Friday February 13, 1987

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds LS11 5NQ

Three years ago this day my standard was hoist for the first time above this prosperous ale-house. May God keep and preserve me for further labours. I am very tired with a headache. At 2 I slept for an hour which helped revive me. Clemmie has a cold and is hot and snotty.  Samuel and I had our usual excursion to see Mr Myers at the NatWest bank, and to Morrison's. Tonight Margaret worked. She too is now complaining, good humouredly, of stress. She and Maureen are the only staff until Margaret R returns on Tuesday. Ally came down at 9 looking superb in a Laura Ashley creation. Bed late. the video has a grip on us these days. 

The Duchess of York was presented with her "wings" in a ceremony at Kidlington Airport, near Oxford, yesterday, and commented: "We'll certainly qualify as a two-plane family." The duchess piloted a Piper Warrior  aircraft to Kidlington  from RAF Benson for the ceremony with her husband, a Naval helicopter pilot, as a back-seat passenger. She is the first woman member of the Royal Family to gain a private pilot's licence and has now expressed a wish to fly helicopters. The Duchess, nicknamed Chatterbox One by air traffic controllers qualified after passing her final test last month. To pass she had to complete a minimum of 40 hours at the control and sit written tests in aviation law, meteorology, principles of flying and navigation. The Duke smiled as his wife was presented  with her licence by Mr Christopher Tugendhat, chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority. The duchess also received a helicopter-shaped bouquet of flowers and she said: "I just wonder what Andrew wants me to do - flying or flower arranging?"

A village cricket club has thrown away its supply of "boxes", used to protect the testicles of batsmen, because of the fear of Aids. The players must in the future bring their own. "Putting on a protective box that someone else has worn is the equivalent of sexual contact," said Mr Roy Scaife, chairman of the Newlyn East club in Cornwall. He urged other clubs, and the MCC, to follow Newlyn's lead.

The parish magazine of Meopham, Kent, carries a notice in its February addition which says: "Churchyard maintenance is becoming increasingly difficult and it will be appreciated if parishioners will cut the grass around their own graves."

-=-