Sunday December 22, 1974

4th in Advent. Repulsive weather for the time of year. Brilliant sun shines down upon us, and if somebody was to tell me we are in the middle of August I would take the information without a query. Mr Baker collects Lynn at the early hour of 1pm and rushes her off her feet to the wilds of Otley Chevin. Peter pays court to Susan and then drags her back to his place for tea.

Mummy and Daddy are also restless this afternoon and they disappear too. This mass migration to other spheres leaves John and myself quite alone. See the TV. 'Captain Horatio Hornblower' a Gregory Peck film, then we listen to my Monty Python LP.

After a long bath with the backing of the Sold Gold 60 programme on the radio I ring Marita for a report on the weekend activities of the 'Jet Set'. They too have indulged in quiet activities this weekend, and she's near to hysterics when I tell her of yesterdays antics with the two Davids in Bradford. She loved the bit about the old lady in British Home Stores complaining to the staff about us handling the frilly knickers.

John and I see the play 'Crown Matrimonial', starring Greer Garson as Queen Mary, matriarch of the Royal House of Windsor, a bold and dedicated woman whom the present Queen closely resembles. The play was brilliant and the portrayal of all the characters was perfect.

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Saturday December 21, 1974

The events of last night were hilarious & fantastic. So fantastic that conveying what passed down here on this historic paper can never do them justice. All I need do is inscribe herein that I went to Wikis with Christine on Dec 20, 1974, and I will re-live those hours over and over again in minute detail. Received a Christmas card from Christine this morning and I think it's just my luck to be over fond of an engaged young lady. Will I ever be successful in love?

Dave slept on our floor all night, and managed to be up at 7 to drive Lynn to Bradford. He stays for breakfast, then lunch, and then takes me shopping in Guiseley for a few odds and sods for Mother. After lunch David arrives. He has a few laughs with John in the sick room before taking Mr Baker and myself off on a final present buying spree to Bradford. We're in town all afternoon and manage to get most things we wanted. I buy Mother a bowl from Brown Muffs which is a bizarre looking thing - something resembling an overstarched upturned handkerchief. Nobody really knows whether they like it or not. Go see Lynn in British Home Stores, and she is still rather pale and washed-out after last night. Dave's bought her a silver locket for £6, a bottle of pernod for £4, and a pair of black, sexy briefs for 50p. That lot adds up to over £10! It must be love or something. Don't go out this evening. Chris is astounded when I tell him. All he can say, over and over again is: "don't you realise it's the Saturday before Christmas?"

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Friday December 20, 1974

Very mild day and none of that ruddy, interfering wind. YP all day - rather busy and under-staffed. Kathleen was off all day and Sarah & Eileen were on half-day. Darling Sarah sat with me for 30-odd minutes at lunchtime and we just laughed. She knows I am infatuated with her. She is more than fond of me.

Lynn amused me yesterday when she said ____was positively choked with envy on Tuesday. I can understand him fancying Sarah. His influence over Denny is also a very powerful force at the moment.

David collects me at about 8.30 and we go straight to the Hare & Hounds where we meet Christine and Philip. Quite a pleasant surprise too! Keith, Peter Mather, Carol and Chris Denby are also in, but we don't sit with them. At 9.30, after waiting for Chris for long enough, the four of us go on to the Dyneley Arms - a lousy place. To beat everything, Christine & I finised up in Wikis together. She didn't live it down when Philip's brother saw us together. Back to Pine Tops until 4am when Dave Baker takes her home. Poor Lynn is being sick upstairs after Dave's office party.

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Thursday December 19, 1974

A more congenial day. Left the office with Sarah at 12 and we did a bit of shopping in town before going our separate ways. Funny girl is our Sarah. A perfect Angel but temperamental beyond human understanding.

I got myself a Monty Python LP, the one I heard in Worcester, and bought Dad's Xmas present - a Perry Como LP. Really should have stayed in Leeds to buy all my presents but couldn't be bothered at all. 

Nipped onto a bus and was home in time to see the final part of 'The Forsyte Saga'. I was quite emotional when Soames passed away at the end. Sat choked in a heap besides the lit Christmas tree.

David called for me at about 8.10 after queueing for a tank full of petrol before the 10p price increase at midnight. To the Stone Trough for one drink. MM, Marita and Denny were awaiting our arrival. Moved on to the school (Benton Park) at 8.30 where the lovely Christine Braithwaite joined us. What a bloody scorcher she is - and a good deal more mature than when I last saw her. Denny goes off with Martin Vere-Bujnowski all night and she barely said a full sentence to me._______.A good deal of kissing went on underneath the mistletoe. Kicked out at 11.30 and moved on to Denny's - that is David and me -where we laughed over supper until 1.30. Home in the car.

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Wednesday December 18, 1974

Utterly shagged out all day. Never I have experienced such bloody tiredness in the whole of my long, laborious and important life. Tiredness, I have found, affects people in many different ways. I become a moronic structure, resembling nothing more than a over-stewed cabbage, or root vegetable. Sarah fades away to a sweet damsel of the sweetest nature. Carol pretends she's no different, but Kathleen's situation is unfortunate. Miss Rainford becomes quite nasty and quick tempered. This is a depressing phenomena when one is attempting to enjoy the few snatches of Christmas festivities one is privileged to have. You'll be aware from this that work was unkind to me today. Bloody glad to leave I was. Unpleasantness is hardly the word for it.

Sit in front of the TV all evening while John departs to bed at an early hour with something resembling more than a usual chill. Pneumonia for Christmas?

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Tuesday December 17, 1974

To Leeds with John on a 33 bus at about 7.45pm. 

We meet Chris in the Highlander where he's been waiting for about an hour. The weather is absolutely freezing cold and we attempt to thaw out with whisky and orange. After two minutes we switch to pints of lager - a shame really. Dave, Lynn, Sue and Peter come at about 9 o'clock and I begin worrying about whether the two youngsters will obtain admission in Rockerfellas. 

At 9.30 we nip across to the Vintage where we have a few drinks with Kathleen, Sarah and mob. Little spot of bother at Rockerfellas with Peter - but we're all admitted. Once again Sarah is overpoweringly stunning. Charming and too glamorous to be capably described. I feel she entices me, and leads me on on these occasions. November 5 was the last occasion, and she did the same this time. We had a few cosy dances together, and rather a lot, though not enough, necking. Lynn says that ____is positively envious at my 'catch'. 

All the girls were great and amused at Eileen catching John off his guard. Even Kathleen laughed at the sight of my brother and Miss Byram copulating openly before a wide range of the assembled multitude. John and I home in a taxi at 2 with Sarah (swoon) and Carol. I was in the back with the ladies - and need I say more than the fact that I paid more attention to Miss Collis than I did Mrs Johnson.

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Monday December 16, 1974

Reflections on the closure of the relationship of Mr Andrew Graham and Miss Linda Smith: Dave informed me of this fact while preparing the Christmas tree in the garage last night. I was dumbfounded to say the least, because I always expected them to settle down, after a society wedding at the local parish church of course. Andy is a bit cut up, but Miss Smith herself is cool and unmoved. Reasons? Apparently, Linda is overworked at college and can't do with Andy and her school kids at the same time.

Also, the papers hold another, more amusing story about the closure of a love affair. Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia seems to have changed her mind about Richard Burton. The Royal marriage of 1975 is off. It seems to me that Prince Paul has put his foot down. Another factor is that the princess is sick of Richard's drinking habits. 48 million bottles of Scotch a week is a bit much.

The Uncle Harry Mystery is over. He rolled up at 4 this afternoon and collected the car. He didn't say much to Dad, who was the only one in, and cleared off after swigging a cup of coffee. Silly sods, these Rhodeses are at times. Oh, Uncle John and Auntie Sheila are coming to stay after Christmas for one night. Denny was thrilled when I informed her this afternoon by telephonic communication.

The Christmas spirit is more noticeable in me this year, methinks. Need I say what was troubling me last year? Yes, you've guessed. It was HER. Well, no one's getting me down this year and 1974 has been one free of heartbreaking and upsetting consequences.

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Sunday December 15, 1974

Out of bed just before 12. Mum starts he Christmas cleaning campaign in preparation for the Christmas tree which Dave B is going to bring round later in the day. (My calling Dave Baker 'Dave B' and Dave Lawson 'Dave L' must cease. In future Dave L will be David and Dave B will be Dave).

Mum and Dad are most perturbed about the mysterious disappearance of Uncle Harry, who has left no trace.

 
Have chicken for lunch and listen to Jimmy Savile on the radio. Evidently, the lads who accompany John on his drinking and whoreing escapades think he's so hilarious being infatuated by the music of George Macrae. All we hear about at home and in the pub is wild, passionate statements about how good Barry White & George Macrae are.

The local paper announces that Shelley and Clive were married last week in Menston. I was quite choked to see my old friend staring up at me from the newspaper, clad in her white bridal outfit. Mum says she's now crossed Shelley's phone number from the pad because she doesn't want me associating with married women. Barbara was married in August, and I think this latest marital alliance closes a chapter of my life. These women will never be forgotten.

News: Linda finished with Andy this weekend. Most people are stunned. To the Hare and Hounds with Chris, Carol and Andy. Then to the Station in Yeadon, and finally the Yorkshire Rose. Home at 11.30 where we see the Christmas tree erected in all its glory.

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Saturday December 14, 1974

Death of Prince Albert, 1861. George VI born 1895. Uncle Tony's birthday. 39th I think. Mum, Dad, Auntie Eleanor and Uncle Jack plus Uncle Harry trot off to Bradford in order to pursue birthday celebrations with the Gadsby clan. They come home in the early hours minus Uncle H - who disappeared in Bradford. Naturally, they are all perturbed about the whereabouts of his person, but one thing's for sure, we have his car parked on our drive awaiting the return of its master.

I was at the YP until 12 when I met John in WH Smiths. We spend three hours on a so-called shopping for Christmas presents spree but after this substantial time lapse I haven't laid hands on one present, and have instead a new pair of shoes and a woolly cardigan. Home on a crowded 55 bus. We sit around waiting for food - in my case, the first meal of the day! Eat fish and chips twice.

To the Hare and Hounds in Kevin Teale's van after arranging to meet Dave Lawson who rang at 8.30. After depositing me at the Hare John and pals go off to Ilkley again and say that they'll see me at the Cow & Calf later. I sit quite alone with a lager until 8.30. Ring Denny who says Adrian didn't turn up tonight after they'd arranged a reconciliation.

Dave and Sandra come in at 8.30, followed by Andy and the Smiths. We all go to the Black Horse - a detestible joint but they all like it - and move on to the Cow & Calf without Dave who didn't fancy it. Wish I hadn't gone. Rubbish it really was. Carol Smith and one of the Denby boys started having a relationship. Peter brings me home after 1am and I have a laugh with Lynn and Dave before going to bed.

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Friday December 13, 1974

Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, born 1906. Friday the Thirteenth. I'm not saying I'm superstitious in any way, but one must always be careful on these days. Undoubtedly, if being terrified of walking under a ladder is classed among superstitious things I'm the world's leading superstitious person - but to my mind, not walking under a ladder is an inbred thing, and besides, one may as well be on the safe side.

Go to the Hare in Kevin Teale's Bedford van. The place is done out for the coming festivities and Sandra L informs me that she's leaving tonight. Horror of horrors. The place won't be the same without a Lawson behind the bar. In one way or another I am with Sandra for the majority of the evening - leaving the others to their own devices. John goes off with his old school pals to Ilkley, on a whoreing expedition. We, that is Keith, Chris, Carol, Andy, Linda, Dave, Lynn, George, Jane, Christine Dibb and dear Christine White - all go to the Commercial. From this little but comfortable abode we move on to Wikis, where I use one of Dave B's spare cards. Don't really enjoy it, but I am pleased when Kevin Teale offers me £25 for my suit. Hell, it only rushed me £25 in May, so if he buys it I will have had seven months wear out of it for no cost at all. Perhaps he was a bit pissed, but I was flattered all the same to think that somebody wanted the clothes I was stood up in.

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Thursday December 12, 1974

Warmer day than yesterday and not too frosty. Work all morning until 12 and then go into Leeds with Kathleen where she buys a massive cardigan for her Dad's Christmas present. We then move on to Boots where she gives me some ideas about the numerous things I've got to get before Xmas Day. At 1 she leaves me to go back to work and I wind my way through Debenham's and back to Boots. Messing around near the aftershave department I bump into Marita & we mutter and moan about having to buy presents, and she slings a few suggestions at me. We then go into the street and bump into dear old Dave Baker outside Schofields. M rushes off back to work and Dave & I go to the Ostlers for a couple of drinks. We discuss Lynn over pints of lager. He tells me he's bought her a bottle of Pernod for Christmas, amongst other things. Another drunken festive season coming up. I buy Lynn a pair of slippers - not miserable granny type - but soft violet ones with large furry tops. Yes.

No Monty Python tonight which is rather unfortunate really.

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