Saturday November 8, 1980

_. Up at 11 for bacon and eggs. To Ally's at 12 and found her cleaning. Decorate the bedroom until 5. Daubing paste &c.

Went into Bradford at 5 and bought Tim a T-shirt and a birthday card. Ate fish and chips in newspaper like ravenous fiends.

Bathed in the luxury of the green bathroom, listening to Ally throwing a tantrum about her clothes - or lack of them. On to Pudsey at 8:30 and then  we all - the whole mob - went to the King's Arms in Tong for refreshment. I wore a tie pin which created a minor sensation for some reason. Ally really gets on well with Diane. Sue and Pete are uncertain about a holiday next year, but we are considering our plans in earnest. Lynn was lovely all in black. Back to Wilsby [6, St James's Crescent] at 11. I was pissed and fell on a poor woman splattering her with pizza and potato salad. Tony was becoming quite malevolent to Peter, who clowned around in a punch bowl. Auntie Mabel was the only surprise guest.

Back to Rue Club at 3am.

-=-

Friday November 7, 1980

_. Sarah's birthday. Out to Da Mario's at 12 for a joyful celebration. Just Sarah, Shazzo, Carol J, and Marilyn. Ate lasagne but felt hungry afterwards. Walked back to the YP minus Sarah, who took a half day. Called at a travel agents and collected some books for the next summer season. Shazzo says Agios Nikolaos on Crete is 'lively' and 'my scene'. Sarah's Lindos on Rhodes sounds starchy and old. You know I like noise, debauchery, dissipation and booze.

Home at 6. Read 'Caligula' by William Howard. Truly a foul, evil volume of perversion if ever I saw one.

In the space of two days I've been thoroughly brainwashed into thinking  Ronald Reagan isn't such a bad guy. His elder brother, Neil, is quoted as saying he cannot understand why 'Junior wants to run America'. To bed at nearly 12.

-=-

Thursday November 6, 1980

Caligula.

_. Horribly wet. On to Leeds by bus with Mac [Alan Macgregor], he's a Bradfordian, you know. He gave me a potted history of the Bradford public transport organisation.

Out at 12 to Len's Bar with Ally and a 'rosy' Lynn. Ate pate and toast and put back a few lagers. This was the enjoyable part because at 2 I was dragged out by the frenzied women to the bustling shops. Lynn bought maternity dresses and hideous, sail-like undergarments. I browsed amongst the books. I bought 'Caligula' by William Howard, which proves to be a hair-raising account of this lurid era in Roman history. Another bit of erotica for my bottom shelf. We bought JPH and Catherine's presents from Santa Claus. Home at 6:30 cold, tired and penniless.

Too exhausted to go out. Jim and Margaret came at 9 and we sat with them. The call of bed was too strong.

The little girl next door, Claire, plays he recorder day and night, and it's always the same tune ~ 'Go and Tell Aunt Nancy'. I've heard it 48,000,000 times.

-=-

Wednesday November 5, 1980

_. I retired to bed at 3am and climbed out again at 6:45 to watch the election programme on the BBC. Reagan has won everywhere, and Carter is left with only Georgia, his home state. Mrs Thatcher will be rubbing her hands with glee but I cannot help feeling wary about this clapped out old actor. Mind you, I said some pretty loathsome things about Jimmy Carter in '76, but changed my opinion of him.

Princess Anne: another baby.

Reagan is the oldest person to have been elected president of the US. A couple were elected aged 65 back in the last century, but Ronald will be 70 on February 6. I have always thought that Kennedy was the youngest president, 43 at his inauguration, but Teddy Roosevelt was only 42 at his in 1901.

It was announced this afternoon that Princess Anne is expecting another child in May. Carol laughed when I suggested Lady Diana Spencer might make it three.

Ally came over at 8 and we went to Leeds. Elaine, she says, has confided in Lynn that poor Billy is definitely 'queer'. How very perceptive of her.

To the Bank wine bar opposite the Town Hall. Bohemian types sinking bottles of wine. Joined by Graham and Gill at 10:15. They are getting married on March 28, and spending their honeymoon in Morocco. How can they do such a thing after the shoddy treatment King Hassan gave to the Queen last week? On to Rue Club and a Chinese take-away. To bed very late.

-=-

Tuesday November 4, 1980

_. Nothing at the YP. Graham Dixon phoned me at about 11pm enquiring after the whereabouts of Ally. I told him she would be in bed ignoring the phone. He and Gill are coming to Leeds on business [delivering programmes to the Grand Theatre] tomorrow and want to meet for lunch or a drink. Hell, I have no money.

Ronald Reagan: landslide.

A day of elections. I am writing now at 1:35am on November 5, and I have to report that Ronald Reagan has won a landslide victory in the US presidential election. Or so it seems anyway. I am watching the BBC live from the USA, and they are predicting this victory and are never wrong. Oh, God. Get out the gas masks, Ethel. The American broadcasting networks are reeling at the news. No sitting president has been ejected after only one term of office since Hoover in 1933. If only Carter had done something about Iran in '78 when the Shah began to have trouble. Had he shown some foresight he wouldn't be now sitting in the White House with tear stained cheeks. All this leaves me with sweat on my brow and stains of a muddy hue in my undergarments. Russia bashin' is bloody dangerous. Blimey, it could all be over by Christmas, and by 'all over' I refer to the world!

The other election taking place today was at Westminster where a man called Healey has won the first ballot in the election for a new leader of the Labour party. This means nothing. I have watched a man called Foot waving his walking stick at TV cameras and beaming merrily. Can nobody have told him?

I must remember to tell Ally about Graham, when I make my dawn alarm call. She's bound to panic because she is penniless and almost destitute and you know how Graham loves his greasy take-aways and gallons of ale.

It's now 1:50am and I am looking at David Dimbleby and wondering whether or not to switch off. Oh dear.

-=-

Monday November 3, 1980

_. Mum phoned me at the office. They are going to Lynn and Dave's for dinner. My dinner, a fish pie, will be in the oven. I found it warming at 6pm. Ally arrived at 7:45 looking vivacious with her hair gathered on top of a new enchanting fringe. We sat for a couple of hours like a long established couple. She looked at the newspapers, breaking off to giggle at 'Not the Nine O'clock News'. At 10:30, both feeling weak with hunger, we bought fish and chips. I am a growing boy. She left me at 11 to avoid the horror bits on Barry Norman's 'Film 80'. Switched off and retired to bed at 11:30.

Denis Healey: party leader?

Princess Michael of Kent is expecting her second child in April. Only last week I was expressing my impatience to Carol J that Her Most Catholic Royal Highness wasn't playing the game. Lord Frederick, her first, will be two on April 6. Perhaps this will now inspire Princess Anne, because the Royal Family tends to produce offspring in twos and threes.

Two elections tomorrow: [1] The Labour party leadership, and [2] the US presidential elections. If Healey and Reagan win these I will become a Benedictine Monk and wear rough sacking next to my flesh for the remainder of my days.

-=-

Sunday November 2, 1980

_. 22nd Sunday after Trinity

It's done Ally so much good throwing a party because everyone pays such lavish complements to Sprog Hall. The enchantment with 5, Club Street is widespread. Up at 10:30 gasping for water. Billy, who had slept in a chair all night, looked half dead, clutching a cigarette. Dave G the only one showing signs of life.

To Guiseley at 1pm. Drop in on Sue and Pete who are fitting a new sink unit. We left them working and went to the White Cross. We left Billy sleeping in the car underneath a sleeping bag. Afterwards, with Billy still indisposed in the car, we went to Pine Tops for an hour so that Dave could see Mum. We sat like geriatrics watching an ancient American film.

The lads left for Stockport at 4. Ally anmd I are going over on November 15 for dinner at Steak Kebabs, at Cheadle Hulme [?].

Royal news: The Queen has received terrible treatment from Morocco's insane King Hassan on her recent state visit to that 'tin pot' monarchy. The mad man refused to keep any schedule and frequently disrupted or held up the Queen's programme.

It is rumoured in one of the papers that Lady Diana Spencer has recently visited Highgrove, the home of the Prince of Wales. HRH gave Lady Diana a guided tour of his new country retreat. Ding dong.

Ghastly news: Michael Foot is going to be the next leader of the Labour party. Of this I am quite certain. And, my doubts that Ronald Reagan would be elected president of the USA are fading rapidly. I can hardly believe that the American people could be so bloody stupid as to give a mandate to this 70 year-old, dyed haired actor. Who'll be standing in 1984? Kennedy v. Telly Savalas, or will it be George Burns?

Watched a Dennis Potter play. Ally stayed the night. Bed at 12:30.

-=-

Saturday November 1, 1980

_. Cold. To Bradford at lunchtime with Ally on a shoe buying expedition. After three hours we emerged from a shop with a pair costing £18. She is desperately low on footwear and this, I fear, is only the beginning.

With Jill and Tim to the Bod at 8 meeting Dave G, Garry, Billy, Denise Akroyd, Chris Ratcliffe, Dave L, Jacq, Paul, Chris & Audrey Rycroft, Lynn, Dave, Sue, Pete, Dave & Elaine Allinson, &c.

Elaine Allinson and Dave B.

Ally on top form doing the rounds and chatting with everyone. She is more sociable than me. Back at the house. Dave L danced and was killer wearing Ally's shower cap. Billy gave a brilliant one man performance stripped to the waist. Garry, on his return from the Bod, collapsed and was carried to bed. Elaine was a great addition to the party. It all fizzled out at at about 2:30. Sue wasn't on top form because she had suffered a fall in the Crown, and was in some pain. Chippy and Deborah came to the Bod but never made it back to the house. A good thing really because Lynn can be violent where he is concerned. Bed at 3-ish.

-=-

Friday October 31, 1980

_. Left Ally at 8 and made my way to Leeds. She has decided to stay at home and splash gloss paint on her bathroom. Why should she enslave herself to that twisted Welsh fiend at Bradford AHA?

I phoned her several times throughout the day for bulletins on the bathroom progress and received favourable reports. The paint was winning 7-0 at half time.

Ally came over for a candlelit dinner with Mama and Papa. Dad related some amusing anecdotes about his old sergeant in Goldthorpe, Horace Jacobs.

Out to the Shoulder at 8:30 . Met Sue, Pete, Gerald and Debbie. I felt a cold coming on. Like a bronchil pug. Escaped the smoke-filled pub and the two us went to the Drop, where I had three large, medicinal whiskies with the approval of Jean Hanson. They had the effect of a cloud lifting from my brow.

Home in a stupor. The hideous Esther Rantzen on a chat show. Mum says Denise visited me the other evening when we were Flexitexing. What can this mean?

To bed with Clementine Churchill.

-=-

Thursday October 30, 1980

_. Sarah and I refused to pay our union subs and stand defiant in the face of death. However, inspecting my contract [signed as recently as May] I see that I am virtually hog-tied to NATSOPA. Jim Rawnsley begged me to reconsider because he knows only too well just how vindictive trade unions can be. It might take them years, he says, but in the end they will find a way of getting rid of me.

To Lidget Green at 6. Paint the bathroom green. We went to the Bod for the last hour. We discussed Catherine Brook _______. Fish and chips afterwards but encountered a thug embossed in tattoos, and blessed with a flowery command  of our rich language. I escaped with my fish and me life.

Back to Ally's. Re-arranged the sitting room and squabbled until nearly 3am.

-=-

Wednesday October 29, 1980

_. The YP Library staff all received letters from the M.O.C. [Mother of the Chapel] Miss P. McKone, reminding us of our huge arrears with our NATSOPA subs and informs us that in three weeks time we will be sacked if we haven't paid up. The union is in no position to threaten and I am blazing with rage. This means war, or certainly resignation from the odious NATSOPA.

On to Club Street at 12. I flooded the bathroom whilst attempting to remove a radiator. I did have doubts about this all along.  Ally had hysterics. She went out for the afternoon and I finished the wallpapering. Quite a favourable attempt. We dined at 6:30 and I continued decorating until 10. Drove to Pine Tops afterwards.

Dave G phoned at 7. He is definitely coming on Saturday, but he and the lads are dining at the Georgian Restaurant first. It's s Saturday tradition that cannot be broken.

-=-