he can't say anything without people rolling around in near hysterics. Back to Pine Tops for coffee made by Linda S and Christine W, and a record session. They all go at 12 and I see the tv until 2am. Dave and Chris have got on perfectly throughout, though I do suppose ___will have harsh words to say to David when he learns of this treachery, etc. Even Dave agrees that on the return of the 'Jet Set' from Spain he will be banned from seeing us until Christmas at least. -==-

Friday July 5, 1974

Blimey, you ought to see Guiseley Railway Station since it's been 'done up' for the great event next Wednesday. After all, it isn't every day that His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, KG, etc, etc, arrives on the platform of our small, yet cosy station. It would be interesting to discover when the last royal visit to our neighbourhood took place.

To the Hare and Hounds with Dave Lawson at about 8. (John too, of course). All the gang join us. Move to the Yorkshire Rose, a pub that I do not like, but John says that the ale is exceptional. I haven't yet acquired a taste for the stuff yet (joke).

Everyone goes to Wikis except Dave, who receives unfavourable reports from his sister. See Andy Dale, who is no longer at Loughborough College of Ed - very pleasant chap. Gets very __at about 1.15 - Carol, Bruno, Christine W and Chris having gone. Peter Mather is hardly the sort of person to sit holding hands with across a candlelit table, if you know what I mean, and John takes the initiative to leave before the closing hour. A lovely warm evening. Home at, on, or in the region of, 2am.

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Thursday July 4, 1974

Restless night really, though I managed to sleep until after 11am. Lynn comes up and sits on my bed talking about holidays - she goes to Spain a week tomorrow and her excitement is very obvious. When I see Lynn it brings home the truth in the theory that girls mature a lot quicker than boys. When I was her age, 16, I was ridiculously childish. Lynn is now the equal of any 18 or 19 yr old male, and I'm quite proud that she's my sister.

It is very ironic that my 'love life' is the way it is. The girl whom I desire more than anyone else wants nothing whatsoever to do with me, and on the other hand an attractive, wealthy girl thinks the sun shines out of my backside, and I neither want her, or neither feel fond of her. Miss June Bottomley wants a large, friendly kick in the right place.

My namesake, Prince Michael, celebrates his 32nd birthday today.

Still no word from Denny, holidaying on the Continent until July 10. Denny certainly promised to send her opinion of the place (amongst other things) and I can't imagine what has caused the delay. However, Lynn didn't get a postcard from Mrs Grandison until they'd been home from Ibiza for 8 days! Can't really see the point in sending letters from abroad if you are going to arrive home first.

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Wednesday July 3, 1974

Wake up at 9 still not feeling really fit and Mother rings the doctor in order that something can be done to bring back my apetite. Anyway, Kathleen will need a doctors note dated today, because one is only allowed 2 days sick leave without official notification from the local witch doctor. By lunchtime we still have no word from the fool, and so we settle down to a meal and have no desire to eat it. The doctor came at about 2.15 - a nice chap, Dr Jacques, and he diagnoses food poisoning. We can't go back to work until Monday and we have to take it easy. Hell, the bedroom stinks like a mortuary or something equally obnoxious - all visitors turn up their noses on entering the room. Poor Mum keeps trying to kill the reek of vomit with a perfumed spray but this fails to achieve anything.

See more World Cup soccer on tv in the evening. Who cares whether Bulgaria or Bratislava manages to qualify for the fifth round of this stupid tournament?

Ring Chris. He didn't know Andy and Linda had been struck down. He's going out tonight. Also ring Andy, who is in the bath, but Keith speaks to me whilst Andy wallows.

See a good play starring Celia Johnson - a very good actress - and the play had a good story which ended where you expected it to end and not slap bang in the middle of one of the scenes, like so many modern plays tend to do.

Oh, aren't I a bloody awful diarist? Who the Hell wants to know the mundane circumstances of everyday life in the nasty, boring mid-1970s.

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Tuesday July 2, 1974

Wake up at nearly 5am. The sun is rising over the Chevin, and the whole room is filled with a beautious glow. Don't feel well, and fall back into a deep, deep sleep. Lynn wakes John and I at 11 when Andy pays a call on us both. He looks really ill. Hear that poor Linda collapsed while speaking to her parents on the phone, and it seems she was the first to go down with it, Sunday night being the start of the plague. After the half hour visit Andy leaves with: "are you going out for a drink tonight?" I almost go hysterical. Lay drowsily listening to the radio until 5. Force down some steak, but do not enjoy it. My apetite is still unaccounted for.

Sit in the armchair till just before 10 then go to bed. Oh, I nearly forgot. Judy rang at 9 and before I could say anything she told me she'd been ill since yesterday with chronic sickness, wobbly knees, etc. Aaaarrgghhh...it's spreading like the plague....

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Monday July 1, 1974

Dominion Day, Canada. Wake at 6am with the feeling that I am about to vomit. Lay perfectly still, hand clasped over my mouth until 7. Up at 8.30 and discharge the whole of yesterdays consumption of food and drink. Sick again at 10. Try to sleep until lunch but cannot because of the acute pain. Dad rings the YP and tells them that I will not be in today. Spend a lousy afternoon laying in a semi-coma under my voluminous bedding. Get up at 6 and sit shivering in a chair until 9.30, drinking arrowroot. Andy rings and says that Linda collapsed on Sunday night and is now in the college sick-bay. Andy himself had the day off work today due to sickness, and four work-mates who were also at Saturdays party are also ill. I now realise we've all been poisoned. Either metal polish in the punch or powdered arsenic in the sandwiches, I don't know, but whatever it was, it's been bloody well effective.

List of victims:
Michael rhodes
John Rhodes
Andrew Graham
Linda Smith.

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Sunday June 30, 1974

3rd after Trinity. Lovely day. Mr and Mrs Gadsby and family come at tea time - very surprising, and they seem quite normal and not at all bitchy, vile, disgusting and degrading. Arrange to go to the Emmotts at 8.30. See Lorraine, June's friend, on the bus, who says that she will be in the Emmotts with Sue Bottomley. June is there and is a picture of beauty. I sit with her until 9.30, when Judy comes - looking very attractive indeed, but she is totally eclipsed by the shining beauty of Miss June Bottomley. Never will I forget the bright yellow dress and brown necklace. Judy doesn't like my company and she brings me home at 10. Sit in the car outside Pine Tops until about 11. Chris brings John home and he tells me that when they went back to the Emmotts at 10.15, June, Lorraine and Susan promised to come to my party on July 12. No doubt June thinks she is saved from the hazzards of my passion because I am going out with someone else - Oh, how wrong she is! No one can take the place of Miss Bottomley in my heart - not even the wealthy landowning ladies of the Bradford suburbs. Supper with the Gadsbys. Bed at 12.


"She" by that French chappie.

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Saturday June 29, 1974

Up at 9.30 when Dad makes me a coffee, but I don't drink it and fall back to sleep until 11.15. Only Lynn and I are home for lunch with Mummy and Daddy - a 'bit of nice steak' which is cooked too perfectly for an iliterate editorial librarian to recount. Go to a party in Baildon with good old Dave, who rang at 7.30, and of course Andy, Linda and Chris. Get rather kettled with the strong punch, and Dave brings John and me home at 3am. Before the party we went to the Hare, then the Fox & Hounds. Very enjoyable evening, and it was nice seeing Dave again. -==-

Friday June 28, 1974

Ruddy awful day. Up with the early birds and go to the YP in high spirits. Not at all nervous about the ensuing fatal driving test. Have fish and chips at the Albion Fisheries then come home to revise the 'Highway Code' in more detail. Harry picks me up at 2.30 and I have an hour-long lesson in the Horsforth area. Back to the test station which looks official and terrifying, silhouetted against the dark, thundery, stormy summer sky. The chief examiner, a Mr Halliday, gets in the car with me and the test begins at 3.30. Terrible. Half an hour of embarrassing mistakes and idiotic manoeuvering. Back to the test station at 4 in drizzle and rain. Failed. Ah well, better luck next time. Harry comes home with me for tea and everyone offers sympathy.

Ring Marita, who sent me and John 'Good Luck' cards this morning. She offers her commiserations and says that I probably failed because it is the last working day in June, and they have a certain number of people to fail, etc.

Go to the Hare and Hounds at 8. All the gang come. Meet Judy at 9.30. We stay at the Hare before moving on to Wikis, where the three of us, John, Judy and I, spend a pleasant evening. Home at 1.30 and Judy and I stand leaning against the car and discussing all manner of things. Bed at 2. Judy is certainly a lot nicer without Jackie, who can be very overpowering.

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Thursday June 27, 1974

(No diary entry. But a family tree of the Royal House of Windsor in my own hand.)

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