Monday March 2, 1987

 Moorhouse Inn

Pig & Whistle.

Sunshine, but windy. To Scunthorpe after breakfast to the Pig and Whistle. We were very impressed. Like the Butcher's in Pudsey to look at, and in the market place, but with some daunting rough-looking flats hovering on the horizon. The couple there showed us the upstairs, and excellent flat and the lounge is 'us', you know Victorian flower pots and gilt framed portraits. The place had no tap room and in a very good position for lunchtime customers, who all seemed 'normal'. Lots of business types coming in for food. We sat outside because they did not approve of children, and ate fish and chips (again). Samuel is a fish and chips maniac and he sat in the driving seat peering above the wheel. From Scunthorpe, which is a much better place than I imagined, we went to Barton-upon-Humber, passing Normanby Park, home of the Sheffield baronets, of whom the pouting Davina is an off-shoot. (See journal 1976/77). She is now Mrs Jake Morley, but was almost Princess des Galles. Anyway, we passed over that fine erection, the Humber Bridge, to Howden in search of Jean and David (Watts), but failed to pin-point the actual street. We drove around like idiots after phoning and having no answer. Back at the Moorhouse we enthused abut the Pig & Whistle. 

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Sunday March 1, 1987

 Moorhouse Inn

St David's Day

Quinquagesima

Pouring rain. Dismal. We got to Whitby for 12 and immediately felt disappointed by the so-called Jolly Sailors. Mediocre Sailors, more like. The manager was very unhelpful. Certainly this place is not the one for us. Pool-playing deep sea fishermen with unwashed armpits. Oh, no. We ate fish and chips in the car and headed home for 4 calling at the Barleycorn at Scholes, and Drighlington where we checked out the outside of the Valley Inn, which LG had mentioned is shortly to become a managed house. This did fire something and we returned home for tea excitedly. Just Ally and I tonight. Much whispering together.
 

Saturday February 28, 1987

 Moorhouse Inn

New Moon

Our envelope from the brewery reveals two available pubs:

(1) The Jolly Sailors, Whitby

(2) The Pig & Whistle at Scunthorpe.

We resolve to venture forth tomorrow and on Monday to inspect these hostelries.

Chris.

Christopher's party: We first went to Lidget Green where Ally and Sam were coiffured. Saw Club Street. The Whetnalls have put up net curtains. On to Janette's but she wasn't in. To the Royalty pub for a quick pint in the cold. Sam played on the swings with another Sam and a Jade, as in Jagger. We went to Sue's at 2pm. A jolly afternoon. Much wine. I drove Janette to Menston to collect some 'home brew'. She wanted to see me at the wheel. We found Susan greatly changed. ________. Peter was creating such a 'to do' because Sue spent £15 on a leg of pork. Ally is lucky that I do not know or care what she spends our money on. Home at 6. I have lost my watch.

Over zealous Chinese officials desperate to reach their targets during s campaign to exterminate rodents made some couples produce a rat's tail to get a marriage licence, a Peking newspaper said yesterday.

A letter in the Daily Telegraph from the Rev Brian Anderson, of Bromsgrove: "Sir - Now that push button telephones are so common, the verb 'to dial' seems to be wholly inappropriate. Do your readers have any other ideas? Push, prod or poke just do not seem right especially when we would need to have a replacement for something like 'dialling tone'."

Also from the Telegraph: "... part of a programme published by Manchester City Council for its International Women's Week next month: 'March 8 - come and share the day with deaf lesbians, and start to learn their language. With workshops and videos. All lesbians welcome."

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Friday February 27, 1987

 Moorhouse Inn

Christopher Paul is 5 to-day. Party tomorrow.

Thursday February 26, 1987

 Moorhouse Inn

Clemmie was awake at 4, 5 and 6am. By breakfast I was comatose. Feeling vile. I took a hot bath and threw open the pub doors at 11. Upstairs at 12 I felt so shocking that I took to my bed much to Ally's chagrin. She believes in batting on and ignoring pain. I emerged at 3. Samuel was fun. They had just had a gas leak at the nursery and the numbers were depleted because the kitchen there was out of bounds. This evening Maureen opened up and Ally and I went down at 8. Busy tap room. A very large 18 stone bespectacled ______ was celebrating his birthday. Seven pints a round. I phoned Beverley who took her driving test at Eccleshill this afternoon, and failed, but she is firm and resolute to pass next time. Janette phoned to say that T. Brotherwood is having a surprise 40th birthday party on March 16, a Monday. Phoned Dad. His teeth are coming along splendidly, all gold caps, &c. He'll be worth a fortune.

The Queen has appointed Sir Yehudi Menuin, aged 70, a member of the Order of Merit. The honour is the personal gift of the Queen and recognises outstanding achievements in the arts and sciences.

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Wednesday February 25, 1987

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds

Leslie Gledhill appeared at lunchtime and I had quite forgotten about the letter of last Friday. It was he who brought it up and when I, with wrinkled brow and perplexed look, questioned his statement, he gasped and said I had taken it the wrong way and that he did not doubt our capabilities or loyalty to Humphrey Smith, his heirs and successors according to law. LG walked around looking at the proposed alterations and then expressed his view that we are in need of a change, which we know, because having done 60 per cent more trade this year than in '86 we will never surpass that figure and so it calls for fresh pastures. LG sais lots of pubs are currently available and mentioned the Star, at Mexborough, and one in Darlington. Ally came down with a chip sandwich and joined in the debate. LG gave us some complements that went right over Ally's head. "He says the same thing to everyone". Anyway the crux of the matter is that he wants us to move, for our benefit, and not for any other sinister reason. Off he went. We went upstairs and looked though piles of pub vacancy leaflets some dating back three years. Where do we fancy? Oh, dear.

Deaths:  George F. Tibbles, at Palm Desert, California, aged 73, composer and scriptwriter who set the cartoon character Woody Woodpecker's manic 'H-h-h-haa-ha' laugh to music.

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Tuesday February 24, 1987

 Moorhouse Inn

At breakfast now things are so bad - we have broken so much crockery that we are drinking tea from priceless commemorative bone china celebrating royal events down the years. King George V silver jubilee mugs, &c. Today for instance my morning cuppa was in the 1973 'Princess Anne and Mark Phillips' wedding mug. I asked Samuel who was the face on the cup, expecting a negative answer and he said: "It's Mrs Thatcher". Hoots of laughter followed. Such a bright child. He was on the right track.

Henry John Heinz II, who has died in Florida, aged 78, was chairman of the international food company founded by his grandfather and namesake in 1869 ...

Prince Edward is to leave for the Caribbean tomorrow for a nine day visit during which, as chairman of the Duke of Edinburgh's Gold Award 30th anniversary project, he is to visit Barbados and Grenada. His programme allows him three free days.

Monday February 23, 1987

 Moorhouse Inn, &c

Pepys.

Today is the anniversary of the birth of Mr Samuel Pepys. It is to him who we, and indeed you, owe the very existence of this humble journal. In the volume of words alone I did pass Mr Pepys's outpourings way, way back. Sadly, my worthless ramblings will never catch on as his did. I have had no plague, or Great Fire, or intimate conversations with the monarch, like wot he did. Dad has informed me that Uncle Arnold kept a journal until the very end. Dad thinks that I am so like his late brother. At 9:30 we went to the municipal swimming pool which was dirty and cold. We changed in a sticky changing room - Samuel and I - along with 73 schoolboys who I overheard gasping at the fact that I was wearing jeans and no underpants. I think it must be all part of my George Michael image. Samuel hated the water. The boiler was off, and so we had a tearful 10 minutes. He then sat with Ally and Clemmie as I did a few breathless lengths. Not quite Duncan Goodhew, OBE. More like Sybil Thorndike, DBE. Margaret Isabella did lunch. No staff from 5:30. I gave Mags the genealogical study of the Duchess of York for 12 year-old Tricia. It was a joy to do. Samuel has a a green nose. He went to school to tell Dermot all about his sub-aquatic inactivity. Poor boy. I could not swim until I was eleven or twelve. I made my first breathless splash at Guiseley baths in about '67 just after we arrived in the borough. The 20th anniversary of our move there falls on March 10. Just Ally and I tonight. Quiet. Dean Hemingway's girlfriend works in the office of Neil Balfour, the Tory candidate owner of Studley Royal, and former hubby of Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia. He's standing for Ryedale. Phoned Dad and Sue. She is better.

Deaths: Lord Talbot of Malahide, who has died aged 87, was the ninth holder of an Irish barony, created in 1831, and Hereditary Lord Admiral of Malahide and the seas adjoining.

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Sunday February 22, 1987

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds, LS11 5NQ

Sexagesima

I have been missing my mother lately. I can go for days without any depression and then suddenly slump into a black, anxious mood where I question everything, and scornfully. Why are we here? Just to rot and provide the earth with fertilizer? ________. Supermarkets too, they can bring on a black mood. I can be pushing my trolley down the row of boxes cornflakes when suddenly I see Mum, clad in her anorak and scarf beaming around in Settle Co-op , the light glinting upon her specs. Obviously, I am the victim of some horrid neurosis brought on by grief. I look back upon those 'Pine Tops' days with such pain. We appreciate nothing until the the object of that appreciation is gone forever. 

To Temple Newsam where Samuel looked at the pigs. There was an especially ugly turkey. Back refreshed for 11:30am. Margaret Rushton worked. Margaret Isabella Young began here tonight, the daughter of our Mags.

From the Telegraph: "Percy Potter a retired headmaster, celebrated his 100th birthday this month, and for the benefit of an Eastern Evening News interviewer he recalled his early days as a teacher in Lancashire. In one lesson he wrote some words on a blackboard and told the children to use them in a sentence. One of the words was 'comfort'. He reported than when he was marking their work he found a little chap had put 'I've comfort rent'".

Deaths: Honora, Lady Rashleigh [nee Sneyd], widow of Sir Harry Rashleigh, and the Hon Ronald Leslie-Melville.

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Saturday February 21, 1987

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds LS11 5NQ

Margaret Rushton, our absentee barmaid, graced our abode with her presence at luncheon. Her mother is flat out in Killingbeck Hospital weighing in at 4st 7lb. Curtains it seems. Grey-faced Margaret's days are also numbered. We cannot cope with unreliability. Here's a little vignette from Bill Gilmore, a former Scots Guardsman with a large red nose. Someone said to him that perhaps Leeds Utd might win the coming FA Cup. "If Queen Anne had bollocks, she'd be t'King", he quipped. Quite excellent. Ally  and Samuel cleaned the car. I cleaned the beer lines. Ate mounds of liver and onions. Just Ally and I tonight. It was good to see Bernadette McCarron back on form. Ally is delicious. We enjoy the intimate 'staffless' weekends. Poor President Reagan is heading for another Watergate. Poor old sod.

This is piquant. The Princess of Wales has asked for a souvenir of her childhood - a grubby window with 500 telephone numbers written on the frame- to be sent to her at Kensington Palace. The old sash window, with four panes of frosted glass, was found at her birthplace, Park House, Sandringham. Mr Frank Chapman, the site agent, said the Princess told him that she had written some of the numbers and would like to have the window as a keepsake because it brought back happy memories. The window was removed from the telephone room at the rambling Victorian house when it was being converted into a hotel for the disabled  at a cost of £1,500,000. The numbers scrawled in pencil, include the chimney sweep, the hairdresser, the laundry, the fishmonger, the Princess's old school, and Sandringham House. Mr Chapman said: "I've also shown the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Charles round. The Queen likes it very much. She felt it was ideal for the disabled. The Queen, who gave the house to the Leonard Cheshire Foundation, will open on July 31. Dennis Maiden, chairman of the management committee said: "It's the only hotel of its kind in Britain. Obviously, because it's Princess Diana's birthplace, it will be a big attraction." The room in which the princess was born has been turned into a double bedroom. Her nursery has been converted into two single rooms. ....

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Friday February 20, 1987

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds LS11 5NQ

Fuming today. Leslie Gledhill sent us a letter, from which I'll quote later. Winnie, Dad's neighbour at Horton-in-Ribblesdale, phoned and gave me momentary panic, by saying that at 2:30pm today Dad's curtains were closed, his blind in the kitchen was down and his garage door ajar. I tried phoning but had no joy, but eventually traced him to John's, where he was unconcerned. I thought he had 'topped himself'. Poor Sue is abed with gastric 'flu.

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother was represented by by Lt-Col Sir Martin Gilliat at the memorial service for Dame Ann Parker Bowles held yesterday at the Guards Chapel ...

Sir Hugh Carleton Greene, former director-general of the BBC, died last night in the King Edward VII's Hospital for Officers. He was 76.

Princess Anne arrived in Agaba yesterday on a three-day private visit to Jordan as guests of King Hussein and Queen Noor. She was met by her husband Capt Mark Phillips, who arrived in Jordan on Tuesday.

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