Sunday July 14, 1974

5th after Trinity. The sun rises and I go for a walk on the moor. A beautiful morning really - and by 5am I am on Baildon Moor. Back to Pine Tops where I sit in a deckchair in the garden with 'Queen Mary' till nearly 8. Sleep in bed from just after 8am till 11.30. Denny makes breakfast for everyone, and I am surprised that they are alive, meaning Denny and Ron - who spent the night in Mum and Dad's bed and accidentally triggered the electric blanket. They could have ended up more fried than the bacon.

Marita comes at 1pm and we go to the Commercial at Esholt - Dave, Chris, John and Marita. At 3 everyone except D goes to Marita's where we sit in her bedroom and sup Cinzano and home-made marrow wine till after 5. To the Emmotts at 8. See June and feel nothing for her at all. I'm free from her spell at last! Can you really believe it?

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Saturday July 13, 1974

YP till noon. Go to 'Just Pants Plus' and get a pair of wonderful trousers - cords - with an embroidered pattern on the bum - £7.00, etc. Home and in the bath at 2 listening to Tony Blackburn.

Dearest Denny comes straight from work for tea - prawn curry - though we don't enjoy it at all after arguing about Judith. Denny says she wouldn't have come to tonight's party if she had been aware that J was joing to attend. To Hare and Hounds at 8.15. Joined by Marita, who looks gorgeous lately, and MM and Christine Jennings____.In order to cheer up Marita I pull her to my side of the bar where we buy each other Cinzanos till after 10.30. Both quite drunk. Marita having to drive as well!! Party a good success. Denny, who is very drunk, finds her old boyfriend, Ron, and they spend the night together. Judith comes at 11.30 and I ignore her - being very drunk -and she leaves 10 minutes later. Fantastic scenes in the bathroom then follow, and I am in the shower with a massive audience of both sexes. Everyone gets thoroughly soaked, and poor Christine W looks like Phyllis Diller with her hair wet. Linda, Carol, Dave B and Keith and myself have an amusing, unrecordable, session in our small, yet cosy, lavatory. Hysterical. Everything ends at 3am when someone put a foot through the bathroom door. I don't want the party to end but most folk drift off. When everyone is in bed asleep I clear up the mess and listen to the 'Super Bad' LP.

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Friday July 12, 1974

Quite a nice day. YP as usual. To the Hare and Hounds at about 8 with Chris (who comes at about 9.30!), Christine W, John, Andy, Dave Baker and Carol & Linda S, etc. Ring Judith at a quarter to nine and I say I'll meet her outside the Hare at 9.30.

I enjoy going out with Judith Beevers because Keith is so infatuated with her. Move on to the Black Horse at Askwith, though J and I get lost on the way - arriving 10 minutes after everybody else. We have them on saying we ran out of petrol in a lay-by in some desolate spot. Nice time until 10.30. Back to Pine Tops for coffee.

(PS Saw Mum, Dad, Lynn, Sue, Alison and Christine all set off for Spain this afternoon - hate parting with Mum. Even at 19 I feel too attached to leave her for any length of time.)

J and I sit listening to records, whilst the others, John included, watch a rotten old film on the tv. No lively spirits at all in our crowd. Everyone goes at 12 - J included. Party tomorrow - Yippee!

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Thursday July 11, 1974

Denny and I are going to Ibiza on September 14. Obviously, we aren't sharing a room or anything so permissive, though Auntie Hilda says it would be a lot more inexpensive if we did, and goes on the say: "anyway, you don't often find single rooms in Continental hotels, and even if you do they cost the earth." Anyway, Denny refuses to share a room with me._____. Denny, the darling, says it will only cost £16, excluding spending money. Can't be bad, can it?

Quite busy at the YP. Rains all day, and Judith and I are soaked waiting for the train. At 6 Judith R accompanies me to Guiseley Library where I get 'Queen Mary' by James Pope-Hennessy, which I first read at the age of 13. However, the recent murder of Mr Pope-Hennessy urged me to re-read it. Quite a good book, but I detected several mistakes. For instance, he says that Prince Henry (1900-74) was created Duke of Gloucester in 1935 on his marriage to Lady Alice Montagu-Douglas-Scott. This is untrue. Prince Henry was created a duke on his 28th birthday in March, 1928. Pope-Hennessy was done away with by his Irish-born homosexual partner in January, and by all accounts he was a friend of the Queen, who was grief stricken by her grannie's biographers death.

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Wednesday July 10, 1974

Very wet and cold day. YP until 12, and manage to get a bus straight to the Emmotts, where I get a pint of Guinness and wait for Denny. She rings at 1 and says her bus didn't arrive, and that she'll have to wait for the next one at 2. I sit in the bar drinking on my own and get through a lot more ale than I intended. Dear Denny rings at 2 and says the same story about no bus coming to her bus stop. I then say I'll go the farm with a bottle of something, and we can then celebrate her 18th birthday from then onwards. Buy a bottle of Martini Rosso at Rawdon Co-op and proceed to stagger onto a Harrogate bus, worse for alcohol, and with the unwrapped bottle of Martini in my clutches. Arrive at Denny's at about 3pm. In 2 hours we drink all the Martini, the 2 of us, and then make a start on her 'duty free' brandy. At 5 o'clock we fall on the floor, unable to retain our balance or sense of perspective. I am almost hysterical when she says______. I accidentally smashed the telephone, and we attempted to sober ourselves by drinking gallons of coffee and eating piles of cheese on toast. Go to the Hare at about 9 - still terribly drunk and wet through with rain. Drink Pernod and lager. MM and Marita come. Mr Akroyd brings John and me home at 10.45. The Gadsbys are here.

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Tuesday July 9, 1974

Another good day at the YP. Sarah and Carol and even Janice were in very good spirits all round and it's amazing how cordial relations with ones work-mates enhances speedy and efficient work.

Chat up one of the office girls and she's looking forward to my party on Saturday. Even Judith R and a crowd of cronies are coming, which I never really expected. The gorgeous blond from 'Sight & Sound' invited me to her annual booze-up in August, at Meanwood or somewhere. Hell, the women who are coming next week make the Miss World competition look like a childrens tea party.

Sit watching tv until about 7.30 when Ron and Mary Bosworth, a couple of Dad's cronies, arrive - pushing me out of my seat. Uninteresting evening. See tv and go to bed after seeing 'UFO'.

Auntie Hilda rings and says that Philip Ellis, the boy who lives next door to them in Pudsey, was killed on his motor bike at 8.30 this evening. Tragic. He was only 23 and intended marrying later this year.

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Monday July 8, 1974

Wake up at 6am dying for a drink. Stagger to the lounge and attack a couple of oranges to quench my terrible thirst. Leave for the YP at 8, meeting Judith R jut before leaping onto the train. She received the letter I wrote last week, and found it amusing, or so she said. Nice girl Judith is. One cannot go far wrong with a girl like that. A pity she doesn't fancy me - I quite fell for her in the autumn of last year, but am quite recovered now of course. Guiseley Station is looking even more posh in readiness for the Royal visit on July 10. Philip is coming to Denny's 18th birthday celebrations no doubt! Looking forward to getting pissed that night.

Janice is 19 today. She's been a good deal more civil since Stuart Beaumont made a honest woman of her, and I quite like her now.

Ring Judy at about 8.45. She says that Jackie is going to marry the bloke she's been living with for the past fortnight. I laugh at the thought of it. John is quite relieved. Sit in the bath thinking about my next holiday in September. Will John and Sheila approve of me taking Denny to Windsor? They've only got the one spare room. Anyway, I can do no more than ask permission to bed down with the dog in the dining room. Really looking forward to seeing Denny on Wednesday. I expect she will be in love with some Spanish waiter or something.

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Sunday July 7, 1974

No doubt you've already decided that Miss Bottomley wouldn't keep her appointment at the Emmotts tonight, which we more or less decided upon on the evening of June 30. Well, you're quite correct in your assumption. The ruthlessness of that female beggars belief.

John and I go to the Emmotts at 8. See Keith who remarks upon the fact that we rarely go out on Sundays. He disagrees with our plans to change the date of the party to Saturday. We leave him standing at the bar, staring down the blouse of the barmaid, who I think is a new fixture in the Emmotts, not having had the pleasure before now. Joined by Bruno, who dislikes this nickname intensely, and dear Carol and Christine W. Chris of course comes very late. Leave the E at 9.30 having decided that June and Susan were not going to honour us with their presence. Hell, I must rid myself of this infatuation for a female on whom I have not laid hands in 11 months!

Go to the Commercial at Esholt: very nice evening. Carol is a darling and quite shows poor CW up. Move back to the Station on Henshaw Lane. Never been here before, but find it very interesting. Chris brings John and I back to Harry Ramsden's where we partake of fish and chips which are much improved on last time. Home at 11.30. Loathe Sunday evenings.

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Saturday July 6, 1974

To Leeds with John and Chris in Mr Ratcliffe's small, though efficient automobile. Spend the whole afternoon idling around the shops - none of us actually buying anything, though you can't say we didn't try. The three of us joined finances in purchasing 12 Sobranie Black Russian cigarettes - 37p or thereabouts! Rather a scandalous price, but worth it entirely. Also buy a copy of 'Landslide' by Tony Clarke, a smashing record, recorded in 1967 - it reminds me of Wikis. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVkAEQUeGlE To the Hare and Hounds again. Dave says he hates the places but doesn't actually refuse to go. See Linda West with the same old boyfriend she picked up in the Spring of '73. I expect she'll be tying him down for life. We all move on to the Black Horse at Askwith - sit in the beer garden - where David and John have the usual brawl. Everyone picks on John and he can't say anything without people rolling around in near hysterics. Back to Pine Tops for coffee made by Linda S and Christine W, and a record session. They all go at 12 and I see the tv until 2am. Dave and Chris have got on perfectly throughout, though I do suppose ___will have harsh words to say to David when he learns of this treachery, etc. Even Dave agrees that on the return of the 'Jet Set' from Spain he will be banned from seeing us until Christmas at least. -==-

Friday July 5, 1974

Blimey, you ought to see Guiseley Railway Station since it's been 'done up' for the great event next Wednesday. After all, it isn't every day that His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, KG, etc, etc, arrives on the platform of our small, yet cosy station. It would be interesting to discover when the last royal visit to our neighbourhood took place.

To the Hare and Hounds with Dave Lawson at about 8. (John too, of course). All the gang join us. Move to the Yorkshire Rose, a pub that I do not like, but John says that the ale is exceptional. I haven't yet acquired a taste for the stuff yet (joke).

Everyone goes to Wikis except Dave, who receives unfavourable reports from his sister. See Andy Dale, who is no longer at Loughborough College of Ed - very pleasant chap. Gets very __at about 1.15 - Carol, Bruno, Christine W and Chris having gone. Peter Mather is hardly the sort of person to sit holding hands with across a candlelit table, if you know what I mean, and John takes the initiative to leave before the closing hour. A lovely warm evening. Home at, on, or in the region of, 2am.

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Thursday July 4, 1974

Restless night really, though I managed to sleep until after 11am. Lynn comes up and sits on my bed talking about holidays - she goes to Spain a week tomorrow and her excitement is very obvious. When I see Lynn it brings home the truth in the theory that girls mature a lot quicker than boys. When I was her age, 16, I was ridiculously childish. Lynn is now the equal of any 18 or 19 yr old male, and I'm quite proud that she's my sister.

It is very ironic that my 'love life' is the way it is. The girl whom I desire more than anyone else wants nothing whatsoever to do with me, and on the other hand an attractive, wealthy girl thinks the sun shines out of my backside, and I neither want her, or neither feel fond of her. Miss June Bottomley wants a large, friendly kick in the right place.

My namesake, Prince Michael, celebrates his 32nd birthday today.

Still no word from Denny, holidaying on the Continent until July 10. Denny certainly promised to send her opinion of the place (amongst other things) and I can't imagine what has caused the delay. However, Lynn didn't get a postcard from Mrs Grandison until they'd been home from Ibiza for 8 days! Can't really see the point in sending letters from abroad if you are going to arrive home first.

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