Sunday September 9, 1979

13th Sunday after Trinity.

David Lawson phoned recently, but I forgot to record it here. He asked when Christine is getting married! I had to tell him, with heavy heart, that the nuptials took place two weeks ago. The Lawsons now have some kind of Setter so I presume, without mentioning it, that Toscanini, the poodle, is no longer with us. Gone to that great kennel in the sky, &c. The poor lad is dog sitting and mopping up piss night after night.

Got up at 12. Ally came down to breakfast in not a pleasant frame of mind. After her toast and marmalade she left for Bradford saying: "see you next Friday, then". _________________.

I sat pasting Mama's photos into an album and watched 'Horatio Hornblower, RN' on the BBC. A black and white film shot in the thirteenth century BC. The heroine on the film [Gregory Peck's tart]  was supposed to be Lady Barbara Wellesley, sister of the Duke of Wellington. The duke's sister wasn't Barbara, she was Anne, who married a son of Lord Southampton.

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Saturday September 8, 1979

Made strong coffee and lounged in bed until 11. We went to Guiseley and had fish and chips, then bought a wedding anniversary card for Lynn & Dave. On to Pine Tops where the inevitable had occurred. Uncle Harry had been a complete nuisance at Wilsill, near Pateley, and had left at midnight in a cloud of exhaust fumes and ill will. We escaped the muggy atmosphere and drove over the hills towards Burley-in-W stopping at the Hermit pub at Burley Woodhead where eagle-eyed Ally spotted David's tiny car. They were having a sly drink with Jim Nason in a dark corner. Lynn didn't look too good, saying she's 'off colour'. They say they are going on holiday to Malta next June, which I find staggering because Sue & Pete have yet to decide upon a wedding date. Perhaps the holiday arrangements could have been made after the wedding is booked? Mother is fuming about this.

Out tonight with Ally, Sue and Pete to the Drop, the White Cross and the Prachee. Saw ________ who thinks he's either Napoleon or Gary Glitter.

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Friday September 7, 1979

Poor Uncle Harry. I knew he wouldn't last for long. He rose at noon and told Mama he was 'going to the bank', but he did not return until 3:30 and his balance was far from steady. When I arrived home at 5 I could sense an atmosphere. By 7 they were all gone for something called 'a basket meal'.

I opened a few bottles, switched on the stereo and waited for Alison. She arrived at 9 and we went to the White Cross where we were joined by Gus and Frank. Ally was sinking pints of lager and blackcurrant as if she'd spent eight days and nights in the Gobi Desert. In came Kathryn Chaffer with her husband Peter [Harrison?], and they came over for a chat. At 11, weighed down with bottles, we crossed the road to their little terrace house. They have only been married for five weeks, and so on entering the house we were required to remove our shoes ['the carpet is new']. We were also told that the wallpaper on the chimney breast cost £38. Yes £38 for just the one wall. Zzzzzzzz. Mrs Harrison proudly proclaimed: "the carpet just doesn't stop there ---- it goes all the way up the stairs". Isn't that what a stair carpet is supposed to do? Ally, so enthralled, fell asleep on the new sofa, snoring gently upon my shoulder. Kathryn and I did however see eye to eye on most things, including the monarchy. Peter, her husband, took me on one side to show me his Pirelli calendar collection. He seemed to be quite aroused by the crumpled 1973 edition.

We left the Chaffer residence at some obscure hour after consuming vast amounts of whisky. So much so that my chain of thought is now a rusting pile of scrap metal. We drove back to Bradford and fell in the door at something like 3am. Coffee and Emmerson, Lake and Palmer's 'Pictures at an Exhibition' playing full blast.

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Thursday September 6, 1979

_.Uncle Harry arrived this morning at dawn and I had an encounter with him in the steam filled bathroom. He is so thin, and emaciated, like Gandhi in fact.

To work really early, which shocked Kathleen. At lunchtime to Da Mario's with Sarah and Eileen, and had a good nosh, but spent almost four English pounds, far too excessive.

Tonight Uncle Harry wanted to eat fish and chips. The seclusion of a broken down caravan on the windswept coast of Cumbria is no place for an intelligent Yorkshireman wo actually understands the problems of the Middle East and Palestine. He should perhaps be President Carter's secretary of state. I was so impressed by his knowledge of the Balfour Treaty of 1922. Poor Harry like many Rhodeses is wasted. A life of ridiculous waste. Am I going in the same direction perhaps?

Jim, Margaret, Lynn, Dave and Ally came over. We all discussed the dreaded Yorkshire Ripper, and attacked again on Monday in Bradford. Ally seems to have taken it very much to heart. She's terrified.

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Wednesday September 5, 1979

_. Up at 10 for breakfast with Mum and Dad. At 10:20 the funeral of Earl Mountbatten was on the BBC. I don't think I remember ever been so moved by a TV programme. I sat on the sofa blinking and gulping back tears. The procession through the streets of London was executed with typical British brilliance. The Queen and Prince Philip looked ghastly. I suppose it was agonizing for them trying to remain composed. The Prince of Wales read the lessons. The hymns 'For those in peril on the Sea' and 'Jerusalem' were sung. The sight of the HMS Kelly reunion mob and the Royal British Legion lads with heads bowed brought a lump to the throat.__________.

Later we sat in the garden, ate salad sandwiches and gulped tea, and reflected on the horrid, nasty world we live in.

To the YP from 5 until 10:30. Wendy is having an affair with a spotty young man from the machine room. She's old enough to remember Wayne Fontana, and fish and chips at 9d. Home on a bus.

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Tuesday September 4, 1979

_. Lynn and Dave's wedding photographs have been collected, at long last. We have been admiring the glossy masterpieces with wide-eyes and open mouths. It is hard to imagine that old Waite created them. It is also hard to believe that Lynn & Dave have been married for a year on Sunday. I would dearly love to get out of Ally the information as to where Lynn spent the Thursday night before her marriage. It is so bizarre.

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Monday September 3, 1979

_. The Second World War broke out on this day in 1939, and thankfully nothing broke out forty years later. I suppose you could say it hasn't quite finished yet.

At the YP Eileen announced that today is her second wedding anniversary, and bought us all a cream bun to celebrate. ___________.

Maria made her weekly pilgrimage from Ridgeway to Pine Tops this evening with the children. JPH is incredibly funny and I had to accompany him outside to supervise his bicycling endeavours on the drive. He misses the company of other children and his gaze is forever drifting next door to Richard, who is only slightly older.

I hear Molly creeping into Maria more and more. How will things be in twenty years time?

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Sunday September 2, 1979

_. 12th Sunday after Trinity

After lunch we went off to Club Street for a clean-up session. Joined by Lynn and Dave who kindly donated a chair and a rug to Ally's charity fund. Lynn leapt from the mini armed with buckets, sweeping brushes, and bottles of cleaning fluid. I escaped into the patch of garden to dig amongst the weeds. ___________.

Home at 5:30. Mum and Dad came home from John's at about 9 - and both were subdued. Mama is positively morose. She was distressed at leaving John alone at Lochans amongst the rubble and heather. Bed too late.

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Saturday September 1, 1979

_. Went with Ally, Lynn and David to Bradford to assist in the move to 5, Club Street, Lidget Green. Not many possessions to move in. A cooking pot and a few knives and forks. Vietnamese refugees have more items of furniture than Ally.

Tonight we sat in Ally's barren lounge having a few drinks and inspecting her photograph collection. She became very nostalgic, which isn't good, and to make matters worse Lynn persuaded her to phone Mrs Dixon, and within minutes the tears began to flow. _________.

We persuaded her to lock up and return to Pine Tops for the night. Pouring with rain in Bradford and at about 1:30am she ran out of petrol. Fortunately David had his gallon can with him.

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Friday August 31, 1979

_. My grandmother Ruth Rhodes would have been 79 today. The poor woman died 20 years ago. A ridiculously early age.

Mum and Dad drove up to Lochans this morning to see John, who is lonely. They'll be gone until Sunday. Obviously, Peter has taken up residence here. He and Susan always manage to turn Pine Tops into something resembling a third rate Brighton guest house, where the beds are creaking late into the night.

Out at 9:30 with Ally, Sue & Peter [all in the Spitfire!] to the White Cross. Very busy and boring. Sue was quite witty, but it was wasted on the dull assembly. Saw Christine Dibb [now Airey] and Graham.

Back at home Sue and Pete continued re-enacting all of D.H. Lawrence's books rolled into one.

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Thursday August 30, 1979

_. Mountbatten was brought home from Ireland and met at Southampton by the poor Duke of Edinburgh and Prince of Wales. Very sad.

Out tonight with Ally at 10 to the Woolpack at Yeadon and then Oakwood Hall, which was packed with strangers. We didn't dance, and spent a fortune. Home at 2:30, Ally driving like Carlos Reutermann. We played Johnny Mathis records at high volume, and woke poor Sue. [Mum and Dad were at Lynn's with Jim, Margaret, Tony and Hilda]. Ate boiled eggs and toast and went to bed at 3am.

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