1978 March week 10

Sunday 5^th March

Mother’s Day
(ah! Hence the daffodils, duster and cheque book cover)

Got up at 9.00 am.
Made Mam breakfast in bed cos it is Mother’s day (& I guess I had a few brownie points to earn back!)
Went back to bed & got up at 11.30.
Attempted some homework and failed.
Went to S’port at 7.00pm.
Me & Sam went to see ‘The Last Remake of Beau Geste’ It was not as good as it was made out to be.
(Marty Feldman was brilliant, one of the funniest films of his was ‘Young Frankinstein’. I remember ‘J’ & went to see it and we cried laughing through out … it was released in 1974)

This picture reminds me of someone in their younger years???

Went to the Dixie for about 10 minutes.
Got a lift home off Martin in his VW, ‘J’ was with him
Home at 11.00 pm

Monday 6^th March

Back to school
Darts concert at the Empire = didn’t go

Had Maths tutor. Did graphs.
Bev & Fi phoned.

Bev’s boyfriend had finished with her she was in tears.
Fi is off with ‘flu (I wonder where she got that from?)
Sam phoned (cor!)
Bev’s cat has had 2 kittens there maybe more. I wonder if Mum will let me have one?
Did French homework

Tuesday 7^th March

Bev had her Physics C.S.E practical then she went home.
Had a Maths test on graphs.
Got form back from the Tech saying I had an interview on 13/3/78 but I cancelled it thinking I was going to a fashion show but I ain’t (glad to see I had my priorities right!)
Met Sam
Went to ‘J’s house from 8-10.30

Kate Bush Wuthering Heights number 1

Wednesday 8^th March

Got up at 7.45 am.
Caught the 8.24 am train to Liverpool (how precise a time is that?)
Met Sam
Went to Lime Street Station & then we went to Wolverhampton.
Arrived there at 11.00 am.
Went to the Feathers pub for a drink and a game of darts
(sad as it may seem but I recall Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty playing on the jukebox)
Came home on the 3.12 pm train from Wolverhampton
We went to the Polytechnic there = rubbish (sorry Wolvo Poly!)
Washed my hair then went to the careers convention at our school
Phoned Sam had a bit of a barney with him but it is nothing serious (I hope) cos I love him

Thursday 9^th March

Sam met me out of school at 3.40 pm.
He stayed until 5.15
Bev, ‘J’ & Sam phoned.
Sam was outside the Railway pub with Stan and Mike.
He is phoning tomorrow at about 6.00 pm
We are supposed to be going to Formby footy club do but Sam wants to go the Midnight Lounge tomorrow.

Friday 10^th March

Had a practice German oral exam = ……. !
Took white jeans in they look ace. (I reckon flares were definitely out then!)
‘J’ called for me at 7.30 & we met Sam & Martin at 8.00 at the railway pub.
Wnt to Formby FC disco = no one there.
Went to the Bay Horse.
Then went back to the disco.
There was a fight as Sam’s mate had £12 robbed off him.
Sam went and stopped the fight (oh my hero!!!)
On the way home we got picked up by the pigs for speeding (I am typing what I see… what a horrid expression)
Martin took a breathalyzer = negative.
This rozzer said we were speeding doing 60 –65mph.
Martins speedo don’t work.
He will probably get a summons & £20 fine
Home at 11.30 pm.

(now the tale of the stop by the Police was quite amusing (I have checked this out with ‘J’). He went through some lights on red as there was no one around except a patrol car, it followed us up to ‘J’s house. Martin took the breath test and burst the bag. The police officer didn’t have any more bags so he called for a patrol car to bring one. Another patrol car turned up plus a ‘meat wagon’. We were actually waiting for the local plod to turn up on his bike as well… cos the village had one of those too. He did it again and burst that bag as well.. 3^rd time lucky for him and unlucky for the police as it was indeed negative. Thank god it wasn’t outside my house. ‘J’ said her parents witnessed it through the window and they were so cool they just thought it was funny. I doubt very much my Mum would have thought the same)

Saturday 11^th March

Got up at 11.00.
Phoned Bev & ‘J’
Sam has gone to Oulton Park to watch motor racing.
Went to Southport & to the ‘Brick
Also went into the Golden Inn to get me job back at the Outdoor café.
Sam phoned at 6.30 pm.
Met him at 7.30 & went to the Railway pub to meet some of his mates.
Went to some lads party.
Had a long discussion with Sam about our future together (god it has only been 3 months!!) as he is moving.
He says that if he is still going out with me then he will stay in Merseyside
I feel so mean.

1977 Saturday Job

Following my child slavery accident in 1975

I still had a yearning to earn teen money to spend on completely useless but oh so important trinkets, tat and 45's. So I decided it was time to start again to secure a position as a Saturday kid!

A mate of mine (a different one this time) had a job in a cafe on Lord Street and was certain she could get me in there too.

I was really excited and had all fingers and toes crossed (must remember .. no milk churns but at least now I had my corset)

My bestest mate 'J' had got a job in Matti & Tissot where they sold handmade chocolates and cakes .. so yummy .. but the down side was the staff wore white mop caps and frilly aprons! Oh no that was not for me .. in fact not for 'J' either as she quit and went to Debenham's Coffeebean (she still had to wear a geeky hat though!)

So to cut a long story short I did get the job and what a great job it was particularly as no milk churns were involved. The cafe was open from Easter until about late September as it was the 'Outdoor Cafe' now called the 'Gardens Cafe' so all depended on the weather.

We would start about 10.00 am. If it was raining I would phone up and see if I was needed. If you were 'needed' you could just end up just cleaning (if the rain persisted) and be there to serve the die hard holiday makers who would want a coffee or an ice cream.

The best thing though was to be sent home on a full wage if it got past lunch time and you knew the rain was not going to let up and we had played the hockey- cokey with the brollies all morning. The worst case scenario, however, was having to 'wait on at tables' in their other establishment which was dreadful, as I found out .... I think this was the first time I realised just how rude and very unappreciative the public can be, even though I was trying my hardest always smiling and being polite. These days they would be wearing their fish, chips and mushy peas!

Back to the Outdoor cafe. The daily tasks would be to put the tables, chairs & the brollies out. Making sure they were clean (bloody seagulls)

Set up the tea and coffee trays with polystyrene cups and plastic holders. Make the sandwiches and heat seal them.

Fill up the biscuit trays (orange, mint, fruit and plain Club, Kitkats, Blue Ribbons, Caramels & those individually wrapped biscuits you get in hotels etc)

Put out the packets of crisps and switch on the pie heater (pies heated and reheated ... !!)

Once established in the caff my main job was 'Ice Cream Queen' of course this job was not bestowed on me from the start I had to earn the crown. I started clearing tables, which actually I didn't mind as on the sunny days meant you were outside all day and chatting to the clientele.

When I eventually became 'Ice Cream Queen' I was the supreme champion at all things on the ice cream menu.... Knickerbocker Glory's, fruit salad sundaes, cones and 99's. With lots of practice I could hold 6 cones whilst adding flakes and raspberry syrup! Waytogo!!!

I loved it, it was great fun. On a sunny day the queue was endless, just a constant stream of holiday makers.

To see the kids faces as I handed them their Knickerbocker glory was priceless.

I would always try and make the concoction as wacky and as colourful as possible (if I had time)...

The recipe would start with a layer of fruit salad, then lime syrup, a scoop of ice cream, then more fruit, some chopped nuts (no asking 'does the person eating this have a nut allergy?' then), some raspberry (pineapple, apple or whatever sauce), 2 scoops of ice cream, more fruit followed by ice cream again, squirty cream, topped with nuts, raspberry and chocolate sauce, a flake and a wafer.

I have looked on the interweave for the correct 'layering' of a KBG and glad to see I was ok just to make it up as I went along.

I would like to apologise now to any parents whose children may have thrown up not long after eating one particularly if next stop was the Pleasure Beach

There is no doubt as a teen it was a great job and I worked there for a few more summers mostly 7 days a week in the holidays (particularly when I was at Poly).

Winter Saturdays I worked in a shoe shop......... I never had any money then as I just bought shoes with my wages (love shoes, you can never have enough pairs.....................



can you??......)