Monday September 14, 1981

 _. Boiled eggs. To the YP. 

News: The prime minister has sacked the Cabinet 'wets'. [James] Prior goes to Northern Ireland as secretary of state where I suppose Mrs T hopes he'll be bombed. Sir Ian Gilmour returns to the 'back benches' as does Mark Carlisle. Lord Soames is out and Lord Thorneycroft has been put out to retirement. [Norman] Tebbit is now Employment secretary, and a lady, Baroness Young, becomes Leader of the House of Lords. Is this a first?

The horrid boy who fired blank shots at the Queen in June has been jailed for 5 years. Khalid Aziz has been sacked from 'Nationwide'.

Phoned John and Maria to confirm our visit to Lochans on Sept 25. Phoned Lynn, and then Sue, but it was much too late to speak to her. She's always in bed at 9.

We had left over roast chicken and salad and polished off the Riesling. Alison to bed with Agatha Christie. She's book mad.

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Sunday September 13, 1981

 _. 13th Sunday after Trinity

We had a restless night. Ally wasn't comfortable. We were up at 8:30. 

Phoned Lynn. Frances is to be christened on October 4 at Burley. The vicar has requested that all godparents should preferably be confirmed. None of us are. She says Chris Ratcliffe is going to Scotland on Sept 25, and thinks we shouldn't go. I say we should, and will phone Maria tomorrow. Mum is having Sue & Pete for lunch.

Ally made scrambled eggs and then put a chicken in the pot. She is bursting with activity. 

We drove to Pudsey at 2. Wilsby was deserted and so was Jill's at Valley Rd, so we phoned Mum to be told the Gadsbys were at at Pudsey St Lawrence Cricket Club's Donkey Derby. A village affair. We went along an I won £2.50 on a donkey. We sat on the damp lawn and had ice cream. Karen, Steve, Jill, Tim, Diane, Paul, and Marlene and the children. Then back to Wilsby until 9. By 9:30 were were at home. I was pissed. Had roast chicken washed down with Riesling. Watched Robert Hardy as Churchill, then plunged into a bath. Bed at 12.

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Saturday September 12, 1981

Harrogate: 1981

 _. Up at 8:30 raring to go. In Harrogate for 10:30. Ally looking for a dress for Jill & Tim's wedding. We had a frustrating hour without success. She saw a pink silk suit costing £70, but didn't buy. Most of the mannequins were dressed in 'Lady Di' style, and all the shops were the same, apparently. So, from Harrogate we drove to York where she found a pink dress covered in white tulips, and for only £11 at a shop called Sarah Coggles. Very sexy.

In York we went into the wrong pub, which was rough, and had cold steak and kidney pie, and vowed never to eat out in York again. We have yet to find a decent pub in the centre of York. The locals were alien and looked to be part of the criminal fraternity. Pagan in fact. Heavy tattoos, &c. And even the women looked like rugby prop forwards. Ally, bless her, asked if the large building dominating the city was the 'cathedral'. I just gave her a black look. 

On to Leeds and the shops. Bought nothing. Home with aching feet. Out at 7 to a run-down wine bar and then Pizzeria Mama Mia's on Manningham Lane for scampi and lasagne. Ally had a corn on the cob which oozed over her frock. Home at 9:30.

Dame Edna on the telly. Hilarious. A good day.

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Friday September 11, 1981

_. Marlene 36. YP. Penny Austin-Clarke accused me of 'sciving' yesterday. Some people are very perceptive, aren't they?

The Alexandra.

Spoke to Ally briefly. We decided to go out tonight. By 7 we were at the Alexandra in Harrogate [a Berni Inn]. T-bone steaks. Very romantic. We walked around Harrogate afterwards and decided to come back to the shops tomorrow. Whatever became of the Damn Yankee? I couldn't find it anywhere.

Home at 11.

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Thursday September 10, 1981

 _. Woke at 5am, then 6, and finally at 7. Ally went off to the AHA leaving me with the washing up. A sunny morning and I went out armed with a brush and bucket of soapy water to give the windows a going over. The woman two doors down was casting admiring glances at my wash leather. 

Spoke to Lynn. They dined at Salvo's last night [Headingley] and had a drink at the Fox & Hounds in Bramhope.

Ally came in at 11:30 __________________.

I sat this afternoon drinking coffee and reading the Daily Telegraph to the backdrop of moronic Radio One. Still reading Fraser's Charles II. Ally was home at 5 and at 6 we went to Mum's for roast beef, Yorkshire pudding. Mum picked some wedding photos for her album. Margaret and Jim came at 9 and we left at about 11.

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Wednesday September 9, 1981

 _. Lynn and David married three years ago today and we have forgotten to post a card of congratulations. Went off to the YP leaving Ally, looking pale, who is going to see a doctor.

Lynn.

I had a bad head all afternoon and felt sick. Feel as though I've been up all night. Lynn has been shopping in Leeds, getting things for Jill's wedding, and then lunching with David, and she appeared at the office at about 2 and I escorted her to a bus stop on Wellington Street. Saw the amiable tart Pam at the bus stop who said Shazzo was due home from Turkey last week, but never arrived. Mrs Cohen, Shazzo's mum, is in hospital again.

Home at 6. She is sick of being harassed by Derek Jenkins. She thinks he's insane. Spaghetti. 

Bed at 9:30.

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