Wake up on the sofa at 10.0 o'clock. Andy sleeps in the chair near the stereo. Andy is still in pain with his ankle but we laugh about it.Dave crawls downstairs 10 minutes later and is surprised to see Andy's ankle in a bandage. We tell him the story. He laughs it off & then goes home.
Because of the calamity Andy failed to get up at 8.0am for his trip to Aintree car racing - therefore, in order to avoid the wrath of his parents, we spend the day at Chris's - he goes out to work at 1.0pm. Poor Marita came at 1.30 with Dandy Doodles - Chris's mongrel, and in his excitment (DD's that is) he suddenly jerked Marita off the top step, and in the violent move she tore the heels from both her shoes. Kindly, she takes John and I home at 2.0. Andy, looking terribly bedraggled, falls onto the sofa and sleeps for nearly 2 hours. Mum and the girls come in and are surprised to see us. She (Mum) doesn't go berserk when we tell her we are to spend tonight out on the town again.
Leave again for Horsforth after 6. Andy and Chris are smoking like hell in the dining room. We laugh about eggs. They had chips (again) for tea. Dave comes at 7 o'clock. We go to the Fleece. Maggie Edwards sits with her lover in the corner. Say hello. Christine W and Linda S arrive at 8.30. See Liz Richardson who goes to college next week - poor creature.
At 10.30 we go to MMs - whose parents went to Ibiza tonight for 2 weeks. Andy goes home at 11.30. MM gets disgustingly drunk. Sit talking until 2.30am. Listen to 'Fog on the Tyne' by Lindisfarne and drop off to sleep at 2.45. I sleep in a chair.
--==--
20090428
Friday September 14, 1973
Awake at 7.30. Everyone leaves at 9.0 either for work or school. Uncle H going back to Wakefield.
I sit preparing my monarchy discussion until 11.30. Get the bus to school arriving at 12. I argue with Stott about funerals and the whole subject of people dying - he really is an uncultured brat.
Later: Christine and I hold our 6th form debate on the monarchy. Everyone dissolves when I say that the monarchy is good value for money compared with, say, the advertising for Kraft cheese slices - on which £7m per annum is spent. We cannot look at the monarchy is terms of tax payers money.
Later: John and I go to Chris's again. Find Andy preparing Chris's evening meal. Evidently, poor Chris is going on a pub crawl from work so before he even joins us he'll be stoned out of his tiny mind.
Another drunken escapade follows in the Fleece and we arrive back at Chris's house at 10.30 - after buying about 20 pints of beer at an off-licence. Very much like last Friday but minus Christine and Philip. Andy and I get awfully pissed and we both go buy some cigs at the machine outside Grandways at 4.30am. Whilst leaping over the large concrete plantpots Andy falls and hurts his ankle. I carry him back to Chris's - against his will. Chris and I bandage him up and then Chris makes John and I eggs and chips. Fall to sleep soundly until the following morning. Dave, the lucky blighter, was in a warm bed. I had the floor.
--==--
I sit preparing my monarchy discussion until 11.30. Get the bus to school arriving at 12. I argue with Stott about funerals and the whole subject of people dying - he really is an uncultured brat.
Later: Christine and I hold our 6th form debate on the monarchy. Everyone dissolves when I say that the monarchy is good value for money compared with, say, the advertising for Kraft cheese slices - on which £7m per annum is spent. We cannot look at the monarchy is terms of tax payers money.
Later: John and I go to Chris's again. Find Andy preparing Chris's evening meal. Evidently, poor Chris is going on a pub crawl from work so before he even joins us he'll be stoned out of his tiny mind.
Another drunken escapade follows in the Fleece and we arrive back at Chris's house at 10.30 - after buying about 20 pints of beer at an off-licence. Very much like last Friday but minus Christine and Philip. Andy and I get awfully pissed and we both go buy some cigs at the machine outside Grandways at 4.30am. Whilst leaping over the large concrete plantpots Andy falls and hurts his ankle. I carry him back to Chris's - against his will. Chris and I bandage him up and then Chris makes John and I eggs and chips. Fall to sleep soundly until the following morning. Dave, the lucky blighter, was in a warm bed. I had the floor.
--==--
Thursday September 13, 1973
Grandfather's send off. Go to Benton Park in the morning and come home at 12.0. Mother, Dad and I leave for Pudsey to collect grandfather's oldest friend, Joe Dickinson. He seems upset when he gets in the car, and Dad diplomatically keeps him talking to prevent him dwelling on the sadness. Arrive at Liversedge, or was it Heckmondwike (?) at 1.30. The four of us go for a coffee. See Uncle Harry at 1.45.
The day is somewhat cold and overcast and the five of us go into the local park in order to kill time before 2.30. Auntie Janet comes running into the park to tell us that Auntie Jadwega is coming on the bus (from Nottingham) to Heckmondwike, where we can then meet her. By 2.30 she is still nowehere to be seen. We can do nothing but leave for the chapel of rest without her. Uncle Joe, Auntie Ethel, Jeremy and Janet and young Nicholas are coming down the street with Uncle John and Auntie Sheila. Arrive chapel for brief prayers. Grandma, looking very brave, with her sons, arrives. Thus, we are all assembled. Still no Auntie Jadwega.
Go to the crematorium, where Auntie Dorothy is waiting. No Uncle Les or family. Terrible service - the Salvation Army. It's not as though I have any prejudice against the Salvation Army, but they made it such a theatrical affair. It's not as if Grandfather ever possessed a tamborine. The cremation was terrible. All ultra-modern and repulsive.
It appealed very much to my sense of humour when, at the end, a hymn came on the record player and the curtains were drawn across the coffin. Somewhat like a Dave Allen sketch on tv. One cannot beat a good traditional burial. Auntie Janet was screaming at the end.
Leave at 3.10 for Grandma's at Nelson St, Liversedge, where about 20 members of the Rhodes family are gathered. Auntie Dorothy went immediately home of course. Pandemonium! Auntie Jadwega arrived in a taxi at 3.15 - all in black with a massive black umberella. (She's the Polish-born wife of Dad's brother, Uncle Bert). She was very distressed of having missed the funeral of her father-in-law. Still half in and half out of the taxi she was shouting in her thick Polish accent: "Oh I could cry. We go first to Wakefield, then to Barnsley Oh so slowly. I vos so mad." The noise she was making had everybody out on the street and Grandma with Auntie Janet came to investigate. She bounded from the car and embraced Grandma. "Oh I am so fumigated!" (I think she meant to say she was 'fuming' with rage and not fumigated.) Poor Auntie Eddy (her nickname) had come all the way from Nottingham only to remain at Grandma's for 10 minutes, clutching her big umberella between her massive knees. I think she must be 16st.
Anyway, I hope she really didn't mean 'fumigated' or else our house is lousy today. I may joke, but I love her really. Leave at 3.45. Take poor Joe Dickinson home and bring Auntie Jadwega back to Pine Tops for tea. Spend a quiet night. Mum is being experimented on by Aunt Jadwega, who is a masseuse.
After Dad had taken Eddy for her train at 8 he went out for a drink with Mum and Uncle Harry, my favourite uncle on Dad's side of the family. They came home at 12.0. with loads of drink, and we all sat until 2am. Uncle H stayed the night.
What a day!
--==--
The day is somewhat cold and overcast and the five of us go into the local park in order to kill time before 2.30. Auntie Janet comes running into the park to tell us that Auntie Jadwega is coming on the bus (from Nottingham) to Heckmondwike, where we can then meet her. By 2.30 she is still nowehere to be seen. We can do nothing but leave for the chapel of rest without her. Uncle Joe, Auntie Ethel, Jeremy and Janet and young Nicholas are coming down the street with Uncle John and Auntie Sheila. Arrive chapel for brief prayers. Grandma, looking very brave, with her sons, arrives. Thus, we are all assembled. Still no Auntie Jadwega.
Go to the crematorium, where Auntie Dorothy is waiting. No Uncle Les or family. Terrible service - the Salvation Army. It's not as though I have any prejudice against the Salvation Army, but they made it such a theatrical affair. It's not as if Grandfather ever possessed a tamborine. The cremation was terrible. All ultra-modern and repulsive.
It appealed very much to my sense of humour when, at the end, a hymn came on the record player and the curtains were drawn across the coffin. Somewhat like a Dave Allen sketch on tv. One cannot beat a good traditional burial. Auntie Janet was screaming at the end.
Leave at 3.10 for Grandma's at Nelson St, Liversedge, where about 20 members of the Rhodes family are gathered. Auntie Dorothy went immediately home of course. Pandemonium! Auntie Jadwega arrived in a taxi at 3.15 - all in black with a massive black umberella. (She's the Polish-born wife of Dad's brother, Uncle Bert). She was very distressed of having missed the funeral of her father-in-law. Still half in and half out of the taxi she was shouting in her thick Polish accent: "Oh I could cry. We go first to Wakefield, then to Barnsley Oh so slowly. I vos so mad." The noise she was making had everybody out on the street and Grandma with Auntie Janet came to investigate. She bounded from the car and embraced Grandma. "Oh I am so fumigated!" (I think she meant to say she was 'fuming' with rage and not fumigated.) Poor Auntie Eddy (her nickname) had come all the way from Nottingham only to remain at Grandma's for 10 minutes, clutching her big umberella between her massive knees. I think she must be 16st.
Anyway, I hope she really didn't mean 'fumigated' or else our house is lousy today. I may joke, but I love her really. Leave at 3.45. Take poor Joe Dickinson home and bring Auntie Jadwega back to Pine Tops for tea. Spend a quiet night. Mum is being experimented on by Aunt Jadwega, who is a masseuse.
After Dad had taken Eddy for her train at 8 he went out for a drink with Mum and Uncle Harry, my favourite uncle on Dad's side of the family. They came home at 12.0. with loads of drink, and we all sat until 2am. Uncle H stayed the night.
What a day!
--==--
20090427
Wednesday September 12, 1973
I am really sick of school. I cannot work or think straight. History is all muddled and I do not care whether I pass an examination ever again or not. My love for June shadows all other things. How will I ever come to terms with the fact that I will never see her again? I have no money either. What a terrible state I am in.
Later: Chris rings me and asks me to go round to finish the 'spare' beer off which is surplus from the party last Saturday._____________(censored). Marita arrived and sat with me all evening. Andy and I nearly choked over a joke which is far too obscene to record here in my diary, however I will record it leaving out some letters from the dirty word:
'Mary had a little pig,
She couldn't stop it gruntin'
So she stood it up against a wall,
and kicked it's little c_nt in.'
John and I got the 32 bus at 11.20 with Andy and arrive home exactly at 12.
--==--
Later: Chris rings me and asks me to go round to finish the 'spare' beer off which is surplus from the party last Saturday._____________(censored). Marita arrived and sat with me all evening. Andy and I nearly choked over a joke which is far too obscene to record here in my diary, however I will record it leaving out some letters from the dirty word:
'Mary had a little pig,
She couldn't stop it gruntin'
So she stood it up against a wall,
and kicked it's little c_nt in.'
John and I got the 32 bus at 11.20 with Andy and arrive home exactly at 12.
--==--
Tuesday September 11, 1973
Mother says I have looked terrible since going back to school, but I realise that school is not the reason why I look the way I do. My heart is shattered. I have never felt so sick. Never did I imagine that June would leave my life so soon after becoming a major part of it. She will have received my letter this morning.
Grandfather is to be cremated at Dewsbury on Thursday. I am going. Mother never expected me to go. John does not wish to miss work. Dad spent the day with Grandma and accompanied her to the Register Office to record the demise of that great Matriarch, who, for nearly 63 years, reigned over an Empire consisting of one third of the world's population. (Surely, you're thinking of Queen Victoria ?)
When I think about it I am glad I did not get into college. I will not apply next year. I love home far too much to go chasing round County Durham for three long, moneyless years. I have made my mind up to find a job - what sort of job I do not know. But one thing is certain, education ends for me in November.
--==--
Grandfather is to be cremated at Dewsbury on Thursday. I am going. Mother never expected me to go. John does not wish to miss work. Dad spent the day with Grandma and accompanied her to the Register Office to record the demise of that great Matriarch, who, for nearly 63 years, reigned over an Empire consisting of one third of the world's population. (Surely, you're thinking of Queen Victoria ?)
When I think about it I am glad I did not get into college. I will not apply next year. I love home far too much to go chasing round County Durham for three long, moneyless years. I have made my mind up to find a job - what sort of job I do not know. But one thing is certain, education ends for me in November.
--==--
Monday September 10, 1973
School uneventful. Thought about June all the time. No matter how much I try to forget her I cannot. Get home by 4.30 and write her a lengthy, dramatic letter saying how much I love her, and always will do. Send it in the 7.30 post.
Later: John asks me to join him and Christine W at the Emmotts - I am reluctant at first but agree after a little persuasion. Whilst on the bus John is looking out of the window and remarks how much a passing girl looks like June. And it was June! I leapt from the bus at the next stop, John with me, and I approached her rather cautiously. We went for a walk which lasted one whole hour. Neither of us mentioned the separation. God! How I love her! Sue B stood with John until Christine arrived in the car with Marita. I told J of the letter. Afterwards, I did realise that she would not go back out with me again. But my seeing her helped to delay the coming heartbreak. I will never look at another girl without thinking of her. June will be my only love.
--==--
Later: John asks me to join him and Christine W at the Emmotts - I am reluctant at first but agree after a little persuasion. Whilst on the bus John is looking out of the window and remarks how much a passing girl looks like June. And it was June! I leapt from the bus at the next stop, John with me, and I approached her rather cautiously. We went for a walk which lasted one whole hour. Neither of us mentioned the separation. God! How I love her! Sue B stood with John until Christine arrived in the car with Marita. I told J of the letter. Afterwards, I did realise that she would not go back out with me again. But my seeing her helped to delay the coming heartbreak. I will never look at another girl without thinking of her. June will be my only love.
--==--
Sunday September 9, 1973
I awake on a very small sofa at the residence of Mr C.H. Ratcliffe and discover that I am still intoxicated. John and MM laugh at me. Chris is preparing a chicken for lunch in the kitchen. I proceed to polish off another pint of ale along with a coffee at the same time. My head feels terrible. The day is very hot and sticky and the sun is blinding me through the windows.
Evidently, between 4-6.0am I sat near the stereo wearing Chris's headphones crying like a baby whilst listening to a Tamla Motown LP. I dislike Tamla, but it wasn't the cause of my distress - it was my devastation over the loss of June, made much worse by the exessive alcohol. I yelled for two hours solidly!
The party was really fantastic and poor Dave, who has never been in such a state before, went home on the bus with his trousers all covered in vomit. Andy left at 8.15 this morning - poor soul.
MM goes at 1pm and then John and I catch a bus. I feel really sick, still wearing my 'Teddy Killer' T-shirt I board the 1.30 33 bus - all other passengers clad in best Sunday clothes. Spend the remainder of the day relaxing quietly.
Rang Mother at 1.0pm from Chris's and she says Dad spent the night with Grandad, who is critical. They go back at 6pm. Uncle Harry rings at midnight to say he died at 11.50 pm. Although I was not even fond of him I cannot help feeling rather sad. Bed 12.15.
--==--
Evidently, between 4-6.0am I sat near the stereo wearing Chris's headphones crying like a baby whilst listening to a Tamla Motown LP. I dislike Tamla, but it wasn't the cause of my distress - it was my devastation over the loss of June, made much worse by the exessive alcohol. I yelled for two hours solidly!
The party was really fantastic and poor Dave, who has never been in such a state before, went home on the bus with his trousers all covered in vomit. Andy left at 8.15 this morning - poor soul.
MM goes at 1pm and then John and I catch a bus. I feel really sick, still wearing my 'Teddy Killer' T-shirt I board the 1.30 33 bus - all other passengers clad in best Sunday clothes. Spend the remainder of the day relaxing quietly.
Rang Mother at 1.0pm from Chris's and she says Dad spent the night with Grandad, who is critical. They go back at 6pm. Uncle Harry rings at midnight to say he died at 11.50 pm. Although I was not even fond of him I cannot help feeling rather sad. Bed 12.15.
--==--
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