Thursday July 31st

Robert went home just before I got up, leaving in a bad mood and greatly depressed over his housing arrangements. When I got up Mum was upset over it all. Apparently Robert had been short with her, almost as if all his worries were Mums fault. Last night I noticed he was depressed and he kept going on (unfairly I thought) about Dads lack of interest in his plight. He really wants the Penistone flat but has to give a £75 deposit. Since he hasn’t that sort of cash available he had to say that he’d take it, if available, in two weeks time. Mum offered to lend him the money but he said he wanted to manage on his own and when she suggested he approach Dad personally he said it was impossible. I thought he was making Dad out in a bad light.

Anyway, words were exchanged between Mum and Robert this morning and Mum cried when she was telling me. She said tearfully that Dad is often hurt that none of us ever approach him as head of the house.

At 11 o’clock, I went into Easterby with Mum, primarily to go to the Main Library. Mum got off at William Street and the ‘bus arrived in Holdsworth station at 12.10.

The next hour I spent happily browsing round the insect books on the third floor. The books I chose were, “Studying Insects: A Practical Guide” by R.L.E. Ford; “Insects” by B.H. Cogon and K.G.V. Smith; “Pleasures From Insects” by Michael Tweedie and a book by Asimov, “A Choice of Catastrophies.” I also renewed “The Ape Within Us” and returned the other two books I borrowed without having read them.

After visiting the library I went to Queensgate “Smiths” where I bought a book called “Biorhythm” by Bernard Gittelson. It was this I looked at all the rest of the afternoon. It is a fascinating book.

I watched the Olympics, read books and generally drifted around. Tony Wright, Andrew’s mate, rang and arrived shortly after on his brand new Honda 500-4. They played records in my bedroom while I busily built a baited pitfall trap for ground dwelling insects from a truncated petrol funnel, a marvel tin and a piece of wood (as shown in “Insects” (Cogon & Smith)). This, when sunk so that the top is flush with the soil, is supposed to attract beetles and others, which fall through the funnel and are trapped in the tin. This I finished at 9.30 and planted it by the rhubarb over in the garden’s far corner.

For the next couple of hours, Andrew, Tony Wright and I sat in the dining room looking at the “Biorhythm” book and talking generally. Tony Wright has a terrible stammer and it can be quite embarrassing sat waiting as he desperately tries to utter a word.

At 11.15p.m I went out with a torch to check my trap and, wonderbar!! – there sat a specimen of the Mealworm beetle (Tenebrio molitar). At least I now know the trap works.

Wednesday July 30th

I got up mid-morning and after playing Robert at Scrabble (I won one and lost one) and having tomato soup for dinner we went into Knowlesbeck.

Robert said he wanted to go because he has started collecting stamps depicting birds and he wanted to look round. We parked up in one of the many car parks and went to Sweeney's, a Smiths like store. I also wanted to look for a good insect identification guide (preferably the Collins one) – they had the Collins Field Guide to Trees but not the one I wanted.

We also stopped at Knowlesbeck Library to look at the sale of second hand library books (no good ones) and then just wandered around Knowlesbeck to the Knowlesbeck Bookshop (a pathetic selection) and an antique shop.

We got back around tea-time. In the evening Robert had to go view two flats at Rotherham and Penistone and at a quarter to seven Andrew and I set off to Cardigan Park to see Athletic’s first home match of the season, a friendly against Moorwood Town. Athletic played them last season too and got beaten 3-0.

It was good to be back at the Park after the disappointment of last season. The crowd was pathetic (250+), and the first half was conducted in pretty pedestrian fashion. To say Moorwood play in the Northern League and Athletic in the Northern Alliance, the former played crummily. Don Meyers scored after 39 minutes.

The score remained 1-0, and half-way through the second half, Robert arrived in suit and tie. Apparently he had driven like a lunatic from Rotherham to get to the ground in time.

Robert and Andrew went to the pub’ after dropping me off and when they came home they brought fish and chips. Before going to bed I watched “Guyana Tragedy” (Part 2), about Jones Town, Guyana and events leading up to the suicides of 913 people in November 1978.

Tuesday July 29th

I did absolutely nothing, apart from feel bored and think about how I’m wasting my holiday. Robert went to Dardray again and I didn’t get up until one o’clock.

Everybody is grumbling nowadays. Dad moans about immigrants, weather, cricket, politics, the Olympics, the criminals he deals with, how tired he feels – in fact everything; Mum moans on about Dad moaning; Andrew looks depressed; Robert is sick about his moving situation and I’m pissed off with everything. How mundane my life is. There is just nothing to do except read, watch television, or listen to music.

In the evening, Robert and I played darts and I identified a moth. It was large and yellow and was attracted to my window by the light. It was a Swallow Tail moth and I had three separate sightings either of the same one or three individuals. The largeish moth I spotted on the 27th was probably a Swallow Tail too. On checking my moth sugar outside I found a mealworm beetle eagerly feasting off the droplets on the Weeping Willow tree.

Monday July 28th

A remarkable day in that I did much more than normal. I awoke at 1.40 a.m. to hear voices going downstairs. Robert had arrived. He had set off at 6 p.m yesterday and had had to drop a mate off at Liverpool. Mum was already down making herself some tea and when she heard the door go she had rushed upstairs to raise Dad. Apparently she had thought that it was the masked rapist who has been in go recently.

Because of the humidity I hadn’t slept and I felt really active still so I read “the Ape Within Us” for twenty minutes (2.05-2.25 a.m) until I felt drowsy.

I eventually got up mid-morning. Robert and Dad were already up. I half-intended going into Easterby to look round for a good insect identification guide but as it happened, Robert asked me if I wanted to go to Dardray with him. Robert had to see about obtaining a flat where he and Carol can live until they’ve bought a house.

We set off and drove to Dardray via the M1. We parked on a private car park (fine £1.00) and wandered round Dardray town centre. There wasn’t a centre as such, merely a conglomeration of main streets lined with low buildings and shops. I was quite surprised to see such an amazing Church in such a dump.

We visited three estate agents but either they didn’t have any vacant flats to let or they didn’t deal with them. At the final place (“Merriweathers”) we were given a map and this helped us to find the building housing the S. Yorkshire Housing Authority (or something similar). Unfortunately, they couldn’t help us either, but while Robert was being dealt with I sat in the waiting room and conducted a cardboard conversation with the secretary there (who I liked because she talked to me).

On to Dardray's plush new Civic Buildings where we were passed on to Dardray Council Housing Department. They told us that they couldn’t do anything until the Education Authority was contacted and a letter sent to the Housing Dep’t from the above. The Education Authority have recently (two weeks ago) moved to Marsh Road we were told after much hassle. These situations are so soul-destroying and impersonal – an endless succession of sob stories, desperate pleas and lost hope.

We paused to regain breath, having a pint at the “Green Lion,” looking round a book shop and having something to eat (three sausage rolls at 19p each and a cup of tea).

We then spent a frustrating half-an-hour or so blasting around round-abouts and up and down Whinborough road looking for Marsh Rd. This we eventually found and after further confusion about where the Education Authority buildings were (we had to drive round Dardray again) we eventually parked up and Robert repeated his pleas for the hundredth time today.

He was provided with a bit of hope by Mrs Cotton there. She gave him the address of a bloke who rents out properties. He lived at number five, Melton Green (nr. Swinscoe), but he was on holiday. Robert really did seem depressed and utterly pissed off by this time – it seemed as if Fate was determined to make him suffer. He left a note and we left.

We drove back home in sweltering heat and near silence. I felt shattered, my eyes were heavy and I could’ve gone to bed. We arrived back at 4.58 p.m., and after watching Alan Wells get a silver medal in the men’s 200m final, I set off to the E.A.S.

After forking out 58p in bus fare I wasn’t pleased that I had picked my first wrong night for 3 yrs. I felt thoroughly sickened. To save my pocket I walked back via Buckingham Road, Three Locks Road and Farnshaw. I must admit I quite enjoyed walking back because there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I got home at about 8.30 p.m.

I spent the rest of the evening in my bedroom listening to Robert’s records with Andrew and Robert. Later on, I watched Clint Eastwood in “Two Mules for Sister Sara.” I was made to feel selfish when I didn’t let Robert sleep in my bed. I didn’t refuse point blank but I made noises because I didn’t like Mum making me feel obliged. I suppose I am pretty selfish really.

Sunday July 27th

As Grant Riley would put it – a negative day. I did nothing worth mentioning all day. Mum and Dad went out for a run at midday leaving Andrew and I to watch the Olympics all afternoon (Britain won a few medals again, mainly bronzes).

After watching Brendan Foster come 11th out of 15 in the 10,000 m race, we had tea and in the evening I didn’t do a thing.

The only really profitable thing to emerge from today was my moth attracting experiment. Using the brown sugar I acquired yesterday and black treacle and one teaspoonful of rum I mixed a lethal mixture. Dad seemed greatly interested and in the gathering gloom we daubed (via brush) the potion onto four separate locations – the big fir tree, the cherry tree, the weeping willow and a bush over in the corner by the greenhouse. We must’ve looked strange wandering around in the dark, paintbrush at the ready. I was glad to see that there were many moths flitting and drifting over and among the trees and plants. One I saw was enormous – at least 3 inches across the wings – but it was too far away to catch. Unfortunately, my mixture seemed to repel moths rather than attract them because not one settled. If I had had a net I could’ve swept them down and caught them. I came in at elevenish after wandering around, watching Green lacewings, spiders, and hundreds of moths yet unable to identify a single one (except the lacewings). My fascination with entomology is still strong and perhaps I could buy some tackle and take it up seriously.