July 1 - 3
No entries
July 4th (Wed)
Going to Baileys* tonight. From work* I went home to get a few things and then walked back to Ju's.
**see below
July 5th
Work is ok but boring. Very boring.
July 6th
Well, finished work at the hospital. Doris was sad to see us go I think. Don't think Emily was bothered.
July 7th (Sat)
Mum and dad were annoyed because of the time I arrived home last night (this morning). Went to town and bought a bikini. Went to Ju's at night because Norma's in Brum and mum and dad are going out.
July 8th
Behind with diary. Week before last Ju stayed here while ma and pa went away and week after I stayed at Ju's. Got £40 from hospital job. Back to school tomorrow. Worried in case M comes to our house.
July 9th (Mon)
Ah well, back at school. Done nothing all day, just being given books and mucking around. Miss Rogerson told us about film theatre - pretty good, yeah? Nervous about M. Got passport photos.
July 10th
Another tremendously exciting day at school. Done nowt. Except in Russian where we read poetry. Julie skived off school - just like that! Bored!! Oh, and saw swimming pool for the first time. Pretty nice*
July 11th (Wed)
Ye gods! another boring day at school - just nothing to say really. Ju went to see Ruth, student who we met at the hospital, last night. She's coming with us to the folk night on Thursday. Suzanne and Danielle (Belgian) are coming too.
July 12th
Another wonderful day at school! Would you believe there were 2 people in the geography lesson?! Russian was terrible. Miss Hatch is still rotten to us. Went to Royton Catholic Club with Ju and Ruth - it was an Irish night - pretty good.
July 13th
Arts Festival Day at school. Suzanne brought Danielle (Belgian girl) to school. She must think we're nuts - mannequin parades, discos, exhibitions of painting and models etc. She's a really nice person to get on with. Want to cry. Felt quiet and mum said I was being snobbish.
July 14th (Sat)
Went to degree ceremony at Brum University. Norma Taylor BSc. Boring but I felt so proud of my Norma. Met her Welsh friend Mags. Went to dance at Tame Valley Tennis Club. No good.
July 15th
Ju and Suzanne slept last night. Came home at midnight. This morning me and Norma went to a warehouse to look at record-players for £7 - had none in - go next week. Oh! What can I do to be independent? My family (except Norm and dog) get on my nerves.
*Commentary
July 4 - Baileys was a nightclub that had recently opened in Oldham. Julie and I both had jobs in the laundry at the main Oldham General Hospital for a week or two. Very hot, hard work, hard on the hands. I recall that we had to wear white cotton gloves to handle the hot sheets as they came through the pressing rollers, but they burnt through quickly.
July 10 - every pupil in the school had helped raise money for the building of this pool.
**Extra Different Commentary
Dear reader. 2 things of import happened on 4th July 1973.
(1) I had a letter from my ex-boyfriend Rob, asking me to go back with him. The letter is still tucked into my diary. I didn't go back to him.
(2) I got chatted up by an older man as I was walking down the road. This had very unpleasant consequences and ended up with me nearly being raped a few days later. I'm not going to transcribe the bits in the diary relating to it because I am very embarrassed at the naivety of my young self, and the lack of discrimination that I showed (I know I shouldn't be). Funnily, whether because of my age, or the era I lived in, I didn't recognise it as attempted rape at the time, in fact I seemed to have just carried on reporting normal things in my diary. That truth only occurred to me many years later when I was telling someone about it. And attempted rape it was, for sure.
No entries
July 4th (Wed)
Going to Baileys* tonight. From work* I went home to get a few things and then walked back to Ju's.
**see below
July 5th
Work is ok but boring. Very boring.
July 6th
Well, finished work at the hospital. Doris was sad to see us go I think. Don't think Emily was bothered.
July 7th (Sat)
Mum and dad were annoyed because of the time I arrived home last night (this morning). Went to town and bought a bikini. Went to Ju's at night because Norma's in Brum and mum and dad are going out.
July 8th
Behind with diary. Week before last Ju stayed here while ma and pa went away and week after I stayed at Ju's. Got £40 from hospital job. Back to school tomorrow. Worried in case M comes to our house.
July 9th (Mon)
Ah well, back at school. Done nothing all day, just being given books and mucking around. Miss Rogerson told us about film theatre - pretty good, yeah? Nervous about M. Got passport photos.
July 10th
Another tremendously exciting day at school. Done nowt. Except in Russian where we read poetry. Julie skived off school - just like that! Bored!! Oh, and saw swimming pool for the first time. Pretty nice*
July 11th (Wed)
Ye gods! another boring day at school - just nothing to say really. Ju went to see Ruth, student who we met at the hospital, last night. She's coming with us to the folk night on Thursday. Suzanne and Danielle (Belgian) are coming too.
July 12th
Another wonderful day at school! Would you believe there were 2 people in the geography lesson?! Russian was terrible. Miss Hatch is still rotten to us. Went to Royton Catholic Club with Ju and Ruth - it was an Irish night - pretty good.
July 13th
Arts Festival Day at school. Suzanne brought Danielle (Belgian girl) to school. She must think we're nuts - mannequin parades, discos, exhibitions of painting and models etc. She's a really nice person to get on with. Want to cry. Felt quiet and mum said I was being snobbish.
July 14th (Sat)
Went to degree ceremony at Brum University. Norma Taylor BSc. Boring but I felt so proud of my Norma. Met her Welsh friend Mags. Went to dance at Tame Valley Tennis Club. No good.
July 15th
Ju and Suzanne slept last night. Came home at midnight. This morning me and Norma went to a warehouse to look at record-players for £7 - had none in - go next week. Oh! What can I do to be independent? My family (except Norm and dog) get on my nerves.
*Commentary
July 4 - Baileys was a nightclub that had recently opened in Oldham. Julie and I both had jobs in the laundry at the main Oldham General Hospital for a week or two. Very hot, hard work, hard on the hands. I recall that we had to wear white cotton gloves to handle the hot sheets as they came through the pressing rollers, but they burnt through quickly.
July 10 - every pupil in the school had helped raise money for the building of this pool.
**Extra Different Commentary
Dear reader. 2 things of import happened on 4th July 1973.
(1) I had a letter from my ex-boyfriend Rob, asking me to go back with him. The letter is still tucked into my diary. I didn't go back to him.
(2) I got chatted up by an older man as I was walking down the road. This had very unpleasant consequences and ended up with me nearly being raped a few days later. I'm not going to transcribe the bits in the diary relating to it because I am very embarrassed at the naivety of my young self, and the lack of discrimination that I showed (I know I shouldn't be). Funnily, whether because of my age, or the era I lived in, I didn't recognise it as attempted rape at the time, in fact I seemed to have just carried on reporting normal things in my diary. That truth only occurred to me many years later when I was telling someone about it. And attempted rape it was, for sure.
I have been enjoying catching up on the World of Jackie, this must have been a difficult one to transcribe. I hope you are ok. I think it will ring a chord with many as when we look back we realise how naive we all were at that age.
ReplyDeleteTake care, thanks for sharing.
Thank you Helen. Thanks for recognising the difficulty. One of the things I might have said in my commentary, I think, is what a common experience this is, for young girls.
ReplyDelete