_. Up at 7:30. Glynnie was making one hell of a racket and didn't seem to notice that Sue and I creep around and talked in hushed, monastic tones. We went to Leeds on the train and I said my goodbyes to Dave at 8:30. He toddled off carrying two of the less intelligent morning papers, and I headed to the office. Sarah has resumed normal relations now that I am restored to full health.
I am told that Malcolm Barker's secretary phoned me on Friday afternoon, and so I waited expectantly for a summons to the oval office, but no summons came. Has Geoff Hemingway been singing my praises?
Mother has a septic finger and looking pained. She is seeing a doctor tomorrow.
To bed after watching Barry Norman. Always a joy to behold.
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20200415
20200414
Sunday February 10, 1980
_. Sexagesima
Woke this morning to a dilema. Two clocks stand next to the bed. One clock says it's 9:30 and the other says 12 o'clock. Always optimistic I decide that it is the earlier time, but no, it was noon, and Ally was two hours late for the Belfry.
Downstairs we found Glynnie buried in an encyclopaedia. He'd been improving his mind since about 10. Ally handed him £2 and sent him to the local shop. He returned with cans of soup and bacon. Sue and Pete came down from their 'love-nest' and we all ate. At 3 Dave and I went on to Burley-in-W for food with Lynn and Dave. Lynn was wobbly and Dave sat huddled over his architectural drawing board until 10:30. Poor Lynn really does over do it with the bottle.
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Woke this morning to a dilema. Two clocks stand next to the bed. One clock says it's 9:30 and the other says 12 o'clock. Always optimistic I decide that it is the earlier time, but no, it was noon, and Ally was two hours late for the Belfry.
Downstairs we found Glynnie buried in an encyclopaedia. He'd been improving his mind since about 10. Ally handed him £2 and sent him to the local shop. He returned with cans of soup and bacon. Sue and Pete came down from their 'love-nest' and we all ate. At 3 Dave and I went on to Burley-in-W for food with Lynn and Dave. Lynn was wobbly and Dave sat huddled over his architectural drawing board until 10:30. Poor Lynn really does over do it with the bottle.
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Saturday February 9, 1980
_. How disgusting of Ally to forget to go to her shift at the Belfry yesterday. Fortunately for me I phoned the restaurant to report that she was suffering from gastro-entiritis.
Glynnie, Ally and I crammed into the spitfire and went to Yeadon at lunchtime, Did a bit of shopping and called in at the Crown. Ally could not bring herself to touch alcohol. Then to the White Cross where we met Gus, and later Sue and Pete. Gus is always boisterous and controversial and he managed to offend Ally in the first few minutes of our meeting. He made some ridiculous statements about my expanding girth, euthenasia, and the extremely close relationship between Pete & Chippy, wink, wink, nudge, nudge, &c. So devilish. He is going to Greece soon having arranged to meet a friend at the acropolis. To Pine Tops at 3 to collect a pile of records and then we were off again to Bradford.
At Lidget Green tonight with Lynn, Dave, Sue, Pete, Glynnie, Tim & Jill, all to the Second West pub where we met Dave L., poor dejected lad that he is. He told us his mother had moved out of Tennyson Street today to move in with her lover of ten years, in Otley. Dave went off home at 11 but said he may return tomorrow with the dog.
The party was a bit flat and not a great success. Booze, balloons, and everything. To bed at 6am.
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Glynnie, Ally and I crammed into the spitfire and went to Yeadon at lunchtime, Did a bit of shopping and called in at the Crown. Ally could not bring herself to touch alcohol. Then to the White Cross where we met Gus, and later Sue and Pete. Gus is always boisterous and controversial and he managed to offend Ally in the first few minutes of our meeting. He made some ridiculous statements about my expanding girth, euthenasia, and the extremely close relationship between Pete & Chippy, wink, wink, nudge, nudge, &c. So devilish. He is going to Greece soon having arranged to meet a friend at the acropolis. To Pine Tops at 3 to collect a pile of records and then we were off again to Bradford.
At Lidget Green tonight with Lynn, Dave, Sue, Pete, Glynnie, Tim & Jill, all to the Second West pub where we met Dave L., poor dejected lad that he is. He told us his mother had moved out of Tennyson Street today to move in with her lover of ten years, in Otley. Dave went off home at 11 but said he may return tomorrow with the dog.
The party was a bit flat and not a great success. Booze, balloons, and everything. To bed at 6am.
-=-
20200413
Friday February 8, 1980
_. At 12 I met Glynnie at Leeds Railway Station. Fell flat on my back on the platform. We went to Len's Bar and were joined by Ally at 12:30. We went on the the Central for a 'few more'. Geoff Hemingway was at the bar and he bought us a round of drinks. I think I can thank Lady Doris Vyner for this. Back to the car at 3pm to find a yellow parking ticket firmly affixed - a £4 fine. On to Club Street. Ally went upstairs and collapsed on her crimson bedspread. Minutes later, Glynnie was on his all fours vomiting, head down the lavatory, then he too collapsed onto a bed. I felt quite forlorn surrounded by dying people. Phoned Dave L and invited him to the party tomorrow. Ally and Dave slept until after 8. At 9:30 we drove to Pine Tops. Our dinner was waiting for us, warming in the oven. Only Ally and I ate because Dave staggered up to bed and collapsed, yet again. We went on to Oakwood Hall, pulsating with 15 year-olds, but after an hour we returned home exhausted.
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Thursday February 7, 1980
_. I continue to be riddled with disease and infection, and Sarah continues to run in the opposite direction when I appear.
Saw a Times death notice for Lady Doris Vyner, the Queen Mother's greatest friend, and I think bridesmaid. She's died aged 84. She lived at Studley Royal, near Ripon, but I think handed it to the National Trust in the '40s. I typed some background and handed it to Geoff Hemingway on the EP newsdesk. He snapped it up and an obituary made it into the EP with a photo of Lady Doris and the Queen Mother on the steps at Studley Royal in 1947. Geoff asked me if I intended spending the rest of my life in the library at which I immediately replied: 'Of course not'. He said he would speak to me on this topic later. It's warming to think that some people think there's more to Michael Rhodes than library fodder.
Bit of a disaster this evening. I phoned Auntie Mabel and told her I would journey to Pudsey by train at 5pm, and that I'd meet Ally in Pudsey. I left the YP at 4:45 and climbed onto a train on what I thought was Bradford bound only to discover that I was hurtling towards Dewsbury. In Dewsbury no call boxes were in working order, and so I couldn't alert Auntie M of my delay. I took at train back to Leeds, arriving at 6:30. I know just how frantic Auntie Mabel will be. Aunts are notorious for worrying, and fearing the worst, and I suppose she has me lying dead beneath some rusting rolling stock. I got to my aunt's at 7:45. She howled with laughter. She howled again on the phone to Mum, and on the phone to Ally, who had left and gone to Lynn's. Ally with Lynn and Dave arrived at 8:30, and we dined until 10.
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 |
| Lady Doris and the Queen Mother. |
Bit of a disaster this evening. I phoned Auntie Mabel and told her I would journey to Pudsey by train at 5pm, and that I'd meet Ally in Pudsey. I left the YP at 4:45 and climbed onto a train on what I thought was Bradford bound only to discover that I was hurtling towards Dewsbury. In Dewsbury no call boxes were in working order, and so I couldn't alert Auntie M of my delay. I took at train back to Leeds, arriving at 6:30. I know just how frantic Auntie Mabel will be. Aunts are notorious for worrying, and fearing the worst, and I suppose she has me lying dead beneath some rusting rolling stock. I got to my aunt's at 7:45. She howled with laughter. She howled again on the phone to Mum, and on the phone to Ally, who had left and gone to Lynn's. Ally with Lynn and Dave arrived at 8:30, and we dined until 10.
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Wednesday February 6, 1980
_. Went in to the YP despite a streaming cold. Sarah refused to talk to me because of my snivelling. I oozed throughout the day.
Later: watched TV and drugged myself up with paracetamol and took Frankie Howerd's autobiography up to bed. 'On the Way I lost it'. It's a real tale of woe and degradation. We do take our great comedians for granted, don't we? We seldom think of the struggle that such people as Frankie endure to get to the top of the pile. Sitting in bed with my Lem-sip and pills.
Her Majesty succeeded to the throne 28 years ago today. Now that Queen Juliana of the Netherlands has announced her intention to abdicate in April I wonder whether such ideas are circulating in Queen Elizabeth's head? It has become a tradition in Holland for the monarch to abdicate but we do things quite differently here. Abdication reeks of Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson and is therefore entirely repugnant to our monarch. The Prince of Wales wouldn't want the throne yet.
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Later: watched TV and drugged myself up with paracetamol and took Frankie Howerd's autobiography up to bed. 'On the Way I lost it'. It's a real tale of woe and degradation. We do take our great comedians for granted, don't we? We seldom think of the struggle that such people as Frankie endure to get to the top of the pile. Sitting in bed with my Lem-sip and pills.
Her Majesty succeeded to the throne 28 years ago today. Now that Queen Juliana of the Netherlands has announced her intention to abdicate in April I wonder whether such ideas are circulating in Queen Elizabeth's head? It has become a tradition in Holland for the monarch to abdicate but we do things quite differently here. Abdication reeks of Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson and is therefore entirely repugnant to our monarch. The Prince of Wales wouldn't want the throne yet.
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Tuesday February 5, 1980
_. Phoned Ally at 7:40 and let it ring for ages until she picked up. I managed to eat two slices of toast waiting. To Leeds with Jim R at 7:45. We left early because Jennie is sitting an exam to gain entry to the Leeds Girls' High School. She'll pass, of course.
Phoned Jill [Gadsby] this evening to invite them to Ally's on Saturday. Received a letter from precious Allykins, and spent a couple of hours this evening concocting a reply on Papa's Victorian typewriter.
In other news: Lady Evelyn Beauchamp [pronounced 'Beacham'], last survivor of the four who opened the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922, has passed on. Has the notorious curse finally caught up with her after 60 years?
Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg has visited to the Pope to seek his approval to become a Freemason. Roman Catholics are very wary of this organisation.
Mum and Dad went out at 7:30 to see Lynn. I sat snuffling into a handkerchief until 11.
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Phoned Jill [Gadsby] this evening to invite them to Ally's on Saturday. Received a letter from precious Allykins, and spent a couple of hours this evening concocting a reply on Papa's Victorian typewriter.
In other news: Lady Evelyn Beauchamp [pronounced 'Beacham'], last survivor of the four who opened the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922, has passed on. Has the notorious curse finally caught up with her after 60 years?
Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg has visited to the Pope to seek his approval to become a Freemason. Roman Catholics are very wary of this organisation.
Mum and Dad went out at 7:30 to see Lynn. I sat snuffling into a handkerchief until 11.
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