Monday September 6, 1982

 Labor Day, USA and Canada

Cooler. Definitely an autumnal nip in the air. We ate bananas on toast and swigged tea. Ally wearing her silk stockings and black French knickers. She is a treasure. It was my wish to stay at home and indulge ourselves. Sadly, it wasn't to be.

YP. Mum phoned to say she is having a party on Saturday Sept 18 for Dad in return for whatever we are doing for him on Sept 14. Dad has four days left to work and no night duties. They celebrated last night dining at the Fox. Phoned Ally. She answered the phone differently, and I asked her if I could speak to my wife. Home at 6. Dined by candlelight again. Ally suffering from back ache. She had a hot bath.

Sat watching the TV news. I don't watch the news like I used to do. What's all this about Yasser Arafat? The Prince and Princess of Wales attended the wedding of Carolyn Pride and William Bartholomew. It was kisses all round. One Sunday paper suggested that the Princess of Wales may be pregnant. The couple are supposed to be doing the colonies next year.

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Sunday September 5, 1982

 13th Sunday after Trinity.

A day of rest. We sat cuddling on the settee. Watched 'Casablanca'. Ally doesn't like slushy romantic films, and she polished the table. Had a delicious fish pie at 5, by candlelight, and listened to the radio. Ally then slept, curled up on a cushion like a hamster.

Heard on the news that Sir Douglas Bader has gone to that great artificial limb factory in the sky. Mind you, I don't suppose one uses false limbs up there.

Watched a ghastly Richard Harris film. Bed at 10. An idyllic day.

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Saturday September 4, 1982

 David woke us at 9:30 with pots of tea. We suspect he's been giving the new kitchen a good 'once over'. We don't care. We like it anyway. David fitted his roof rack to the car and carried off a door for John to work on. They left after breakfast and went on to 'Cheap and Cheerful'. Poor Frances slept at Audrey's and had the whooping cough jab yesterday and screamed bitterly.

Ally and I went to Fads and bought two more boxes of tiles for John, but decided it was too late for him do any this afternoon. He can come next week. We bought a roll of patterned paper and did one wall. Found papering round the windows tricky, but didn't panic. Into the bath afterwards. John came at 7. Dave L arrived at 8 looking more trendy than I've ever seen him. A slick hairstyle and futurist footwear. It's not the old Dave. Ally suspects the influence of 'Knocker'. Karen, Steve, Jill and Tim arrived at 8:30. Watched the end of 'Jaws'. To the Fire Brigade. Stood in a mass around the juke box. I supped 'mixed' for the first time. Jill not on form. John was showing off for some peculiar reason. Back to ours for more drink, and left overs from last night. Dave loaned us the Human League 'Travelogue' album, and he carried off 'Promised You a Miracle' by Simple Minds, and the Soft Cell LP. Late again. Pissed.

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Friday September 3, 1982

 Full Moon

Out of bed at 6:00am. Ally made a trifle and a cheesecake, whilst I daubed apple white paint on the newly papered kitchen. Boiled eggs, and dashed out of the house at 8.

YP: Sarah and I are to resign from the union. Back home for 6. Ally cooking furiously. Dinner prepared for 7:30. Lynn and Dave arrived at 8:30. Big dinner. Corn on the cob, tomato and celery soup, steak and kidney pie, mushy peas, parsnips, potatoes, &c, trifle, cheesecake. Bloated. German wine & [Martini] Bianco. Lynn is big, but not hideously so. Much talk of Trevor and Jane at Bardsey. Reminiscing. Christine Airey talk. To bed after 2. Thoroughly sated. 

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Thursday September 2, 1982

 Sun. Up late because we couldn't climb out of bed. Refused my egg for breakfast. Had a steaming bath, bowl of cereal and slice of toast. Late to the YP. It was after  9:15. No one said a thing.

The papers are empty of proper news. Ron Brown, MP for Leith, attacked Mrs Thatcher in Glasgow and has been clapped in irons. Lady Iris Mountbatten, granddaughter of Princess Beatrice, and a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, has died, aged 62, in Toronto. They [the royal family] didn't see much of her. She was last over here for Louis Mountbatten's funeral.

Ally phoned me at 1pm. The sound of her voice is so uplifting, when one expected it to be a call from a toffee-nosed lady from Adel enquiring about her daughter's 'O' level results. Went into town. Sun. Bumped into Philip Knowles, who told me that he and Gillian Craven are marrying on October 16. They've bought a house at Mount Pleasant, near the Drop Inn in Guiseley. Haven't seen him since we were in Ios.

Home at 6. Hung [wall]paper in the kitchen. Had fish and chips at 9;30. Ally worked hard making things nice for Lynn and David. Later Lynn phoned to ask if they could sleep here tomorrow. I. phoned Mum, who told me John is better and back at work, and then phoned Dave L would said he would come here on Saturday. MM and Marita are opening a furniture shop in Horsforth.

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Wednesday September 1, 1982

 Someone somewhere by the name of Martyn Cole is celebrating his birthday today. Ally and I sang 'Happy Birthday' to him in absentia, whilst we were in bed. 

My tip about the engagement of the chairman's son found its way into the YP and EP. Told Bob about another engagement. Miranda Riley-Smith and a chap called Sampson. Tadcaster brewers.  Busied myself all day. Sarah __________________. 

A socket in the kitchen exploded. No harm done. Shepherd's pie - mounds of it. We discussed how we could never dream of leaving each other. Watched TV. Coronation Street followed by a tribute to Ingrid Bergman. Ally insisted in scraping dried, flaking paint from the window, which put my teeth on edge and the screeching quite disrupted the snippets of 'Casablanca'. To bed in the region of 9. Read Picasso.

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