Friday August 6, 1982

 Tired, sick and hungover all day. Not worth it really. Went out at lunch and had a massive salad roll and a salmon and cucumber sandwich. Sat in Park Square looking at pigeons. Why do we humans make life so hard for ourselves?  I want to be a pigeon. 

YP a sorry state. Found some composure at 2 or 3pm. Felt like I'd died and joined Jesus in his all encompassing bossom.

Home at 6. Joined at 6:30 by Sue, Pete and Christopher. The baby played for a while and then went to bed in the Flying Pigs Room, sleeping in his pram, A bonnie lad. A combination of his mother and Jim. Susie's smile, and Jim's nose. We ate curry and watched TV. Question: should Jim and Margaret be included in the PC1656 leaving party? I think that perhaps they should be made a special case. I am numb with exhaustion. Sue and Ally went up to bed. Pete and I watched a late film, and I snored in my armchair.

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Thursday August 5, 1982

 Pine Tops has been sold to a sailor, for the asking price. Rejoice. 

Hot. A Jim and Margaret session.  They'd be called Jim and Margaret sessions even if they included Soraya Khashoggi, Lord Soames and Norman St John Stevas, MP. Mum and Dad came at 7:45 with Jim and Margaret. Tony and Hilda followed an hour later and we had fish and chips. We moved the piano from one end of the room to the other. Drank vast quantities. Handed around the Malcolm Fawbert letter and his Wilson kinswomen disowned him. 'He isn't one of us', they say. We made merry until well after 1am. Things could have become quite nasty when the conversation turned to John. ___________. We changed the subject. Cheese toasties. Bed at 2am.

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Wednesday August 4, 1982

Diana: matronly

 The radio alarm sounded at 6:44 and Ally was up and in the bath without any persuasion on my part. I remained in bed singing 'God Save The Queen' [using the old traditional words because a new lefty, highly offensive version has been published this week]. Today is the 82nd birthday of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and the christening of Prince William of Wales.

Humid. YP dull. Saw a few photographs on the wire of the christening at Buckingham Palace. The Princess of W in a hat which made her look 'matronly'. Like someone on the platform at the Brighton conference. In her defence she cannot have had much free time to go out and buy one since her accouchement.

I sat outside writing this evening. Ally was assaulting the sitting room with the vacuum cleaner. News at Ten. Poor. Bed.

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Tuesday August 3, 1982

 Extremely hot. Norman [our neighbour] told me that the temperature in his greenhouse is over 100 degrees F. "Too hot for my tomatoes", he grunted. Who cares about tomatoes?

Master Glynn is 28 today. We sent a silly card, but heard nothing. Plagued with filthy flies in the office. Margo squirmed every time one buzzed past.

Received a peculiar letter from Malcolm Fawbert who told me he can trace the Fawberts back to 1400, to one Alexander Titus Myles ffawbert de Grantley. Nonsense. It sounds like something out of 'Kind Hearts and Coronets'. The man woffled on, filling five large sheets of paper, without actually telling me anything. Ally furious and imaptient. She likes people to get straight to the point and 'our Malcolm' isn't one of this kind. ________.

Steaming hot. We had steak and kidney with dumplings. Good summer food. A mistake really. I cleaned the windows. We are the tidiest people on Club St. Too hot to go to bed. We sat looking at a book of impressionist paintings.

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Monday August 2, 1982

 Bank Holiday in Scotland & the Republic of Ireland

Duke of York?

Hot and sticky. Ally up in leaps and bounds, singing in her bath. All's right with the world. We went outside at 8 and pecked at each other, somewhat sheepishly, in the street. We do not miss the car.

YP dismal. Sat contemplating my next published genealogical work. Could I fool Jonathan Margolis into thinking that Prince Andrew is to be created Duke of York on his return from the Falklands? I looked into the history of the dukedom and passed a few hours.

Hung more polystyrene lining paper whilst listening to someone on ITV blabbing on about police corruption. Annoying. Lynn phoned and asked whether it's wise to include David G in Dad's leaving party on Sept 14. I said it is. She wasn't impressed. Women. Giovanni's is booked. Bed. Hot and clammy. Restlessness.

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Sunday August 1, 1982

 8th Sunday after Trinity

So-called Yorkshire Day. Up with the larks. Ally managed to last out for the whole day. I hung polystyrene lining paper over the bare walls and before long we were cocooned inside a dazzling white sponge. Bessie phoned. She has a new car the colour of Cashmir [sic]. Does Kashmir begin with K? 

We are to have a 'Thursday Night' session on Thursday. It is quite difficult to have a Thursday night session on a Friday. I phoned Hilda and asked if she and Tony would be the 'star' guests. Much diary consulting was done and eventually I could hear Tony shouting: "I'm free". Thursday might be a good opportunity to move the piano. My maternal grandmother, Levinyer Wilson, could move a piano from room to room, quite unaided, at St James's Crescent when the whim took her. Not so much will-power as manpower. She weighed 16 stones.

We sat cuddling this afternoon swilling lager and moving books from the bookcase to the bedroom. Ate fish at 8. At 9 we watched Marilyn Monroe in 'Some Like It Hot'. She died 20 years ago next week. Ally thinks that she [Marilyn] is fat and revolting. I must admit that the ideal and desirable figure for a woman was different in the 1950s than today.

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Saturday July 31, 1982

 A promising start at 9:30. Eggs and toast, &c. Ally was off it from the start and after cleaning away the breakfast things she went back upstairs and climbed into bed. I went outside with a paint brush and finished the windows which I began three months ago. Ally emerged at about 3 just in time for Dave and Lynn's arrival with a blond, bronzed Frances. They came to inspect Ally and make sure I am not maltreating her. Frances drank milk and gobbled a biscuit and says 'tick tock' and 'pick' for picture. She has fat little brown legs, but doesn't use them. She's still a replica of Dave. They left after an hour.

I went to buy fruit and veg from a Pakistani. Carried on painting. TV. Sleeps.

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Friday July 30, 1982

 Ally's neck has recovered, but it's her tummy that's the culprit now. __________.

I returned from a hard day at the office to find her oblivious of the time reclining on the sofa beneath the ridiculous Susan Howatch tome. Her inner clock had switched off at 3 o'clock. We ate beef burgers in buns with chips and beans - good stodgy food. 

Freda Dudley Ward

A documentary on BBC2 featured Lord Mountbatten talking about his friendship with King Edward VIII. He stated that Freda Dudley Ward left the Prince of Wales [later Edward VIII] for the Marquis de Casa Maury. This is not so. Edward VIII jilted Freda after 18 years or so for the arms of Thelma, Viscountess Furness. Poor Louis [Mountbatten]. It's hard to imagine he's been dead for three years.

I varnished the new wood, and squabbled with Ally. We always fight when I work. She went off to bed quite jaded. I followed covered in varnish.

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Thursday July 29, 1982

 Ally much better, though remains uncomfortable. She phoned the doctor where the high and mighty receptionist told her she cannot see a doctor today and she fixed an appointment for 12:40 tomorrow. Bought Ally 'Postern of Fate' by Agatha Christie. We always commemorate illness with Agatha Christie novels. __________________.

Photographs are released of Prince William of Wales with his beaming parents today celebrating one year of marriage. God willing, the infant will be wearing the crown of St Edward well into the 21st century.

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Wednesday July 28, 1982

 Ally woke this morning and couldn't move her head. She fell asleep nursing Susan Howatch. It's given her a stiff neck. I went to work leaving her paralysed and in great pain.

Kathleen off. I told the EP newsdesk about the engagement of Viscount Ingleby's daughter, Sarah, to a Hervey-Bathurst.

I took a half day and returned to Piggy at 1 o'clock. I walked in and she took one look at me and burst into tears. It's hideous to see her so. I took a walk to the chemist and bought a tube of something to rub on the painful spot, and before long I was stripped to the waist rubbing away upon her like a Turkish masseur. She found some relief, but cut a sorry figure. 

_______. Afternoon TV is most odd. Things about wild birds followed by family quiz shows. 

Spoke to Mum who expressed concern at Ally's condition. I think Lynn might have been spreading doom and despondency.

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