Thursday June 5, 1980

_. Hoy again. Ally and I went to Brighton in the afternoon. My first visit to this peculiar resort. We inspected the Royal Pavilion - a remarkable building. We sat on the pebbles eating cheese burgers and chips, ice cream, and cockles and mussels. Nude bathers are allowed on the beach but we saw nothing naughty. It must be quite a painful experience rolling around stark bollock naked in the shingle beneath the pier.

Home at 7 with the intention of visiting Frank, but Bessie says he's far too miserable and has requested that we stay away. I took a leisurely bath.

Out to a few pubs in Winchester and then on to the Berni Inn where Ally and John Pinder's ill-fated loved flourished. As we were leaving the restaurant we bumped into Stan the milkman and his nauseating wife. They were friends when she was with John. We were carried off to a tiny house for coffee. It was obvious that we were taken back to be questioned for information to pass on to Pinder, with whom they are still friends. Pinder is living with Mrs S, and Mr S has taken off with the tart from the newsagent's shop. All very sordid. Home after one.

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Wednesday June 4, 1980

_. Extremely hot. Frank Dixon's operation was a success but only one [kidney] stone was removed. It's Bessie Dixon's 58th birthday. We sat in the garden drinking lager. Ally stormed around like an enraged puma, into the house to avoid the heat, and then out again. I sat in a deckchair beneath a tree observing the dramatic scene with amusement. Bessie told me, in strictest confidence that 'Alison is so like Frank's mother'. She said it with a face full of fear.

Swilling lager reading a women's magazine and an article on the 'idyllic' marriage of the hideous Dai Llewellyn and Vanessa Hubbard.

After a ham salad we went to Winchester. Ally spent her birthday money on oddments for Ash Tree Cottage [alias, 5, Club St]. The shops were the last place I wanted to be. We are so much happier when we have money.

Tonight we went to meet Graham and Gill at the Otter at Otterbourne. Back at 10:30 to the Plough at Itchen Abbas. Midge told Ally that her perm makes her face look 'softer'. I could tell from the moment we walked in that she was thinking of something suitably bitchy to say.

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Tuesday June 3, 1980

_. Hot day. Ally collected me at 5 in a heavily laden car and we headed down the M1 to Northamptonshire. By 7:30 we were in Towcester and in a pub called the Something Old Oak [Brave Old Oak?]. The service was appalling. The bar staff consisted of one long haired paraplegic with a club foot, and he couldn't add up. Our scampi and chips were late and disappointing.

We arrived at Martyr Worthy at about midnight. Frank Dixon is hospitalised some miles away at Chandler's Ford, awaiting for an op for the removal of a kidney stone. We sat with chocolate cake and coffee. I was put in a bedroom with Andrew and we lay awake talking about his activities. Ally, in the next room, could hear us and expressed amazement at the way I can converse with her 'impossible' brother.

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Monday June 2, 1980

_. Out with Ally to [1] the Cow & Calf, [2] the New Inn, and [3] the Drop. Home at 10, I packed up some belongings and piled them into the Spitfire in readiness for our departure for Martyr Worthy tomorrow.

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Sunday June 1, 1980

_. Trinity Sunday

Dave G is worried about the Ibiza holiday and the fact that women are in the party. I have the impression that he thinks this will spoil things. He only ever sees Ally when she is crazy and giving one of her fine 'Mrs Rochester' performances.

At 9:30am Dave G and I took off for Leeds to join the party from the EP making their annual 'father's day' excursion to Blackpool. This party also includes females for the first time, and notable in this field are Sarah, Lynne Bateson, Penny Wark, and Nicola Gould. It was a hot day at the seaside. We lost Sarah and Lynne on our way to the fairground, and Dave and I were with Ken Yeadon and Dave Pitts for the day. I took a dip in the sea, and gashed my leg on a rock, and told everyone I'd been the victim of a shark attack. The bus took us on to Skipton, as tradition dictates, to the Albion at 7:30 and we supped until 10:30 there. Sat with Penny and Paul. We had fun time with a pair of magnetic frogs. We sang ourselves hoarse coming home.

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Saturday May 31, 1980

_. Very wet day. Went with Dave G, Sue and Pete to daub paint on the master bedroom at 23, West End Terrace. We were joined by Chippy and Dave W, and very soon after we escaped to the White Cross for a 'lunch break'. Ally, Sue, Lynn and Dave B didn't appreciate this dereliction of duty. In fact Ally arrived just as we were exiting the house and I greeted her with a 'we're off to the pub'. Back at the house we painted until 6.

Out later to the White Cross and New Inn with Ally, Dave G, Sue, Pete, Dave W and Chippy. Back to Pine Tops at 11:30.

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Friday May 30, 1980

_. A healthy day considering we had the usual disgusting Thursday night. Hot day. Met Dave G from his train at 5:10pm and we walked across town to the Eagle on North St to be the first on the scene for Paul Vallely's farewell party. We crossed the threshold at 5:30 and remained until almost eleven in an assorted company ranging from the sweet Penny Wark to the mercenary, and tarty _______, fresh from a the Halifax Gossip or whatever, and a sordid affair with the exiled Lord Kagan. Spent some time chatting about the village of Dent with Geoff Winter, who was in the company of his common-law niece, Sue Tirpitz. Such a pleasant, drunken night. Onward to Paul's house at 11 with Dave, Penny and her boyfriend Paul, from Southampton. It was good to see Steve Sharp again. We stayed until one and we got a lift to Guiseley with the kindly John MacMurray [the best man Sarah Collis found and gave up]. He gave me a copy of Nasty Media's 'Spiked Copy'.

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