17th March 1980

Sunday 17
Got up at 9.30
Feeling knackered
Chris gave us a lift home from Fi's at 11.00
Had dinner then Sam, my brother & I went to the Railway (pub) for 1/2 hour
It was a lovely day (as it was yesterday 29 years on)
Sam and I went for a walk
Sam left at 5.30
Had a bath & hair wash
Sam phoned at 9.30
He asked me to go on a barge trip in September = YES!!
Bed at 10.00 cos I am so tired
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Happy St. Patricks Day everyone

The Irish really know how to celebrate their saints day(unlike us English who whimper out when St. Georges Day appears in fear of being politically correct!! Thank goodness I have some Irish blood in my veins!) ...... the pubs in Manchester will be buzzing ... Mulligan's, O'Sheas etc with pints of Guinness with Shamrock heads ...

It is also my puppy's 2nd Birthday

16th March 1980

Sunday 16
Got up at 1 o'clock (gawd to sleep in until 1pm bliss!!)
Clocks went forward 1hr - British Summer Time begins (this year it is the 29th .. how do they work it out??)
Machined zip into jeans
Phoned Sam he was in quite a good mood!
Ann B phoned
Sorted out cookery recipe
Had a bath & hair wash
Sam phoned at 10.00
Wrote off to 5 jobs
Bed at 12 o'clock

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What a fabulously gorgeous weekend it has been. The sun has shone and I have felt like I have actually had a weekend as I have been out and about & done some Spring cleaning. I understand why we do Spring cleaning because when the sun eventually shines in after the winter you realise how 'minging' everywhere looks after the darkness of winter (you realise at this time of year how you have for the past 5 or so months have gone to work in the dark & returned in the dark and the weekends are dull and dreary).
This weekend I have done this ... yes I pegged washing out for the first time since September!

How wonderful it is to see your washing dry naturally outdoors (and heaving a hugh sigh of relief that your electric bill will go down as the dryer isn't on constantly)

I went walking in woodland with the pup ... enjoying the sights of Spring



I got a bit scared at one stage as I could hear something behind me... it is quite remote where I walked the pup ... I looked round and spotted a squirrel. When he saw me he picked something up and scooted up a tree. Intrigued I had to see what he had so I followed where he had gone ...

just fabulous he was chewing on a huge bar of chocolate

see even squirrels need chocolate

14th & 15th March 1980

Friday 14
College 12 - 3
Worked at the careers book in the library (I bet it had what I wanted to be but not what I ended up doing!! I try to advise my teen over such matters without bursting the 'hope' bubble)
Brought it home
Sam phoned at 7.30 ish (so glad I am now 'ish' the preciseness of times in my diary did worry me slightly lol)
I was fed up tonight so I went out with my brother and Mike to the Houghton & the 'Brick
Home at 11.15
Watched a film 'Dance of the Vampires ' = rubbish


Bed 1.30

Saturday 15 (2 years 3 months) (that is how long I had been dating Sam)

Worked 9 - 6 as usual
Freezing cold day = not busy at all
Phoned Sam in my lunch time - which was 3.15
He wasn't in as he was at Stoke v Norwich
He phoned at 6.30
Wasn't too chatty but what can one expect from him .. miracles ?? (Oh my word young 70s!)
Fi came round and stayed til 11.40
Bed at 11.50

England v Scotland in the 'Grand Slam' - rugby
England won !!!!
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Now being a Mum (or Dad) comes without instructions. I think so far I have done a fairly good job (without paternal help).
I have a gorgeous Teen who is feisty, loving, individual, polite, cheeky at times but not in trouble with law, who doesn't smoke or drink & gets good grades at school.. so all in all I am thankful I have done the right thing in the past 16 years........ BUT can someone please pass me the Coping manual/instructions (there must be some) that helps me cope with her going to Rome on a plane (evil cigar tubes that defy the rules of gravity) without me in a few weeks time .................

13th March 1980

Thursday 13
Started cooking at 8.30 am
Finished at 12.00
Went back to Fi's absolutely knackered (I think taking A'level Food and Nutrition taught me I really didn't want to be a Master Chef... cheffing is really tough!)
Decided to go to the Jumble Sale at St. Paul's Church
Bought a purple jumper for 10p, a beige jumper for 10p, a jacket for Sam 20p and a t-shirt for 10p
(what happened to church jumble sales where you would have tables full of clothes that wifeys would fight over and there was always that 'certain' smell about the place.. I suspect they have been taken over today by car boot sales, dinating to charity shops and E Bay!!)
Got home at 4.30
Stayed in all night
Sam phoned at 4.40 & 11.00
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Today is another Friday the 13th also it is Red Nose Day.

I Love RND. (click here)
I have bought my T-shirt. Got Michelle Keegan to sign my tag.

Unfortunately I am going to a 'stuffy' meeting so I will wear my pin badge instead (some folk just don't have a sense of humour)
Teen has her t-shirt and is wearing it to school for a 50p donation

I have bought 4 noses ........ the dog ate one..... I have followed Chris Moyles and the other celebs climbing Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money and have sent my support and money. What a brilliant achievement they all got to the top and raised almost £2 million..

Teen & I will be sat in front of the TV tonight laughing at the humour and crying at the pain of those far less fortunate than ourselves ......
Please if you can donate then do so ... just a £1 will make such a difference to someones life ...... & please pop along to the webpage and see just what it is all about

70s x

9th, 10th, 11th & 12th March 1980

Gawd I typed out a post last night and the internet decided to go to sleep so all was lost ... doh! So again I think I will do a brief outline of the dairy entries

Sunday 9
I got up at 12.00 then in the evening we went to the Woolpack to play darts and skittles

Monday 10
Sam woke me up before he went to work... I messed about playing with his dog then met him for lunch.
He bought me a turquoise blouse from Dorothy Perkins and I caught the train home. When I got back to Liverpool the heel of my boot fell off... not just the heel tip but the whole heel... thank goodness for good old Wollies (aww poor Woolworths!!) it was stuck on again ... I do know the boots were never the same again as the heel just didn't sit righ ...I loved those grey boots.
Watched a new series called 'Fox' (don't remember this at all!)

Tuesday 11
Actually did a full day in college but it was 'quite boring really' Watched 'The Virgin & the Gypsy' for the 4th time

Wednesday 12
Went to college 11 -1 & bought Sad Cafe tickets for £2.25 ... how cheap were they?? Cooked a chicken for cookery the next day & weighed out all the ingredients from 6 - 8 .... god what was I making that took 2 hours to weigh out lol??
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When my computer is playing well I do Twitter and it has amazed me how many celebrities Twitter too.... most have 1000s of followers and some do follow us ordinary folk (not me though... )
I came across this paper that came free with the Manchester Evening News last week (I was putting the recycling out!)

It gives a big list of real celebs not the pretend ones .. so if you fancy stalking ooops following some here they are
Twitter.com/
Danny Wallace ..... is misterwallace
Russell Brand ... is rustyrockets
Demi Moore ... is mrskutcher
Alan Carr ..... is AlanCarr
Xzibit ... is mrxtothaz
Chris Moyles... is chrisdjmoyles
Britney Spears .... is britneyspears
Lily Allen ....... (just for you DP) lilyroseallen
MC Hammer ... is mchammer
Willaim Shatner ... is WilliamShatner
John Cleese.... is JohnCleese
Noel Edmonds .... is noel_edmonds
Bill Gates ..... is billgates
Richard Branson ... is richardbranson (I coul stalk him if the internet he provides me with worked better)
P Diddy .... is iamdiddy
Boris Johnson ... is MayorOfLondon
Tom Cruise ... is realtomcruise

& I am 70steen

3rd - 8th March 1980

Due to my absence I won't write all my dairy entries for the 6 days I will just snip out bits & give a brief outline

Monday 3
It seems I skived the morning off college as I over slept. Strolled in there at 2pm and came home at 4.45... what a stressless Monday!!

Tuesday 4
I had my interview at Marks & Spencer. The interview was 1 1/4 hours long the woman interviewing was' masculine & bullying in a way .. I don't really know if I want the job anyway' Just as well as I didn't get it!! Wrote to Rolls Royce and International Stores for jobs too

Wednesday 5
I had my interview at the Midland Bank ... now I hoped I got this post ... but alas no I didn't ! Made quiche lorraine for tea and tidied my bedroom

Thursday 6
Actually went to college on time on this day only to get the bad news I only got 33% for my mock Sociology (of course the real exams I thought I was taking were mocks doh!!) Made a time plan for Food and Nutrition and washed my clothes to go away

Friday 7
Managed to go to college for an hour and worked for 2 hours (Got £2... OMG £1 an hour!!). I went to Stafford and we went to see the 'Photos' at Stafford Polytechnic but they weren't on so saw the 'Electronics' instead and apparently they were 'crap!'

Saturday 8
Got up at 12.00 & went to Stafford shopping. In the evening we went to 'Cinderella, Rockerfellas' night club ... 'good but expensive'

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My how fast has my week off work gone... mind you I have been dashing around between the North West of England and Herefordshire... I have eaten out every day and not cooked a single meal .. so that is a result in itself.....

OK back to the 80s from Mode Avantgarde published in 1980 I found an article about shops in Manchester. I moved to Manchester C1985 and worked as a manager in a major department store at the time... sadly they don't have stores anymore.


The opening statement of the article says 'What Manchester does today, the rest of the country does tomorrow'
That quite surprised me as I never thought of Manchester being a fashion icon city then.. it certainly has that feel about it now though. The statement was qualified with the information that Manchester came up with the idea of free trade upon which Victorian prosperity was based... the city boasts the first canal, the firsy railway, the first civic aerodrome and the first computer.... Rutherford split the atom here and the first Rolls Royce was made!!



What a great menu ... apparently there is still a Beaujolais Restaurant in Manchester but it is now on Portland Street .. I must check it out

I have passed this salon many times ... pleased to see it survived into the 21st century

Lisa didn't survive, the property is now part of Habitat

Don't know where this boutique was located?

mmm there is still a mans shop on Old Bank Street....

This is not far from my office and is now a swish resturant called Luso

his interior designs have changed a bit !


what the man about town was wearing in 1980... nicely coiffured hair do!!

29th February & 1st & 2nd March 1980

Gawd this threw me as 1980 was a leap year
Friday 29th
pm. Sociology
Got up at 9.30
Had a bath & Hair wash (gotta look good for my exam)
Revised until 12.30
Exam = ok
Did 3 out of 4 .. not too good
Got a red rose off Sam xx
Home at 5.50
Got ready to go out
Went to meet Sam from the station at 7.40
Left for town at 8.15
Went to the Snooty Fox & Follies = a bit boring
Asked Sam to marry me & he said yes (gulp!!) (mmm gulp indeed lol)
Home at 1.45 am

Saturday 1
Got to work at 9.15 = very busy doing stock most of the day
Very sunny so it was a bit of a fight to get outside (there were clothes rails on the street of the boutique so you had to stand guard... it was bloody awful though when cold!)
Got a pair of blue/green Lee Cooper jeans size 8!! £14.99 (loved those jeans, they were iridescent)
& a cream blouse for my interview £7.99
Went to the Railway in Formby at 8.30
Went for a Chinese with Sam , Mike, Dand, my now ex husband, and a few others
For 3 of us it was 11.97 (lol is that all??)
Home at 1.00am

Sunday 2
Got up at 9.30
went for a walk around Ainsdale
Sam's grandparents phoned to say they would pick us up from here
I didn't know I was invited
So it was a mad rush to get ready
They picked us up at 12.10 the meal was at 1.00 at the Grapes Hotel
Had French onion soup, Coq au vin, 3 veg, 2 lots of potatoes (roast & boiled) (what a foody I was lol )
Went to Waterloo for tea
Sam & his family left at 7.15
& his grandparents brought me home
Watched TV & went to bed at 11.00

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I could quite get used to this not working lark. I am on a weeks leave and today I went for lunch with a friends whose birthday it is today (Happy Birthday Helen)
We ended up at the Trafford Centre. I have not been there for simply ages and it is such a shame as it is 10 minutes from home.


We ate at Rice Flamebar & Grill and it was superb .. 2 courses for £6.99. Well worth a visit if you find yourself in this neck of the woods.
2 more of my mates have a birthday this week too (on the same day) plus it is my great nephews too... what is it about March !!!

This is fairly amusing ... it is a Birthday calculator.

Amongst other things it tells me :-
My fortune cookie reads:
'Your ability to juggle many tasks will take you far.'
(not wrong there)

I am 1,486,488,503 seconds old.
In dog years I am 6.7334637964775 years old

My Birth tree is

Elm Tree, the noble-mindedness

Pleasant shape, tasteful clothes, modest demands, tends not forgive mistakes, cheerful, likes to lead but not to obey, honest and faithful partner, tends to a know-all-attitude and making decisions for others, noble-minded, generous, good sense of humour, practical.... (mmm that could be right too !!)

Go on give it a go :-)