Tuesday April 10, 1973

Go to school on the 8.30 bus. Go straight into the corner booth and continue with my Napoleon III essay and do not move until 11.45. June keeps making fleeting appearances but is otherwise kept busy by Mrs Telford in the FE Department. At 11.30 after finishing 20 sides of Napoleon III I begin my Suez esssay which I finish precisely at 11.45 - how's that for knocking on! Mrs Lane comes across and goes through my essays. I am the only one to have completed the two. She likes them both but thinks that I am too kind to Napoleon III. She doesn't believe he did anything for the working classes, but I rather think he was a hard-working bloke, not as mysterious as Napoleon I. Go down to lunch at 12.30. At 1.50 Mrs Lane begins once again on my essays. She laughed at the comment made by Randolph Churchill that no aspect of the Suez Crisis can be considered until one remembers that "Sir Anthony Eden was a very sick man at the time." We also argued that Eden did not "fall" as Churchill says in his "Rise and Fall of Sir Anthony Eden". Eden never fell. He simply resigned his post as Premier. June gave me a wonderful photograph of herself taken by her brother-in-law. She looks really terrific. Mum says she looks serene and Sue said she was the image of Queen Victoria in her youth. June wouldn't like to hear that. What an insult to a rabid Marxist. Went to work at 7.30. Quite busy. Sue asks me to work on Thursday. I said I would. I must be raving mad! -==-

Monday April 9, 1973

Got up at nearly 8 o'clock. After breakfast I went to Leeds on the 9 o'clock 55 bus. Arrived at 10 and spent half an hour walking around trying to find the place of my intended x-ray. Cross the threshold of Leeds radiography centre at 10.30. A nasty, authoritarian bitch asks me to take my jacket off and stand in front of a screen pulling my shoulders out of their sockets in the process. She tells me to take a deep breath and then flees the room. Forcing me back into my clothes she shouts "next" and I find myself out in the brilliant sunshine again after only 2 minutes inside.

Being an intelligent person I brought Auntie Mabel's gift voucher with me. I made my way to Boots where I bought the BBC 50 years commemorative LP. It costs me £3.75, but my voucher helps towards the cost. Got a 35 bus at 11.15. Home for 12 - just in time for lunch with Mum and Dad who like my new record very much. I played the entire record which takes us to 1.45.

Mum suggests I stay at home this afternoon to complete my essay on Napoleon III - which I do. After 15 sides of paper and three arguments with Dad I find that is 4.30. No matter what Dad says - even utter rubbish - he can make it seem perfectly correct. He ought to have been a university lecturer. We argued about the Duke of Argyll living in France and only coming back to Britain for free medical assistance. All I can say is: well, it's a free democracy and people should have the right to come and go whenever they please. However, Dad hates the idea of people sciving off paying taxes. Anyway, the Duke of Argyll died yesterday which only goes to show that the national health system is out-moded and useless.

June rang at 7 thinking I must have contracted a malignant tumour after being x-rayed - very sweet and amusing of her.

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Sunday April 8, 1973

Passion Sunday. The Foreign Secretary, Sir Alec "Rabbit" Douglas-Home, yesterday carried out an attack almost Palmerstonian in its nature and somewhat like Eden's Suez rumpus way back in the '50s. He sent a letter repremanding Smith, the Rhodesian chief, or more commonly known as Adolf Hitler II. Evidently, Smith has jailed one of our news correspondents for apparently no known reason. Sir Alec's note expresses the feelings of horror and humiliation felt by the British public. The only message I have for Sir Alec is: 'You may be a bit vague and old fashioned, but we love you. Send in the troops and bring back good old British rule to this sad, misguided pin-prick of a nation stuck out in the jungles of hot, sticky Africa.'

It was on the evening news at 6pm that Picasso, the world famous artist, has died at his home in France. I have never liked his work but he is a legend in his own right and he will go down in history with all the other great artists.

What a day it has been. It is now 6.15pm and I am sitting in the lounge watching a blinding snow storm unfold outside. For any of the people who deny that the world is heading towards its second ice age I can always say: "You ought to have been in Guiseley on April 8, 1973 and you would have been converted." One would think it is January.

Dave rang me at about 5.45 and he is coming to pick me up in the car at 7.45. He and I and the delightful June will be getting together at the Emmotts as usual. Somehow, the thought of having to walk down the lane in these weather conditions is intolerable. Thank the Lord Dave passed his driving test.

Alison has been here all afternoon watching the TV with us. Mum and Dad went down to South Yorkshire at about 3 and on my arrival back from the Emmotts at 11.15 they are still out. Due to the freak weather conditions I am worried about the whereabouts of Mum and Dad. But Dad is a very competent driver and has never had a bump or mishap.

Dave came for me at 7.45 and even the bad weather did not affect his good driving. June and Linda with L's new boyfriend came about 10 minutes later. He is a very quiet chap. Unlike the late Graham. They leave for the Peacock pub at about 9 o'clock. Snow is terrible. June and I go out to get the buses at 10.30 - Dave having gone to meet his Dad in Leeds. I felt very cold. June is so wonderful. Bus comes at 10.50. Home by 11.15. Watch television with John until close-down. He goes to bed. Mum and Dad are home at 1.30.

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Saturday April 7, 1973

After breakfast I went into Bradford with the £2 gift voucher from Auntie Mabel and Uncle Jack, etc. I intended buying the 50th celebration recording of the BBC, but Boots did not have it. Instead, I went to the Library where I met Michael Attenborough in the History Room. We both stood for about half an hour looking for something suitable on the Suez Crisis 1956. Very little was to be had. However, I did manage to lay my hands on a volume of Harold Nicolson's diaries and letters which covered the Eden administration. Nicolson was obviously a brilliant writer, but he approaches his diaries in a somewhat peculiar way, for example: where I would say "Sue went at 2 o'clock, and John came in moody at half past 3", he says: "The Queen dies at 10.20am and Winston announces it to the House in sobs at 10.40". Almost as though he's writing his diary there and then as the events occur! Most unusual.

Came home at 3.30 and had a late lunch. Went into the lounge and watched the annual Oxford-Cambridge boat race on tv. Cambridge won for the 4th year running and Oxford were 12 lengths behind at the end. Poor Blighters. Watched "Dr Who". Had tea at 6.30 and made a mad dash down Thorpe Lane to be at the Chuck Wagon for 7. Sue and Toffer spent the largest part of the evening arguing with one another - Pauline and I merely looked on. We were not too busy for a saturday night. Sue R had her hair tied up in some kind of head scarfe - and resembled some peasant from the French Revolution - really very amusing. We were home by 1.15. Lynn and Susan were still out babysitting, and I sat reminiscing until they came in at 1.45.

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Friday April 6, 1973

Got up at 7.30. In the morning mail I got a birthday card from Auntie Hilda, Uncle Tony and the girls. Due to the fact that I am now 18 years-old Auntie Hilda has decided to drop the prefix 'aunt' and be known henceforward as Hilda, a move I find distasteful and unnecessary. My attaining my majority or coming of age is no excuse for her to discard historic etiquette in such a way. I will always call her "Auntie Hilda" whether she likes it or not.

We had a bomb scare at school today. We were congregating in the common-room for a lecture on drugs, when the siren/alarm-bells went off. The whole school met in a conglomorate mass on the soccer field. Very amusing. The whole farce lasted about 35 minutes. Several cop cars came but nothing happened. June had to break off from a Biology CSE exam. Hardly fair is it?

At 3 we began listening to the lecture on drugs. He was a very interesting man from Bradford University and he turned what could easily have been a dreadfully boring lecture into a pleasant and useful talk. Groves seemed most impressed.

June and I stood at my bus stop in Rawdon in a deluge of rain and hail. When we make any attempt to kiss or cuddle up together (mainly as a means of gaining shelter and heat) some filthy van load of workers with full wage packets and grinning faces are halted at the traffic lights and they make rude and generally vulgar remarks from the windows. June thinks it's funny but I find such behaviour crude. I am probably a snob.

Work was uneventful.

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Thursday April 5, 1973

What a day my 18th birthday has been! At 7.35 I went down to breakfast to find several cards and an interesting looking little box. On opening it I find a cheque for £18 from Mum and Dad. No card from Auntie Hilda but a £2 gift voucher from Auntie Mabel and Uncle Jack. Lynn and Sue gave me £3.

At school June gave me a little parcel, but was too embarrassed to stay and watch me open it. It was a Parker pen. How sweet and lovable of her. We kept my birthday a secret until lunchtime when Benita congratulated me in front of a massive and brutal mob. My fate was sealed. That afternoon they (the mob) held me down whilst Louise (Bless her) rubbed eye mascara all over my face. Tim Wallis and Malcolm Thomas then ducked me in the boys sinks. Quite refreshing!
Worse was to come. At 4 o'clock Tim and the lads tied me up with a greasy old tow-rope - which made a mess of my new Oxford bags. They then tried to take me (by carrying) out of the room but June and Christine caused a blockade. After failking to get me out of the window they gave in, and Tim patted me on the back and made a comment about June being very loyal, which was emphasised by her struggle to save me from further humiliations.

On my arrival home I was taken out to an unknown destination, which proved to be the Chuck Wagon. How surprising! It was a really fabulous meal. We were there until 11. Sue and Toffer can certainly keep a secret. The bill came to nearly £20. Not bad for 6 dinners. Mum thought that Sue and Toffer were such nice folk. Sue R tells me she has bought a horse for £300 called Polo. She's over the moon.

Came home at 11 and opened the gancia which nearly blew a hole in the ceiling. Retired to bed at midnight. We have enjoyed the day immensely. My t-bone steak was a perfect sealer to the days chain of surprises.

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Wednesday April 4, 1973

Uncle Peter 44. Am still reading Brooke's "King George III". Mrs Lane browsed through it this morning. She says that the diagnosis of the king's illness is over emphasised. She said: "what does it matter whether he was mad or had porphyria. It had the same effects." This may be true but I think the historians account of our loosing the American colonies was due to the insanity of George III is wrong. In reality it was the bad handling of events by the politicians who lost Britain her American colonies. Mrs Lane thinks I am mad for reading such "gossipy" books.

June and I had intended going out tonight but she is bogged down with her History and English projects at the moment. Anyway, a repeat of Monty Python's Flying Circus is on the television tonight and although I would do anything for June, missing my favourite tv programme is a bit too much to ask at this early stage. After all, we aren't even engaged yet.

My polling card came in the post today. I am now eligible to vote in the local elections on April 12. The question now arises: "Who should I vote for?" My mind is made up one way. I will never vote Labour, but the Liberals may be able to do something worthwhile. My first choice will of course be Conservative. Also in the post came my long awaited note from the medical officer. My entry into college depends on my passing the medical which is also on April 12. But as I told Groves today, I fail everything at least 3 times. He just laughed and walked out of the room. Before my actual medical I have to go for a chest X-ray in Leeds, and this is Monday April 9 at 10am. Next week is going to be a busy one.

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