Tuesday January 3, 1984

 New Moon

Waltergarth, Station Road, Horton-in-Ribblesdale

Waltergarth.

Katie Davina's first birthday. We woke up to snow at Horton and decided to leave for home very quickly and before we could be 'snowed in'. Mum missed breakfast and stayed in her bed complaining of a acheing back and congested chest. Dad was singing along to the Jimmy Young Show on the radio. Ally and I had boiled eggs. Very 'eggy' eggs, according to my wife. We packed up and left at about 12 and phoned Mum on our arrival home. They were very relieved that we had returned safely to Bradford. 

At 2pm Ally went to her her motherclass class at Odsal. She watched a demonstration by a midwife who bathed a doll in the bath, a bath without water in it. Her friend who was expecting a breech birth gave birth to a daughter on the Tuesday after Christmas. She came home after 4 in falling snow again. ________. I made some chips and whilst wrapping the potato peelings in an old copy of the Daily Telegraph I spotted the list of New Years Honours. The awful Alastair Burnet, a mere newscaster, has been knighted, lowering the tone. Lady Susan Hussey is made a DCVO. It is reported that the Queen has been angered by the usual flocking to Sandringham by the gentlemen of the press and she has asked for a withdrawal.___________.

A dark, frosty and white night. To think that John will be in his shirt sleeves in a Spanish discotheque. He says he wants to go to Lanzarote in the autumn to see John & Sheila, and that Sue and Pete are thinking of joining them. Ally says we should arrange someting for November. No mail at home. No communication from the brewery. We will write about the Moorhouse tomorrow. We cannot go hanging around like this and once the baby is here we need to get the ball rolling. I will be happier after hearing from Les Gledhill again. Bessie phoned - frost in Hampshire. Ally changed into her pink gown and slumped in a chair to watch 'Dallas'. We watched the news headlines at nine and then went to bed with Margaret Thatcher. The US presidential campaign is under way already. Jesse Jackson is a contender for the presidency and is currently strutting around the Middle East as if he owns the place.

Monday January 2, 1984

 Bank Holiday in UK & Rep. of Ireland

Waltergarth, Station Road, Horton-in-Ribblesdale

Dad at Horton.

Cold, wet and windy. Dad is 50, Mum is 49. Mum loves her birthday more than anyone I know and loves to include all the excitable children. We were up early to bid farewell to the Bakers after the handing over of presents and cards. We bought Dad a pullover, but so too did Lynn and Sue. Sue's, as usual, was knitted for a dwarf and didn't fit. She frequently purchases miniature items of clothing for very large people. Little Katie, who makes noises like a lion, opened her presents too. We have given Mum the tea pot and sugar basin featuring Hardraw Falls. Dad says we will go visit the falls with baby when we next come to Horton. 

Lynn and Dave left at 11 and Hilda and Tony walked in at 12:30 and we spent the afternoon eating (again) and drinking (again). Hayley is to be christened on January 29 and the vicar has specified to Karen that she can only have six people in church. Disgusting. Jesus Christ would not approve. We are told that Hayley would have been Ryan, if a boy. Hilda performed the old wives test of holding a dangling needle over Ally's bump. Supposedly, the suspended needle swings back and forth if a boy and if it goes round in circles then it's a girl. The needle today went back and forth, and so our child is a boy. Hilda says she's never been wrong. Dad, in excellent exuberant spirits, showed his contempt for this ritual by carrying out the experiment on all of us. I am expecting a boy, and Hilda is childless. Hers didn't swing either way. We sat until 10 when H and T returned to Pudsey. Tony is very wary of the stringent drink driving law enforcement. I sat looking at the Waltergarth deeds, fascinating paperwork  dating back to the last century. The strong wind blew the smoke back down the chimney and we sat with handkerchiefs over our faces like surgical masks. Much laughter. Bed at 12:30.

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