Thursday May 16, 1974

Believe it or not I'm still not in the writing mood so you'll have to be disappointed again. However, something just occurred to me which is rather interesting: namely the separation of darling Denny from the 'Jet Set'. She clammed up like an oyster and refused to say why she is no longer spending her weekends with ____.Obviously, the 'Jet Set' are OK, but only in small doses, and I fear Denny is not one for spending her Saturdays trapped in a darkened cinema with David, who according to Denny is becoming even more strange - discarding his trousers in mixed company again and for no apparent reason. I heard on the 10 o'clock news at the YP that the Prince of Wales is to occupy Chevening, a stately home in Kent, which was left to the nation by the last Earl of ____ Damn! It isn't like me to forget a title, but I can honestly say that the late Noble Earl has slipped my memory for the moment, but I can say for certain that his peerage began with the letter 'S'. Ah well, it will come to me sooner or later. Anyway, Chevening may well become as famous as Sandringham one day, that's if HRH lives in it long enough to give it an aura of Royal dignity. Let's home to God he will marry and produce lots of little Waleses within its historic walls. -==-

Wednesday May 15, 1974

Please excuse me today, but I cannot think of anything original to say about my boring, terrible existence. Sorry, but that's the way it is.

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Tuesday May 14, 1974

Do not waken until nearly 12! I really ought to be ashamed of myself. Climb into the bath and put my radio in a suitable vantage point. Hear on the 12.30 news that Dr Coggan will become Archbishop of Canterbury in November. I will be able to tell my grandchildren that the Archbishop of Canterbury once commented on my speedy typing! An unlikely tale I know but I can assure you it certainly happened. Mum home after 1pm, and because it's a beautiful day we decide to sit in the garden. Get the train at 4.20 in Guiseley and spend a quiet evening at the YP. Nothing interesting of any importance and I don't intend writing any more today.

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Monday May 13, 1974

Woken at 9.15 by the phone. It is Kathleen who asks if I was at the YP last night. I say of course not, then realise I should have been at work yesterday and then take a night off in the week. I feel dumbfounded. Kathleen is not at all mad, but she is expecting the complaints to roll in this morning. The fact that my working week begins on a Sunday never entered my head. Dress at 9.30 and then go for a walk into Guiseley. Buy a couple of newspapers and call in at the bank - deposit £4, and walk home feeling quite proud.

Old Mr Monkman comes round at 11 and asks if I can lend him an instrument which levers spark plugs out of sockets. I say I don't know what he's talking about and he'll have to wait and see Dad. Have a coffee and look around for something to read having finished 'Mrs Fitzherbert'. Find 'Have His Carcase' by Dorothy Sayers, which I still have not completed. At about 12 I ring the YP and speak to Kathleen and she says nobody's complained yet, but the night staff don't come into until 5 o'clock. She's taken it very well. This horrible forgetful incident has ruined my day.

Looking in the mirror, which, I hasten to add, is no regular pastime, I realise my hair is in a terrible condition and decide that Wednesday morning is to be the day of judgement. It's five months since I last had anything done with it! Hear on the 1.30 news that Princess Anne was thrown from her horse 'Doublet' at Windsor this morning and that the horse broke a leg and was later destroyed.

Go to the YP for 5. Quiet evening really.

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Sunday May 12, 1974

4th after Easter. Good lunch and feel like a lazy afternoon, which unfortunately cannot be because of driving lesson. I do quite well, but John makes terrible errors throughout the whole of his lesson. It was entertaining anyway.

Mum and Dad go to Marlene's at about 5, and Sue is at Peter's all day.______. I think the boy will shake off his shyness and insecurity within a couple of years.

See tv all evening. Read Mrs Fitzherbert by Anita Leslie. The poor soul married George IV in the 1780s but was never acknowledged in law. Socially however she was always given royal precedence. Bed at 12.


"Waterloo" by Abba.

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Saturday May 11, 1974

Up at lunchtime and do nothing all day. Andy mentioned something about a disco at Benton Park when I saw him last night and John and I decide to go along tonight to see if it's any good. Chris agrees to come, agreeing to meet in the Emmotts first. Sue, Peter, Martyn and Al all come to the Emmotts before going along to Benton themselves. Heavens! Sue isn't 15 until July! I feel guilty about entertaining a sister in a dubious public house four years under the lawful age. See Ivy, who looks ill. She says she hasn't seen June or Sue B for weeks, and last saw them in the Stone Trough, a pub which June never liked. Chris, John and I move on to the Trough, and I had a whisky, which Denny persuaded me to drink at Wikis last night. The Benton thing is a tragedy. See Keith with Helen! She is her usual self. Also see Glynis, Helen Taylor, Vilma and Judith Lea. We leave at 11 and John and I have fish and chips in Guiseley before going home.

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Friday May 10, 1974

Wake up at 10.45 with the alarm clock ringing merrily.(Excuse the handwriting but I am sitting up in bed resting the volume on my knees - not a very satisfactory method at all). Doing nothing until Mother comes home for lunch, then she surprises me by saying she is having a driving lesson at 2 - which means this is the second one this week. She gets so nervous about drivming, so much so that she makes everyone else petrified too.

Go to the YP by train at 4.20. Arrive early as all the girls are just leaving. I have a very good night and finish all my routine work by 8.20! Judith Rushworth rings at 9 and we talk for 15 minutes about nothing in particular. I ring Mum but Sue tells me they're out and I joke with her and Lynn for a further quarter of an hour or so.

Read through the Duke of Windsor's file and am especially interested in the abdication period. The poor Duke of York hated the idea of kingship and from newspaper accounts it seems as though the king and his brother finished up deadly enemies. The refusal to give the duchess the style and title of 'HRH' stems from this rivalry. Anyway, I was very glad to see that Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon, now visiting Canada, found time to call on the old Duchess of Windsor, who is visiting New York. Margaret and Edward VIII have a lot in common.

My taxi came at 12 and I was in Wikis at a quarter past. Meet dear Denny at the top of the stairs and she is worried about John, who disappeared about ten minutes before my arrival. I go check the lavatory but he is nowhere to be seen. Have a good deal to drink and have fun with Denny. Judith, the Alfa Romeo girl, comes over and sits with me and I act with great civility considering the way I have been treated. She gives me a lift home and we cry with laughter to see John staggering up the lane at 2.30. Where had he been? I follow him in and discover he'd slept on a wall behind Wikis, after going outside to get some fresh air. A likely tale, but it must be true. Bed at 3am.

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