Sunday December 4, 1983

 2nd Sunday in Advent

Red Lion, Thornton Road, Four Lane Ends, Bradford 8

Sue, Ally & Christopher.

Up at 7:30 with a dry throat. I went down to play with my barrels in the cellar. I derive more pleasure meddling with the wooden casks of ale than I did with the great tanks at the Why Not. The method of serving up beer in this manner cannot have changed for many years. When Sue phoned recently she said that JPH and Catherine have been in Guiseley and had visited West End Terrace. JPH, she says, is looking more like me. He has my 'long face' (her words). Do I have a long face? Surely, I am rugged yet gentle and with stream-lined contours giving a virile countenance. Lunchtime was soon upon us. Jean yelled upstairs that a lady had come to see us. I went down to find Marlene in the tap room. Frank, Mark, and Auntie Mabel followed. Poor Ally had just submerged her gigantic frame into the bath and so I went down to entertain my dear relations. They were impressed by the place. It is certainly drab from without. I sat with the Pudsey quartet until 2 and then we went up to see Ally, beautiful, bedecked in pearls. We had a brandy downstairs in the lounge after time. It was Auntie Mabel's first 'stoppyback' in all her 64 years. 

Mark looks very young. His voice has broken, and he's doing his mock O levels this week. He seemed deep in thought. They left at 3 and we went to Pamela's at Shipley where the remnants of Rebecca's christening party were to be found. Jim and Co were playing cards in the smoke-filled dining room. Sue was eager to leave and we took them to Guiseley. Christopher is very blond and leggy.  They laughed. The christening, in the Sunday morning service (Metholdist) went on for TWO hours and at the end a drunk wandered in and demanded that they all should sing his favourite hymn ... which they did. Hilarious. Sadly, Sue cannot recall what hymn it was. A boring lament. We had chilli con carne and I slipped into a coma in an armchair. Back to the Red Lion for 7. Sheryl didn't get away until 11:30, and was attempting to have her own private 'stoppyback'. We watched TV in a horizontal position. A Bette Davis film.

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