Thursday November 11, 1982

 Veteran's Day, USA. - Remembrance Day, Canada

Went to town at lunchtime and bought a [birthday] card for Tim. A naughty one as usual. Down to Stylo and gave it to Jill who was in the shop to collect her pay. She's on holiday this week. Tim's Dad, Geoff, marries his concubine, Margaret, tomorrow. 

News: Leonid Brezhnev died yesterday in Moscow at the age of 75. The entire Russian leadership is older than 65. His successor is bound to be a geriatric, poker-faced swine from the Ukraine.

Jacq Sate met me at the YP at 4:45 and we got the 72 bus to Bradford. Found Ally fluttering around in the kitchen. _________. We dined on thick soup, lasagne and jacket potatoes, profiteroles, all washed down with Yugoslav Riesling, provided by Jacq, and we ate with the TV as background. Naughty really. Charles Laughton in 'Hobson's Choice'. TV all night. They like Tenko, Robin Day, &c. Drink (gin) and look at photographs. To bed at 2am. Disgustingly late.

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Wednesday November 10, 1982

 Laid in bed at 6:44am moaning at the alarm clock. I could have willingly stayed under our Oasis quilt. Ally refused to get out and didn't do so until her breakfast was set by me, downstairs.

Tim's birthday. We'd forgotten and Ally spotted it tonight when looking at the calendar.

This evening I made 20 or so profiteroles for tomorrow's dinner. I'm a real little Delia Smith. Ally, ironing, cast me admiring glances. I could become obsessed by cooking - especially now that the new oven has a glass door so that I can sit and watch the food as it bubbles and swells. Yes, I am insane.

'Coronation Street': Elsie Tanner has a new boyfriend.

News: It is revealed that a prominent Russian leader has died but his identity remains a secret.

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Tuesday November 9, 1982

 Cold. YP up to nothing much. Gordon Linacre now wants us to cut news from the Sunday papers for him.

Home at 6. Ally ready and looking beautiful for our journey to Guiseley. We went and got several buses and got off at White Cross and walked up Thorpe Lane and took our first look at number 41, Lynn and Dave's new home. It isn't remotely Baker-ish, but then Dave will spend years giving it a rustic appearance. It looks 1920s. 

Find Mum, Dad and John at Pine Tops. Dined on prawn cocktails, roast beef and Yorkshire puddings, cream cakes. They are full of pub news. This afternoon they had visited Hebden Bridge and 'The Fox & Goose' which is for sale at £85,000 but not worth it, they say. They give us a full run down on it. Sounds good. They've also had dealings with that old fool Jack Showers, at Appletreewick. He has asked them to manage his pub for him whilst he gets over his latest stroke. Dad has considered it, but I'd tread warily with the old man. John is a comic. He sat with a daft grin on his face all night. He drove us home. Ally loathed this. She misses the car because it restricts our independence.

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Monday November 8, 1982

 Something of a nothing day. Hideously wet. I seemed to spend the whole day traveling. Phoned Mum. We are going over to Guiseley tomorrow night. Battled through the elements this evening and didn't get in until 6:30. Ally looked concerned when I feel through the door like a Titanic survivor. Mad as Hell. A man shouldn't have to endure such misery. Had cheese on toast and gathered my senses. Ally was tired and we lounged cosily. Dave L phoned. He wants us to go with him to see 'Simple Minds' at Leeds University on Nov 20, but of course we'll be in Lanzarote. Ally gave a large sigh of relief at this. Simple Minds not her cup of tea. Bed.

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Sunday November 7, 1982

 22nd Sunday after Trinity

Lynn woke us at 8 looking for paracetamol tablets for David. I fumbled around without opening my eyes and went back to sleep. Finally we got up at 12. We had toast and tea and watched Ronald Colman in 'The Prisoner of Zenda'. Dave, God bless him, offered to take us to Manchester Airport on Nov 18. Frances, we are told, is at church with her devout Granny Baker, and they left at 3 or so to go get her. We didn't move from the sofa, and ate the left-overs. Soup and gateau, &c. At 7 we watched the RSC's 'Nicholas Nickleby' on the new Channel 4. Excellently done. To bed at 10 quite shattered. 

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Saturday November 6, 1982

 Went shopping whilst Ally went for her sun-ray on Duckworth Lane. Went to the market. Paid £20 for the carpet (two weekly installments). I got a bus back to Duckworth Lane, met Ally and went to the Co-op and spent £17 on booze. Home at 3. Into a hot bath and prepared dinner. Lynn and Dave came at 7 - he was complaining of a sore throat. His eyes almost popped out of his head when I gave him a large whisky. Lynn was bubbly and bright but not as large as she should be (pregnant). David says that if the child is a girl (which I'm sure it will be) then they are thinking of Marigold. How nice. Sarah and Trevor came at 7:30 and we had pre-prandial drinks. Sarah sat next to Lynn and squealed with laughter. We ate at 8:30: seafood pancakes, beef in wine, jacket potatoes, sweetcorn, ratatouille, profiteroles and chocolate gateau. All washed down with inter-prandial drinks. David hit it off with Trevor. A successful evening followed by after-prandial drinks. At midnight Sarah was 30 years-old and we toasted her with something sparkling. For some time we fooled around with a shower cap and a plastic funnel, and sang around the piano, serenaded to Glen Campbell's 'Wichita Lineman'. Sarah was subdued, but who wouldn't be on reaching such a milestone? They left at 1 and we sat with Lynn and Dave until some unearthly hour. Dave had to screw the bunk beds together before they could sleep. Ally and I did the washing up and went to bed at about 4am.

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Friday November 5, 1982

 Heavy rain. Lots of snotty nosed children will be wailing tonight when bonfire parties are cancelled. [Kathleen took a half day yesterday to go 'chumping for firewood'. She is 39 in three weeks]. 

Phoned Mama. They're considering going away on Sunday. John is spending the weekend in Scotland. Randy bugger.

Home, wet at 6:45, after squabbling with Malcolm Barker. [Obviously, we didn't squabble as such. He did the squabbling whilst I knelt at his feet sucking upon his toes], on the subject of the TUC Transport 'day of action' planned for Monday. Did Len Murray ever say 'not a wheel will turn in Britain on November 8'? If he did, I couldn't find it in the cuttings files. Malcolm, with eyes bulging, demanded very loudly that I put this cutting on his desk on Monday. He'll have a long wait. 

Dave G phoned. He may be coming next week with the lads. He's taking Lily to Tenerife on Nov 16 where he says he hopes to meet a frustrated Blackpool landlady.

Took off my [illegible] and made pancakes for tomorrows  seafood pancake course. A peculiar sight it must have been. Ally made a chocolate gateau. 

Watched an excellent film at 10. 'Harold and Maud'. I'd seen it before. Bed. Fireworks. 

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Thursday November 4, 1982

 The leaves are gone. Only last week we ate breakfast watching the birds on the ash tree full of golden leaves, but today the branches stand bare.

YP insignificant. Spent my lunch hour at the market buying aubergines and peppers for Saturday's dinner spectacular. Home at 6 to roast breast of lamb and jacket potatoes. Top of the Pops was followed by that dreadful series Tenko, full of sweaty, old menopausal women in a Japanese labour camp. Like Emmerdale Farm in a heatwave. Ally seems to like it. Definitely a womans sort of programme. We sat with the curtains open all evening to deter little mischief makers. If it was only young glue-sniffing hooligans I wouldn't mind. Mary is holding court again for her leech-like Tupperware ladies. Miss Moore is like Lady Londonderry -  a great hostess. [Not the present Lady Londonderry. I'm going back a bit].

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Wednesday November 3, 1982

 Graham, now the contented father, is twenty seven today. Ally spoke to her mum who told her that Matthew is quiet, blonde, and quite unlike anything or anyone in the Dixon family. Bessie bumped into Midge in Winchester who told her that Tony is to be a godfather. Will perhaps the babe be dipped at Christmas so enabling Ally and I to attend? 

The State Opening of Parliament this morning. The Queen was accompanied by the P. & Pcess of Wales. Philip is in Japan. The tv coverage is abysmal. Saw three news bulletins which showed little or none of the pageantry. Seal culling is aparently more important. Diana was wearing the Spencer diadem. Has Raine relinquished it? The speech wasn't up to much and the pundits say we'll be flocking to the polls before Her Majesty is in ermine again.

Jacq phoned this afternoon, after I'd been soaked to the skin in a downpour at lunchtime, and asked if she could come to dinner on Nov 11. Told the two newsdesks that the Archbishop of York's son has married a divorcée by the name of Monica Malone. Cosmo Gordon Lang would not have liked this. Mum has been to Sue's again. She is having a 'check up' at Otley tomorrow.

USA elections: Ronald [Reagan] isn't doing too badly and may stand again in '84. He'll be the first octogenarian president if so. [Quite impossbible, for after 2 terms he'll only be 78 - Ed]. 

News: Viscount Linley is 21. King Vidor is dead. King Umberto wants to return to Italy to die - he was exiled in 1946.

Home at 6. We have a new kitchen sink. Ally [clutching the vacuum cleaner] was fuming at the workmen. They left such a mess. We had a shepherd's pie and watched tv. Ally cleaned the kitchen. Bed after 10:30.

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Tuesday November 2, 1982

 Election Day, U.S.A

Phoned Dave Middleton who said he'd bring us a new sink tomorrow. 

I really should curtail my drinking. I can recall very little of what happened at Mary's party and evidently my 'Jekyll & Hyde goes to Morley' routine has given Ally some heartache. I am thoroughly ashamed of myself and will do everything in my power not to upset Ally again. She doesn't deserve such shoddy treatment.

YP sensations: Kathleen scampered in at 8:40 today and told Sarah she was making her deputy librarian in readiness for Kathleen's proposed retirement in circa 1987. Sarah doesn't want to do a librarian course but feels she must. What would happen if an outsider was brought in instead?

This evening we sat eating sandwiches watching the new Channel 4. Much of it looks very dull. The Princess of Wales was on the news opening something - a new wing on a hospital for the blind, I think. The girl is such a charmer. She has everything of the Queen Mother about her and her laugh is deep and hearty. The prince couldn't have picked a better bride. Rumour has it that HM is going to Althorp next week. I only hope she won't be RAINED off!

Up to bed after 10.

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Monday November 1, 1982

 Ally in a black mood ____________. I went to Austick's at lunchtime to look for the Molly Keane book which almost won the Booker Prize last year but couldn't find it. Petal wants it in hard back for Christmas.

Read in one of the Sunday papers that Audrey Whiting [the royal expert who always gets it wrong] that Prince William will not be going to the colonies with of P of Ws next year. Audrey says the Queen has won the battle to keep the child at home. I never believe anything dear Audrey says and although I'd like to think of the infant prince spending his first Spring among the daffodils at Windsor I am now firmly convinced he'll be cradling at Alice Springs. Queen Mary would never have tolerated it.

Home for chicken stew and dumplings. Exquisite. Ally has bought a flying pelican for Matthew and two baby grows. ________. We sat brooding in front of Coronation Street. Mum and Dad visited Sue this morning and gave her a hand. Dad seems to spend his days pushing Christopher's pram around Guiseley.

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Sunday October 31, 1982

 Up at 9:30 feeling very much like a condemned man. Evidently I came home from the party and burst into a fit of uncontrollable tears. Prepared lunch, washed the bird and got her trussed, &c. Went to meet Auntie Mabel at the station at 12:45. I had left Ally running around half naked clutching a pressure cooker in one hand and a vacuum cleaner in the other, but when I returned half an hour later with Mabel she and the house were transformed. We had a couple of glasses of sherry and sat down to our homemade tomato soup, roast chicken and apple crumble at 2:30. She spoke of cousin Jackie and Barry and their plans. The afternoon ended with cups of tea and a conversation about the beautiful Princess of Wales. Took auntie to her bus at 5:30. Shattered. To bed early.

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Saturday October 30, 1982

 The phone rang at 10am and I ran downstairs in Ally's dressing gown. It was Graham who told us that Gill had given birth to a son at 3am weighing 7lb. He is to be called Matthew Frank Graham. The first two names after his two grandfathers. Ally came flying down and spoke to her brother, and then we had breakfast. [We didn't get in from Mary's until 1:30am]. I planted tulip bulbs in the garden and then we went to Duckworth Lane where Ally had a sun-ray session. I went to the Co-op and bought a few provisions. I forgot the Tampax. As I was browsing among the frozen peas I reflect that Ally is a fully-fledged aunt today.

Susie and Peter came at 2 with Christopher. She looked a little thin and her eyes are slightly sunken. Over a few drinks Sue says she hasn't suffered a miscarriage, but a molar pregnancy, a hydatidiform mole. The poor girl has been so brave. The doctors say she cannot under any circumstances become pregnant for a year, and she has to have hormone tests at frequent intervals. We were stunned by Sue's news. We sat until after 6. Christopher is a beautiful child, with a fine head of hair, and already standing up on his large feet. John came over [Mum and Dad were in Grassington] and at 7:30 he took us to Morley and a pub called the Half Way House. Margo and friends were making merry. I was already 'half cut'. Back to Margo's until after midnight. Remember nothing. Ally was appalled at the way I [illegible] the young office girls. It was only done in jest. Pauline Atha looked like a Turkish belly dancer. Home late. John went home wearing a jacket which Janette had bought him. He says he's bought the girl a fur.

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Friday October 29, 1982

 YP packed with fun and excitement, as usual. Home at 6, and clad in our finery we went across the road to Mary Moore's at 7. She had pushed a note through the door asking us to join her at 7:30 for pre-prandial drinks. I had to look this up in the dictionary. Ally wearing her cream and gold suit, and looked stunning. We were joined by six middle aged ladies all dressed in black like witches, two 12 year-old females, and a 13 year-old butcher's boy. It was chicken. It was also a case of 'let's see who can talk the loudest'. One big woman had just returned from a coach trip to Austria and didn't shut up about it all night. I had all on retaining my sanity. They all sat, all eyes, jealously watching each other. The dreadful Corinne [if that's how it's spelt] asked us to pay £1.12 to go towards the bottle of 'Pink Lady'. Sod off dear. We were the only guests who took Mary a present, roses, and resented being asked for money.

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Thursday October 28, 1982

 Susie left hospital today at 11am and took a taxi to Pine Tops for lunch. I phoned the sweet thing at 2. She said they will come to visit us on Saturday afternoon and bring Christopher. She sounded just fine.

I attempted to watch Top of the Pops but the vacuum cleaner won the battle. Ally has been positively maniacal this week. She makes Adolf Hitler look like Worzel Gummidge. Never mind. It can't always be champagne and roses, can it?

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Wednesday October 27, 1982

Miss Piggy?

 Dark, gloomy day. Home with great striding steps and devoured sandwiches by the fire. Ally pink and glowing. A welcome sight. At 6:45 we got a bus into town, and then took one to Westfield at Rawdon. We arrived at Dave L's at 7:50 and found him entertraining MM and Marita. We gathered around the TV and watched Dave's pirate copy of 'E.T', the yet-to-be released film from Steven Spielberg. Ally wasn't looking forward to this at all. Science fiction isn't her scene, but we were pleasantly surprised. Quite a touching little offering really. The creature is a combination of the Hunchback of Notre Dame and Miss Piggy. E.T. = extra terrestrial.  Marita and Ally sat with damp eyes at the end of the film. Albert & Joan L joined us at 10:30pm for a viewing of our wedding video, sandwiches and coffee. Dave drove us home at 12:30. To bed. Visits to Tennyson Street are always packed with nostalgia.

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