Thursday April 17, 1986

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds LS11 5NQ

Ally to the clinic. Furious that she still isn't booked in to to the BRI. She has no intention of going to St Luke's. Tonight we went to Scorpio's Taverna. Meeting at the Pig & Whistle. John, Janette, Lynn, David, Sue, Peter, George & Jayne, and a whole company from our lounge bar. A good evening, but I sat next to Janette who is so faddy and left a perfectly good steak. John and I shared a meze (£12 each) which was gigantic. Ally looked beautiful in blue. Had a good dance but felt terribly out of shape. I used to dance all night. Home at 2:30am.

-=-

Wednesday April 16, 1986

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds LS11 5NQ

Dad and Bessie phoned re their letters. Both were touched. Phoned (Auntie) Hilda who is having Samuel tomorrow. She is always willing to help. "It's what your mother would have done", she said.

-=-

Tuesday April 15, 1986

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds, LS11 5NQ

Very wet day. President Reagan has bombed Tripoli, much to the chagrin of the world with the exception of the UK. Planes from US bases here launched the attack and for some reason the yellow-bellied Lefty bastards are up in arms about it. We really should have flattened Libya in 1984 when they murdered that poor London WPC. Samuel and I wrote letters to Dad, Bessie and cousins Matthew and Simon. All on Postman Pat writing paper. Children should be encouraged to write. The telephone is a rotten invention. This area has some good independent schools. Leeds Grammar, Bradford Grammar, and Fulneck.

-=-

Monday April 14, 1986

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds LS11 5NQ

Pool Knockout Night. A dead loss. Thank God for Pakistanis. Ours is Karma. Or is Karma an Indian? Cold. We are seriously thinking about independent schooling for Samuel. I'm no snob but I'll be damned if I'm going to send him to a left state school where 18 people share one battered text book and a portrait of Lenin adorns the headmaster's study. In my day it was Leslie Hore-Belisha, or Disraeli. Where the money for this venture will come from God only knows.

-=-

Sunday April 13, 1986

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds LS11 5NQ

2nd Sunday after Easter

Cousin Bev.

A pushy girl came in for a bar job and did nothing but moan about her previous, nay current employer. We immediately smelled trouble and shut the door behind her with a sigh of relief. No more interviews. Quiet lunch. To Guiseley later. Beverley came tonight. A tall, striking girl. A real brick. She pulls a good pint. Much whispering about my appointing a kinswoman. I love it.

-=-

Saturday April 12, 1986

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds LS11 5NQ

Staff shake-up. Chris walked in here bold as brass on Thursday and I told him to be on his way. He then asked for a 'black and tan' without so much as a flinch. Oh no. MLR will not be shit upon. He went away threatening to re-style my facial features. I will never give in to terrorism and will continue to go walkabout whenever I can. My cousin Beverley phoned me and asked whether I would ever employ a relative, and I was very pleased by the sound of her voice. She is coming here tomorrow evening to give it a bash. If I remember correctly she is a shy, bonnie, imposing girl. We interviewed from 6pm. Nobody spectacular. The first was a Karin Ireland, a friend of Gerry & Mary. Phoned Hilda re having Samuel on Thursday.

-=-

Friday April 11, 1986

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds, LS11 5NQ

Norman Wilson's threat to turn our tap room into a ghost town hasn't quite come off. He has taken the riff raff with him including Gary Rhodes, who has been going over the top recently and carrying on disgracefully with Edna's daughters. Recently he came in bearing a bollard, no doubt stolen from Dewsbury Rd. I have been lenient with him only because he must be a kinsman, albeit from an ancestor way back. Sarah Ferguson's great-uncle, Sir William Fellowes, died on April 6, aged 86. He was land agent at Sandringham 1936-64, and married Jane Ferguson, Ronnie's aunt. She died in February, aged 74. Will July 23 be a national holiday? Princess Anne's wedding day wasn't, if I remember rightly. Charles and Diana's was different. They will be anointed one day.

-=-

Thursday April 10, 1986

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds LS11 5NQ

Poor Dad is becoming quite loopy, elusive and erratic. He has made it plain he is sick of his B & B existence and yet when we press him to come here for a few days he backs off. We have seen him only briefly in a month now and his grandchildren no longer seem to have the pull that they did. In fact the sight of them all together quite turns him off. At Thomas's christening he was horribly morose. The noise and the hubhub irritates and no longer does he frolic on the floor. Let us hope and pray that this is only a temporary thing. Our new pool team played here but I fell out with Norman Wilson, who stormed off in a cloud of abuse taking everyone with him. Oh dear.

-=-

Wednesday April 9, 1986

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds LS11 5NQ

New Moon

Maureen worked tonight. Her first session since her vein op. She caused chaos and mayhem when spraying polish on the till and in the process dislodged a wire and brought the business of this establishment to a standstill. I had to go upstairs for Ally whose expertise with electrical faults is legendary. Needless to say she had fixed it by 10pm. We had been keeping a list of items to ring in and the bar back was piled high with notes and copper. Ally like a small hillside in a tracksuit raised gasps from the punters. And she has three months to go before baby comes! I have sent a begging letter to the YP. Where is my money for the Fergie revelations, shock horror? And do they want a family tree showing all the Dukes of York? The last two recipients of this honour received  the peerage in the birthday honours of 1892 and 1920. We shall see. Fergie will not be Princess Andrew.

-=-

Tuesday April 8, 1986

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds LS11 5NQ

John is a cool customer but with a heart of gold. Ally asks him to do anything in the house and he gets on with it without ceremony or palaver. He is going to tile the bathroom too before we take up residence in May. We will never get any sense out of John and Janette. Such a volatile couple. Almost theatrical at times. ____________. Uncle Arnold has asked Dad to go to an apartment in Lanzarote with him in the summer. But Dad needs money. He turned Lynn down when she suggested a similar venture and I do hope no ill will be incurred.

-=-

Monday April 7, 1986

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds LS11 5NQ

To Club St later this afternoon to light the gas pilot light. What fun. We almost cremated the piano. Ally was very tetchy about this. Samuel loves Club St. He went to bed with Ally while I attempted to strip the beams in the spare room. A rea pig it was. John and Janette came at 8pm both dressed like manual labourers, and he put 'browning' on the walls and did a good job. Janette helped mixing the plaster. Ally got up at 9 and we had tea. Janette says she and John are getting engaged very shortly. _________. We discussed the family tree. John would like a copy. Back to the Moorhouse at 12. Fagged out.

-=-

Sunday April 6, 1986

Julie Baker, Lynn & Tom, Self and Frances.

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds LS11 5NQ

Low Sunday

Snow today. We went to Guiseley and to Thorpefields where Lynn has prepared a party. Poor Dad was being organised like a four year-old by Lynn, &c. We went to collect Sue after a ticking off from David about our partying on the muddy grass verge. Ally stuck to her guns, defiantly I thought, and wouldn't budge. Her resolute jaw was set. We collected Sue, Pete and the boys and went to Esholt for 2:45. Awful. 'Emmerdale Farm mania'. Japanese and other Orientals crawling everywhere with zoom lens cameras. A packed church. Two christenings. One Thomas David (ours) and one Thomas William (theres). Lynn was furious because the church was packed and she was expecting a quiet, personal family service. A good attendance from the family. Dad seemed odd and strangely distant. I cannot put my finger on it, but in recent times he has changed. Audrey Baker was very pleasant and seemed fit, and joined in all the fun and games back at the house party. And of course Frances is 5 today. Thomas stood up on the side of the font to be anointed. (I passed him to the care of the vicar), and he yelled his head off at his 'wetting'. A good buffet later. Wine, fun and pandemonium. Back here for 7.

-=-