Thursday October 21, 1982

 An exciting start to the day because Ally was having her hair cut and even the most minor deviation from the norm gave a spurt to our dawn awakening. We climbed into the bath together. __________.

The 7:30 news put my back up when the newsreader announced that the average weekly wage is £157, and here I am on £90. 

Onward at 8 to the YP. The girls are obviously annoyed with me for not getting carried away at the SOGAT meeting. However, I do not argue when I know I cannot win. Of course I earn a king's ransom. My lifestyle is like Cary Grant's. 

At lunchtime I went to buy Ally a book at Greenhead's. 'Highland Fling' by Nancy Mitford. It's from Santa Claus of course.

Home at 6 to find the house in darkness. Ally came back 10 minutes later with her new hair and a look of disappointment. She thinks her hair is too short, but I like it. Perms do look a bit severe to beging with, don't they? We had an omelette and ate like starving wolves. ____________.

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Wednesday October 20, 1982

 Wet and dark morning. Ally didn't want to climb out of bed and I had to run her bath, and boil her eggs before she stirred. Just her nose was peeping from under the Oasis quilt.

To the YP. Upstairs at 11;00 to the theatre where Bernard Welch and two SOGAT representatives saw us. Carol went off to the optiticians and only Sarah, Margo and I attended. Sarah seemed to be the spokesperson. We do not stand a chance. We cannot drop out of the union, and if we tried to do so at this particular time it would be madness, they say. I cannot afford to pay 90p a week and when I say I am only on a mere £90.68 a week they laughed, one saying that I'm 'well off'. Ludicrous. After an hour we came away agreeing to continue paying up and they say they will help us to be up-graded. The sixteen year-old girls in the Mail Room are taking home the same money as me and I resent it. 'Whose fault is that?’ asked the SOGAT rep. Left at 12, home at 1.

Looked at the book 'Royal Lists' by Brown and Cunliffe, a gift from Bob Cockroft. A bearded boy in 'Hush Puppy' shoes came at 2 to assess the roof for a council grant and asks if we need anything else doing too. He looked at the stone walls outside and suggested that they might need re-pointing, and after making a detailed plan of the house he went away with a broad smile on his face. It will be a few weeks before we hear anything. Phoned Ally and gave her the basic details before they have time to fade from my memory. Derek [Jenkins] has not had a colostomy, as we thought. Phoned Lynn. They have a buyer for the house. Said hello to Frances. John has been working on Teesside. Middlesbrough, I think. The house is abysmal without Ally, and it isn't warm despite the central heating until she comes home.

Burgundy pâté followed by a liver goulash. Ally tired early. Horribly pale. We went up to bed and she fell soundly asleep, like a doormouse.

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Tuesday October 19, 1982

 Rain. We got up and ate and said goodbye in darkness, and returned eight hours later in the same darkness. Surely we were intended for better things than this? We should find a job that keeps us together all day. Ally, whilst ironing tonight, suggested we buy an antique shop. I imagine you would have to be very pushy. I would enjoy it all the same. Pot dog salesman. 

Margo is back from Poros with Mr White, looking brown. Kathleen is also back. Told her of our Lanzarote plans  and she sent a memo down to the cashiers.

Helped Ally bake bread. One needs good wrist action. Sadly, we got flour all over the new carpet and I trampled dough everywhere. Ally had a fit.

Ally tired tonight and looks jaded. She needs a holiday. Derek Jenkins collapsed last night and is in hospital with some, as yet, unknown complaint. The only thing that Ally could get out of Mr Taylor is that the man is haemorrhaging, but from where? Ally also heard the word colostomy mentioned, but neither of us can remember what that actually is. Ally is sweet. For years she's blasted Derek with her worst ammunition, but now he's ill she doesn't have a bad word for him.

Roll on November 18. TV good. Russell Harty was talking to Molly Keane the writer. A funny lady.

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Monday October 18, 1982

 Wrote to John and Sheila and sent off a cheque for £200 to Quest Travel. Signed, sealed and delivered.

YP: Sarah is back. The SOGAT rep wants to see us on Wednesday.

Lynn and Dave are selling their house at Burley-in-Wharfedale and moving to Thorpe Lane, Guiseley [selling for £22,500 and buying for £36,000]. Why didn't they buy Pine Tops for God's sake? 

We went to bed early after a steaming shepherd's pie. Fanny Hill and snores. This John Cleland chappie must have been a lad.

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Sunday October 17, 1982

 19th Sunday after Trinity      New Moon

Slightly hungover. Up at 9. Bath. Poached eggs. Frank and Uncle Jim came from Colne for Andrew at 10:15, and sat with a coffee. Ally, still in her dressing gown, packed up some apples for Frank to pass on to Auntie Annie. Cooking apples. Uncle Jim asked about Lanzarote and my rich relations. They said nothing about Auntie Hilda, and we didn't like to ask. They left at 10:30. Mum and Dad came at 11. Mum with a nice bunch of vermillion flowers for Ally. They have photographs of baby Hannah, very much like Catherine. JPH is such a big boy now. ________. They talked about the Grunwells. 

By 12:15 we were at the Hollywood. Lily related to Dad the hilarious stories of the attempted burglaries at the pub. Joined by Steve, Billy, and Garry [who started work on Monday cutting up foam, ten months after being made redundant]. Joined by Old Anne from the Robin Hood and young Anne with the brown legs and bungalow set in its own rolling acres. The plan is to marry her off to Steve. At 2 we went into the snug and ate chicken legs and sandwiches and drank until after 5. Billy left early to look after his elderly mother. We sat with Dave G and Lily until after 7. I bought grandad a whisky. Lily says that since his son's death he wants to die too. We left at 8. Home to Rue Club for coffee. Ally to bed.

I watched Lord Olivier talking to Melvin Bragg.

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Saturday October 16, 1982

 We got up at 8:30 or so. I know it's early but work had to be done. I brewed ale and a man came from the curtain shop and delivered our green curtains at 9:30. He saw me with all the glass bottles and liquid and assumed I was making petrol bombs. A funny man. We went afterwards to 'Cheap and Cheerful', and Ally bought me the pot dogs she's promised me. Excellent specimens, though not antique, and now they sit looking down from the top of the piano watching over us with with yellow, staring eyes.

We sat in a pub 'The Smithy' and had one drink. A Woody Allen film was playing on the video in the bar - hilarious. Bought meat and veg, &c. Frank arrived with Andrew at 4 o'clock and after having a cup of tea went off to Colne. We drank home brewed ale and watched TV. Then had fried steak and chips and played records, loudly, until after 8. Phoned Jill and Tim and they came over at 9 and we went to the Fire Brigade. We were too tanked up to enjoy the night properly, and Andrew couldn't face his Tetley's. Home for coffee. The Elmers left at 11:30 and I went and bought fish and chips. They were cold. Watched Kid Creole and the Coconuts. Bed late.

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Friday October 15, 1982

 Wet. Went out at lunch time and bought a stout pack and a demijohn. 

Home to Sweet Kitten. We are cheerful tonight after the ridiculous squabbling last night. Our fall outs are rare. Sat with a coffee after dinner the phone rang and it was Frank saying that Bessie has been in Colne since yesterday with her sister, Hilda, who is dying of cancer. This put a wet blanket on the evening. Frank will bring Andrew here tomorrow and then go on to Colne and see what can be done. I did warn Ally that the end might be near. Poor Auntie Hilda must only be 50.

Our Oasis quilt cover came in the post. Susie was seen by Dr Glass today and he told her she can go home on Monday if there is no change. She hasn't had a scan but is probably 8 to 10 weeks pregnant.

John has gone to Scotland for the weekend. No doubt he'll be staying with Janette. _______.

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Thursday October 14, 1982

 Splashed in the bath before breakfast. Ally and I kissed goodbye on the doorstep and she asked me not to enjoy myself too much with Diane.

Busy day. Sarah went home at 12 with a cold. Won't be seeing her again this week. Went at 1:30 and stood outside the Ostlers waiting for Diane who was ten minutes late, and only met me because she was passing on her way to Marks and Spencer's. She was surprised that I remembered we had an appointment. I had a couple of pints and she Britvic orange. She cannot drink when working [she's at Nat West]. I told her about Susie. Paul [Edwards] is living at St James's Crescent while Hilda and Tony are away in Spain. _________.

Home at 6. Laid the carpet in the bedroom and dismantled the bunk beds, which were close to collapse. I blame John & Janette. Ally and I squabbled. She is driven to distraction by my lack of pracical mindedness.

Read Fanny Hill.

Wednesday October 13, 1982

 Dark morning. To Leeds after boiled eggs for breakfast and a few snatches of conversation with Ally. We are buying books on the scale of a major city library. I want the diaries of Harold Nicolson, Evelyn Waugh, Noel Coward, Beatrice Webb, &c. I have been in Austick's looking at published diaries. Diarists always come across as pompous, and nearly all are shatteringly world famous. Is it silly of me to keep a journal? OK, I don't take lunch at my club with the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, or dine with the Duchess of Windsor at Maxim's, but I do make a contribution, don't I? 

Mum phoned. Dr Glass saw Susan. ____________. The Stockport trip is still on , but it doesn't look good. Ally phoned me this afternoon. Quest Travel cannot give us a flight to Lanzarote on Dec 2, but can do one for the same price on Nov 18. £115 each isn't bad. 

Home to Ally and mince and dumplings. 

Prince Andrew flew back from Mustique [illegible] very much like the Queen as he left the plane. That same fixed, nervous expression. Koo [Stark] has gone on to St Lucia. It is reported that HM paid for the tickets and is very aware of Miss Stark's naughty films. Our sovereign is very broad minded. I bet she's been watching 'Emily' on the little cinema at Sandringham.

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Tuesday October 12, 1982

 Fog at first. Mum phoned at 11:30 to say Sue is unwell, feeling dizzy. They went down to look after Christopher and found Sue in bed having had a visit from the doctor who had examined her and said she is probably 16 weeks pregnant. She was later taken away by ambulance to Roundhay. Poor Sue had no idea.

Busy at the office. The girls overheard my calamitous conversation. 

Fish again. The dinner was hideously salty and we drank water all night. Mum phoned again this evening to say Peter had visited Sue in hospital was she was 'cheerful'. Her doctor won't be looking at her until the morning.

I looked at Fanny Hill. Bed at 10.

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Monday October 11, 1982

 Columbus Day, USA - Thanksgiving Day, Canada

Raising Mary Rose.

What's this Columbus Day? The Tudor flagship Mary Rose was raised this morning and its ancient timbers saw the first light of day since July 1545 when it went down with all hands before a purple King Henry VIII. The Prince of Wales was present to witness the surfacing. Sadly, they found no survivors. I was hoping to catch a glimpse of Sir George Carew, the admiral, thrashing around in the deep clad in his hose and doublet.

Home from the YP. No curtains. The little creep in the curtain shop has forgotten us. Ally stood pulling faces at the offending red, striped curtains which we thought we'd seen the last of. We ate lasagne and watched 'Coronation Street'. Phoned Guiseley and spoke to John. Mum and Dad have been looking at a pub in Darley and have gone to see Joe and Anne Grunwell. John's thinking of going to Scotland at the weekend, if he isn't working on Teesside. 

Read Fanny Hill. Ally weary. Bed after 11. Ally says my cocoa is getting worse.

[Bessie phoned on Thursday I've just remembered. Philip and Carol Middlebrough's baby is to be called Thomas].

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Sunday October 10, 1982

 18th Sunday after Trinity

I awoke to find myself facing a blank, unfamiliar wall. Ally heaped up behind me. The bed was too small. Steve was on the phone downstairs. He had slept in late and was arranging to play football at 10. Karen made toast and marmalade and awful tea and she excused herself by saying she never drinks the stuff. She was drinking Coca Cola. Ally looked dreadful. John's eyes pink. After the marmalade we escaped to Rue Club. We sat with sandwiches, drugs and coffee watching David Niven and June Allyson on the BBC. John left at 3:30 and we lounged on. Ate fish. Fanny Hill. TV. Bed. Our new curtains come tomorrow.

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Saturday October 9, 1982

 Fanny Hill is the most sexually explicit thing I've ever had the fortune to read. It's hard to imagine it was written 200 years ago. 

Up at 8 o'clock, and finished off painting the front door. I am now that person I would have roared with laughter at five years ago. Painting a door shrouded in the autumn mist of early morn. Silly bugger.

Ally made haste to the Co-op and then we had breakfast. I bottled beer and then waited for the paint to dry before we went into town. The hot bus made Ally feel faint. We bought a lampshade for the kitchen and other odds and ends. 

If you think my handwriting has deteriorated then blame the fountain pen which is more or less knackered. It hasn't had a new nib since April, 1973. 

Salad sandwiches. Splashed in the bath. John came at 6:45 with the lounge door which he has restored. We went to the Farmers' Arms at Stanningley at 9. Joined by Lynn, Dave, Sue and Peter. On to Karen and Steve's, where we were joined by Jill, Tim, Phil and Denise. We all drank punch, which is fatal. Susie looked chic in a boiler suit with her hair swept up. Lynn was fat and frilly. John had a roaring time. Ally went to rest in a darkened room at 1am. Blame the punch. To bed there at about 2 or 3. I arranged to see Di for a drink next Thursday.

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Friday October 8, 1982

 Back to the YP. No comment on my day off but I did detect an icy note in Kathleen's welcome. She thinks I've been laying carpets for two days. 

Koo Stark.

Sarah has filled me in on the 'Koo Stark Affair'. On the BBC news last night we were privileged to see photos of the naked body of 'soft porn' actress Kathleen Norris 'Koo' Stark, 25. The starlet and her very obvious attributes have been cast into such prominence because Prince Andrew has taken her and a party of friends to Mustique. It would appear that the foolish prince has been having an affair with Miss Stark since February. She has been to Balmoral and, according to one rag, has slept at Buckingham Palace. A pleasant intruder into the prince's bedroom. I have always thought of Prince Andrew as being too self-assured, and full of himself. He does not enjoy the popular appeal of the more restrained Prince of Wales. The boy obviously thinks he can get away with anything following the wild reception he received coming back from the Falkland Islands. However, public opinion is a temperamental thing. The Queen, in Australia, will not be 'seething' as some news reports suggest, but I suppose she'll be saying 'told you so' to her naughty, wayward, second son.

Fish fingers with Piglet. To bed at a reasonable hour. Reading Fanny Hill by John Cleland.

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Thursday October 7, 1982

 Ally went into to the AHA and had a peculiar conversation with Derek [Jenkins]. She isn't allowed to take a day off for a strike day because he says it will interfere with her superannuation, whatever that is. She yesterday came out of her flexi-leave. I sat at home and waited for the carpet fitters. A little man came and fixed the gas fire. Ally and Dave Watts came in at lunchtime and he looked at the pipe which is still dripping. 'Do not worry', was his comment. Two carpet fitters arrived at 2 and spent 90 minutes. I was fascinated. They make the job look so easy. By 3:30 we had a plush deep green floor which lends an air of sophistication to our dwelling. Tidied the place up and when Ally came in at 5, I had a blazing fire, and Ella Fitzgerald on the turntable. The house looks wonderful. 

Phoned Dave L to remind him about Saturday. He'll be away at the Nottingham Goose Fair. Bed late.

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Wednesday October 6, 1982

 I am resolved to take the day off. Ally phoned the AHA to say she was having the day off as a strike day [today is a TUC day of action]. She phoned Sarah to say I wouldn't be in because I have a cold. I have really landed the YP in it. It will be Hell. Carol J is off, and of course Margo is in Paros with her lover. 

Steve O'Connor, a roofing contractor, came and climbed around on the roof. He says he can make repairs for £12 a square yard instead of the usual £20, and says a new roof, which is needed, will cost us £500. 'Why not apply for a council grant?' he says. Ally phoned and they say we could possbibly have a 90 per cent grant but that there is a long waiting list. We'll wait. Painted the front door. St David, the patron saint of central heating boiler systems, paid a visit and dispelled our fears. He didn't think the system needed draining and came back at 7 with Jean [Watts], and made a poultice [is that sic?]. He says Ally is a born worrier. He is quite right of course. We looked at impressive photographs of Switzerland. I am also taking tomorrow off too to supervise the laying of the new carpet.

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Tuesday October 5, 1982

 Awakened at 6:35am by a loud and irritating knocking at the door. Threw on a pullover and staggered downstairs to find the postman with a parcel, which proves to be a chunk of Frank and Bessie's Pearl Wedding cake. Ally was fuming. This put her in a black mood. I went down and boiled eggs, leaving her boiling in the bath.

Karen is 23 today. MM will also be celebrating in his furniture shop. The day that began badly grew steadily worse. Mum and Dad arrived this evening and while putting back a radiator we discovered yet another leak. We have rain which pours in through the roof too. Life here resembles the Poseidon adventure. Mum isn't well and has a burning sore throat which got steadily worse as the night went on. Dad and I took up the lounge carpet and fit it upstairs in the small bedroom. My heart and soul wasn't in it. They left at 12:30.

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Monday October 4, 1982

 Wet beginning, warm middle, and sunny end. My bus was full of tarts, and has been so for over a week. Five of them on the back seat were talking very loudly about mens bottoms, and having sex in public conveniences. Most disturbing. Young, but with coughs like old women, with dyed hair. What has become of the English rose?

Sat with The Times. Another KG has died. The premier English baronet Sir Edmund Bacon. That is three vacancies now. 

Phoned David Middleton at 10. He came at 6 and to our relief he immediately said he would replace the cracked sink. I have been blaming myself.

The Queen has sailed off to some South Pacific islands, the last bits of the Commonwealth yet to be visited by Her Majesty. She's doing the closing of the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane first. No monarch in the history of the world has travelled as extensively as the present Queen.

Prince Claus, husband of the Queen of Holland, has lost his marbles, and has been locked in an asylum. He's due here next month for a State visit, or perhaps a Strait visit [i.e. strait jackets, etc] Aren't I a wit?

Chicken. Ally ironing. Bed after 11. We are staying up too late. Phoned Mummy and sugegsted a visit to Stockport on Oct 12.

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Sunday October 3, 1982

 17th Sunday after Trinity     Full Moon

Opened my eyes expecting to feel ill, but didn't. Painted in the kitchen all day. Lynn, David and Frances called in for coffee on the way to Richard and Mandy's. Ally was annoyed because they are always on their way somewhere when they visit us. _________. Frances, in a knitted suit looked very 'Bakery', yet sweet. She has big teeth. Laid cushion floor covering in the kitchen. Chicken at 8:30. Hung pictures. Watched Olivier's 'Three Sisters' by Chekhov, and felt stupid because I couldn't understand it. Bed after 12.

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Saturday October 2, 1982

Definitely feel 'off it'. Hot, sweaty, and getting a cold as sure as God makes little apples. Struggled in to town with sweet Ally. The curtains were not ready. Bought wallpaper and my last tin of apple white matt. Home at 2 and papered the kitchen until 6. Ally screamed in horror. The sink, not eight weeks old, has cracked. I could commit murder. Seven thousand pounds for a knackered old kitchen sink. Depression. Fish pie. Stayed up late. Ally baked cakes and buns. Watched Olivier in 'Rebecca'. Bed. Unwell.

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