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Wednesday May 21, 1986

 5 Club Street, Lidget Green, Bradford BD7 2PB

My own precious Ally Pig is 28 today. Rain. We went to York after breakfast in our little haven and walked around the shops, much to Sam's chagrin. He becomes quite evil in shopping precincts. Ally, all bulbous and blue, was well wrapped against the damp. Home at tea time exhausted. The fresh air has floored her. Laze around. Ate chocolate and watched a re-run of 'Edward and Mrs Simpson' on ITV. Dreadful.

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Tuesday May 20, 1986

5 Club St, Bradford BD7 2PB

Hip Hip Hurray. Hols here. The holiday stocktake left us £80 down but we went to Club Street unmoved and unconcerned. I have given up with stock takers. Our relief manager is a Tim Suttenstall, or something. We went to Club St in a state of mental and physical exhaustion. Fish and chips. A new book as arrived from our book club. Debrett's Book of the Royal Engagement. Fascinating. Fergie isn't my cup of tea, but her pedigree is something else. I'm no snob, of course. I do love lineage. She can trace 14 generations back in the female line, daughter to mother, to grandmother, &c, compared with five or six for the Princess of Wales and a similar number in the direct female lineage of HM the Queen. To Sainsbury's. Sam was horribly behaved in the shop. Torrential rain. 

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Monday May 19, 1986

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds LS11 5NQ

Sunshine. At 2:30 I accidentally buggered up the till locking all the money inside and incapacitating the business of my public house. I phoned Yorkshire Cash Registers who sent someone out to get us up and running again at 5:30. A slight panic.

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Sunday May 18, 1986

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds LS11 5NQ

Whit Sunday

Sue is fine. They operated, found nothing and so stuck her together again. That's what they have told us. A day filled with horrible memories. To the cemetery this morning with a bag of peat and a spade. Tidied around. The flowers there are all spectacular and the little corner looked beautiful. To Club St in the afternoon. Dad stayed up at Horton. He told Lynn he didn't see today as an anniversary to go to the grave, as it was a day of no importance to him or to Mum in the years before.

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Saturday May 17, 1986

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds LS11 5NQ

I opened up at 11. Lynn phoned to say Sue is back in hospital. A wet day. We arranged with Lynn to go to Club Street at 3. We met there and David installed the festoon blind in Sam's room. They are going on to see Sue this evening and we handed over some presents - just chocs, magazines and some wilting daffs. Dad is very worried.________. 

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Friday May 16, 1986

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds LS11 5NQ

Susan is poorly. __________. We phoned and she was stoic as ever. A little brick. 

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Thursday May 15, 1986

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds LS11 5NQ

Zara Phillips is 5. Lady Joanna du Breuil (sic) daughter of Countess Mountbatten of Burma has named her infant daughter after the Caribbean island named after the Knatchbulls. I've forgotten the name. It's a good job she wasn't brought into the world in Scunthorpe. Ally suggests that the child must have been conceived on the island. Lady Pamela (Hicks) named her daughter India in honour of Dickie's viceroy connection.

Ally to the clinic. 

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Wednesday May 14, 1986

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds LS11 5NQ

We are in a quandary about the name of our unborn child if male. A girl will be Clementine Nora Levinyer Rhodes ..... but, a boy ....? George, Frederick, William, and yes old Joshua has re-emerged after three years on the list. Joshua Michael Albert perhaps. Ally will not even consider it (the name) and has asked for a delay. I like to have these things nicely tied up beforehand.

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Tuesday May 13, 1986

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds LS11 5NQ

Club Street. Mother's cousin Elsie Basham died at the end of Feb. Have I already informed you of this? Please delete where applicable. I have been on the bathroom scales and quivering in horror at my reflection. I weigh 13 stones. My eyes droop with heavy bags. I stoop. I look mid-thirties and (indecipherable) . Gone is that buoyant, zestful youth. And to think you have have watched my decline here without even a word of warning. I thought you were my friends.

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Monday May 12, 1986

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds LS11 5NQ

Coronation Day 1937. I suppose that now only the Queen Mother can remember this.

We are in the week of that awful anniversary. God knows how we've all lived through the 12 months without her. She had that magical exuberance that dominated every gathering. 

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Wednesday May 21, 1986

 5 Club Street, Lidget Green, Bradford BD7 2PB My own precious Ally Pig is 28 today. Rain. We went to York after breakfast in our little hav...