Tuesday December 6, 1983

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

Sun, but frost. Up at 6:30 and off out in a frost coated Mandy Metro at 8:30 to Rochdale, and the Kingsway Hotel. It isn't as far as I thought it would be. Mike Walker and Les Gledhill were setting up a conference room in an impoverished lounge decorated in Why Not wallpaper, to make me feel at home. The trainees from the Linthorpe (not the bearded one) was there.They go to Levenshulme tomrrow and then from Dec 16th to Jan 3rd to the Emmott Arms. Others there include a chap from Blackpool and Ron Brook, Cheshire Midland, &c. The conference was hosted by the peculiar Don Bywater, who has been doing this for 14 years, but makes it look like his first attempt. He went over the 1974 legislation and set out different examples. Lunched on steak. Ally was uncomfortable on the hard, school-like chairs, but didn't complain. We watched a ridiculous educational film where a woman was slicing off her limbs trapped in canteen equipment which made Les Gledhill feel queasy and had us all giggling. We left at 4. Via Club Street to the 'Lion Rouge', as Ally calls it. Jean was holding the fort. I lit the fire and listened to news of the afternoon. Two 70 year-olds had a punch up at 3pm over their dogs and both were ejected by Enid and Jean. 'No Dogs Allowed' signs go up. Chris and Elaine can sort it out when they get back. Who should walk in at 7 but Mum and Dad who had been at Sue's. Ally came down and we had a few pre-prandials. Mum had been given whisky at the Nasons and was soon intoxicated on whisky and American dry, and so at 8:30 we went upstairs. Dad and I went out and bought prawn curry for us all. I ate like a half starved puma. We argued about the date of birth of cousin Reggie's baby. I insist Richard was born on March 4, but Mum insists Apr 8th. There was a minor skirmish in the tap room over a Yorkshire terrier.  Tired. We all went to bed at 1:30.

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Monday December 5, 1983

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

Ally and I were out at the bank this morning when Les Gledhill dropped in. He waited for us to return. I told him I am going to a health and safety at work seminar tomorrow and he said he'd be present too and suggested that perhaps Ally should be there as well. This is a great idea because I didn't fancy a long day on my own in far off Rochdale. Sheryl 'the mouth' worked this evening instead of Rita, who has a cold. Sheryl has been called for jury service at Leeds Crown Court for two weeks from Dec 12th, and is going to try and get an exemption certificate from her doctor. She suffers from "arthuritis" and says she'll be crippled sitting in a jury box until Christmas. But I think one has to be dying to escape jury service.

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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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