Saturday June 22, 1974

Mum wakes me at 7.30. Get the train and arrive at the usual time. Work quite nice and home for luncheon at 1 o'clock. Sit with Lynn, Sue and Peter in the afternoon whilst Mama and Papa go shopping to Morrisons.

Read through all my old correspondence and find all manner of gems, including written sexual advances from Christine Braithwaite, and horrid letters from the foul Pamela Barlow, who thinks she's a reincarnation of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Invite Dave Lawson to a party we're going to have on the night the clan leave for Spain. I do suppose he'll come. Go to the Hare at 8. Denise is babysitting tonight and her absence will no doubt result in a boring night for me; but I am wrong, and thoroughly enjoy it. See George and Jane who are quite anti-social and almost ignore us. Chris comes late accompanied by Christine W, whose hair is almost solid with all the lacquer. Andy and Linda are good fun. Move on to Otley, with Chris driving, and then back to Pine Tops where Lynn is entertaining her boyfriend, Ronnie, Nigel Lister and Chris Dibb. Mum and Dad have a laugh with Andy and we play records till about 12.30. Chris gets funny about his car, and expects it to run like a Rolls-Royce, which is impossible. They are all gone by 1. We retire to bed leaving the house like a bomb has hit it.

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Friday June 21, 1974

My half day. Work 9-12. Busy but not unusually hard. See in the papers that the poor desolate Lady Jane Wellesley was taken to a police station in London after failing the breathylyser test in her Lancia car. No doubt that full of remorse over losing the Prince of Wales, she went out and got herself pissed. Good bloody luck to her Ladyship, that's what I say.

Go to Bradford at 12 where I meet Denise for lunch. Go to The Queen's, a new pub near the new hotel (Norfolk Gardens?) and we have a couple of drinks. A very warm day, and it feels wonderful to get into the shade of the little, cool tavern. At about 2 I go and have my hair cut, and it certainly needed doing - Denise thinks it looks wonderful. We have a coffee together.

Later: Jackie rings for John, but nothing comes of it and I decide not to contact Judy. She isn't a very nice girl_____. Very good looking of course, but that is all.

John and I go to the Hare (and Hounds) where we are soon joined by Bruno, Andy, Christine W and Linda. Where is Carol? No mention of her is made and I suspect Bruno and she are no longer intimate. Denny comes very late, and Chris even later. To Wikis at 10.30. Home 2.30. Helen Willis ignored us all night.

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Thursday June 20, 1974

Ring Denny in the evening as she wants to go out somewhere. I say the Emmotts because we don't often go these days and besides, it's very handy for Denise to travel to and fro. John comes back from tech at 8 and we leave on the 8.30 55. With Denny we sit on the wall outside, where we are joined by Marita, MM and Keith. A very enjoyable evening really, though Chris looked slightly miserable when he came at 9.30 in HIS CAR. Marita looks quite nice with her hair flashed - not flashed in a tarty way, but in a very nice sort of way. They go at 10. We go inside where, to our amazement, Judith and Jackie are inside. They behave very bitchy towards Denise, and I tell them I don't like it. They go at 10.20 and so does Denny, whose Papa comes to take her home. Have a laugh with Keith, Chris, John and Martin V-B, who is on the bar. Go across the road for fish and chips and find Judy and Jackie inside. Keith pinches the TR6 which doesn't amuse them very much, and at about 11.15 they bring John and me home. I was in the back and John and Jackie crushed together in the front. They come in and see the last half of 'Cinema' with us, and Judy spills a cup of hot, boiling coffee down the front of my shirt - not a very pleasant exsperience.

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Wednesday June 19, 1974

Today marks twenty years of happy marriage for Mum and Dad. She receives a large bouquet of flowers from Dad, and I think they are both happier now than they have been in years.

Go to the Emmotts at about 8. Joined by Chris, Andy and Laura, who is much improved since she's been having regular sex again with Martin. Ring Judy and she says she'll come up. I wait until 10 and stand at the bar drinking on my own, because John and the gang had moved on. The girls, Judy and Jackie, come at 10.15 - and I feel as though I shouldn't have bothered asking them to come. Feel quite fresh, and they think that my drinking so much is shocking. Home in a TR6 after fish and chips - and bed immediately. Not with the girls, but quite alone.

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Tuesday June 18, 1974

Our last day in Windsor. Get up with John and Sheila at 9, and we say goodbye. Sheila asks us to go again, and we thanked them both for the very nice time we'd had. Go to London at about 12.30 after buying a couple of records in WH Smiths in Windsor - 'Tom the Peeper' by an American group, which will always remind us of our adventures at the Safari Bar, and 'Kissin' in the Back Row of the Movies' by the Drifters. Sit in the shoddy cafe at Victoria Coach Station until the coach leaves for London at 3. I hate coach journeys, especially when they are on the long, boring motorways, which are becoming an increasing part of our lives. In Leeds for 7.15. Home at 8. Marvellous to see everyone again and Mum is overjoyed by the Royal Albert Old Country Roses tea-set which we bought at the Token House, Windsor, on Friday.

Tom the Peeper link:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjw_KhhovVM&feature=related

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Monday June 17, 1974

Beautifully warm day. John and I take Hugo on the 'Long Walk', in order to avoid all the crowds who have flocked to Windsor to get a glimpse of the Garter ceremony. See Princess Anne in her speedy, little car and she smiled at John and I as she passed us on the Long Walk. Whilst recovering from seeing HRH, Lord Snowdon races past with a young lady in the passenger seat - not Princess Margaret either.

One year ago today I split my trousers in the gents of the Fleece in Horsforth, and I vowed to send June a safety pin on the anniversary of the occasion until either one of us ceased to be. I don't think she's dead so I'll have to send her one.

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Sunday June 16, 1974

Another hot day. My nose is terrible today and I can hardly breathe at all. John and I go into Windsor after a late breakfast at 11.30 and we go inside the castle to see the Royal Collection of drawings from the Queen's private collection. Beautiful works by Holbein, Leonardo da Vinci, etc. John failed to be impressed. Afterwards, walk down the 'Long Walk' and see the Duke of Edinburgh in a Range Rover, in sunglasses and shirt-sleeves. We are too taken aback to wave, though he did look at us as he drove into Windsor High Street.


'The Streak' by Ray Stevens.

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Saturday June 15, 1974

Another scorching day. Sheila promised to wake us at 7, but I was awake totally unaided, and go downstairs thinking the dear thing is sleeping peacefully, but no she is in the kitchen doing wonderful things with a frying pan and several sausages. What a saint she is!

We leave at about 8 and are in London for 9. Believe it or not I cannot find the palace, and have to ask a native the directions. John is greatly amused by my lack of patience. The sun is very brilliant and when the Queen, Duke of Edinburgh and Duke of Kent leave for Horse Guards it is quite stifling. (Excuse the scrawl, but I cannot write with biro. I've mislaid my fountain pen.) The Queen looks very miserable and pale and not at all pleasant, though the Queen Mother is the perfect example of radiance and beauty. Outside the palace until 1. Due to the heat we go to a pub in Piccadilly - a typical London tavern. Nip down to Knightsbridge and spend a few hours in Harrods before returning to Windsor by coach.

Go to the Safari Park till 11.15. Bed on return after playing with Hugo.

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Friday June 14, 1974

Scorching hot day. Up at 8.30 after a terrible night. Far too warm for comfort. John and Sheila go off to work and I persuade John to leave the house at 10.15. See in the morning papers that the Prince of Wales is dating a 20-year-old American, Laura Jo Watkins, and she was in the House of Lords yesterday to see him make his maiden speech to the peers.

Outside Windsor Castle by 10.20. A crowd gathers to see the goings on. See Edward Heath come, then Jeremy Thorpe and finally Harold Wilson. The Royal procession leaves Victoria Barracks, and 5 princes follow the cortege: the Prince of Wales, Duke of Edinburgh, the new Duke of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent and Prince Michael of Kent. We have a perfect view of the mourners, and they process through Windsor to the castle passing John and I not 3 yards away. Didn't see the Queen because she was already at the castle before the funeral.

Because of the heat John and I return to the house, where we see the funeral on tv.

Later: we take John and Sheila to the Hart and Garter in Windsor for a meal. Very enjoyable, and the bill, excluding wine etc, is only £7.50. Home and bed at 12.

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Thursday June 13, 1974

Once again at Pinner. This change of air is certainly doing me a world of good, and I am finding no difficulty with the labouring, which I imagined I would. Our last working day.

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Wednesday June 12, 1974

Working at Pinner in Buckinghamshire. Very hot and enjoyable day.

The new Duchess of Gloucester is pregnant and the baby is due in late September or thereabouts. A male child will hold the unfortunate title 'Earl of Ulster', and obvious target for the insane Irish extremists and maniacs. A girl will be Lady (Christian name) Windsor.

Me and John are having Friday free from work in order to catch a passing glimpse of the Royal Funeral.

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