Sunday May 10, 1981

 _. 3rd Sunday after Easter - Mother's Day, U.S.A & Canada

Spent the day discussing the Stonehouse. The excitement blots out talk of family weddings and new babies. It's all consuming. Whilst Ally sat knitting baby clothes this afternoon I took down a few home made wine recipes for us to dabble with at Rue Club.  Rita Hayworth on the telly - a ghastly 1940s movie. We puzzle as to why it was ever made. 

Sue and Pete came for half an hour before tea. Chippy, Gus, Johnny and Tony Smith have taken a rented house at Chapel Allerton in close proximity to the Regent pub.

An evening of repeats on the telly. Part one of 'Pride and Prejudice' and part one of 'Private Schulz' [last seen on Wednesday]. Watched just half of a Tennessee Williams film, which was gruesome.

Retired to bed at 12.

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Saturday May 9, 1981

 _. Rain. Ally and I had a successful day in Bradford looking at the shops, drooling over the fashions. We walked hand in hand around the damp city. Ally had to have a toilet break in Rackham's.

Bought a couple of birthday cards for Steve S and Dave L. Ally booked £15 of sunray treatment so that she'll be brown in June for our big day. She says she wants people to see where the dress stops and the skin starts. It's hard to believe it's only weeks away. 

Hutchison: scored at both ends

Home to Guiseley at 4. Saw the end of the FA Cup Final. It ended in a 1-1 draw for Tottenham Hotspur v. Manchester City. Amazingly enough the same player, the hapless Tommy Hutchison, scored both goals. He put one in at each end. Silly sod. Lynn, Dave, Jim and Margaret were watching the game, but all were gone at 6:30.

At 8 we went with Mum & Dad to the Stonehouse [in John's ailing Escort], where we met George Deacon and his daughter, Joyce. The old man had Mum behind the bar pulling pints, and applauding her finished effort. Joyce said how much she wanted Mum and Dad to have the pub, adding that she regards Mum as a 'close friend'. Oh dear. We were there until 11:45 and came home quite confident.

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Friday May 8, 1981

 _. Oliver, Kitchen & Flynn, the valuers, have given Mum and Dad a glowing report on the Stonehouse Inn. They say the pub values at £70,000, but at auction it could raise considerably more. Dad has taken the report to Clive Osborne at the Yorkshire Bank. We await the outcome with eager anticipation.

To Club Street at 6. Sausages. Ally feels horrible. Dizziness and nausea.______.

Dave G phoned with Bill's address.

Jane Lapotaire: Cleopatra

By 10 we decided to call it a day. We went to bed and Ally buried herself beneath the sheets. I plugged the tv in the bedroom and watched 'Antony and Cleopatra' by W.Shakespeare, adapted for the telly by Jonathan Miller, and starring Jane Lapotaire as the Egyptian queen. Quite good. 

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Thursday May 7, 1981

 _. To Club St from the YP. It poured with rain and I had to run, coatless, yes run, from the bus station to meet Ally waiting for me in the car. She looked very pretty wearing her hair up. She isn't feeling too bright.

Had lamb chops for dinner. Spoke to Dave G afterwards. Frank requires Billy's address for the wedding invitations, but David is none the wiser, and says he'll phone back tomorrow.

The Trade and Industry Secretary is to ban sales of  'Die Aktuelle', the naughty German magazine. The Prince of Wales and Lady Diana say that the transcripts are of conversations that didn't take place between them, and yet they are still to be published in Australia, the Irish Republic and in Europe. The British journalist involved, Simon Regan, has been forced to quit his Suffolk cottage because of the numerous death threats and barrages of abuse from his otherwise genteel neighbours. It is heartening, and shows we still have some patriots left. 

Other royal news: Roddy Llewellyn is marrying his ladyfriend, Tatiana, on June 27. Peter Phillips, the Queen's grandson, is a page boy on Saturday at the wedding of his aunt, Sarah Phillips and Frank Staples, a seemingly octogenarian stockbroker.

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Wednesday May 6, 1981

 _. Stonehouse Inn excitement is escalating. Mum cannot sleep because of it. Dad too lays awake thinking of his snug bar and individual pork pies. I only hope they pull it off. One more disappointment and they'll give up the pub idea forever.

Watched 'Private Schulz' by the late Jack Pulman on BBC2. I was in fits of laughter.

To bed with Robinson Crusoe. I'm going simple.

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Tuesday May 5, 1981

_. Ally has woken up with a cold sore, and is very grumpy because of this. She drove off after breakfast looking like misery personified. 

Bobby Sands, the IRA hunger-striking MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone died this morning in the Maze Prison. No doubt senseless bloodshed will follow. Unless legislation is hurriedly enacted I envisage another IRA hunger striker taking the seat at the coming by-election. What a mess.

It is alleged that on the recent royal visit to Australia the Prince of Wales's phone was tapped and a tape was made of HRH talking to Lady Diana Spencer and the Queen. Furthermore, it transpires that transcripts of the intimate conversations are to be published next week in a West German magazine. It seems that some are determined to ruin the royal wedding. Poor Lady Diana's first month in the full glare of royal limelight has not been pleasant. The poor girl must feel threatened. The papers are full of the bugging scandal. The prince's office has been in touch with our ambassador in Bonn and Charles is seeking an injunction against the unpronouncable magazine in the West German high court. 

Ripper: schizophrenic?

The [Yorkshire] Ripper was back at the Old Bailey today. Sutcliffe's defence says he is schizophrenic. Fun and games, eh?

Hilda and Tony came for drinks. Pub speculation grows.

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Monday May 4, 1981

St George: Bank holiday?

 _. Bank Holiday in the UK -- New Moon

Climbed out of bed at about 10 o'clock. I am far from happy about celebrating this May Day bank holiday. It shrieks of communism. Why can't we celebrate on St George's Day instead, or the Queen's Birthday?

We took a completed banns form to Mr Nudds, vicar of St Wilfred's, Lidget Green, and then went aimlessly towards Otley, where we had a brisk walk in the deserted streets. Driving back to Guiseley we spied Susie and Pete driving into the Fox & Hounds car park, and so we joined them for a couple of drinks. Afterwards we went on to West End Terrace and she made us fish fingers and chips. We washed it all down with lager.

Back to Pine Tops after 7.

-=-

Sunday May 3, 1981

 _. 2nd Sunday after Easter

St Paul's: loony congregation

Family party this afternoon. They seem to be becoming a regular thing. But first Ally and I went to church. To St Paul's, Esholt, to participate in the morning service and hear our banns read. One realises at times like this why the Church of England is crumbling into obscurity. The goings on at St Paul's had nothing whatsoever to do with life here on earth in the latter part of the 20th century. It was as though Mr Ward and his loony congregation are cocooned in a time-warp. The new-fangled Alternative Service Book was used and the congregation have to do more hailing and chanting than the vicar. Since last year the Lord's Prayer is now almost unrecognisable. What a bloody shambles.

Back at 12 for a family party. JPH, obsessed with Richard, spent the day next door. Catherine took her first steps across the room walking from auntie to auntie.

Mum and Dad went to the Stonehouse Inn at 7:30 with John and Maria, calling at the Roebuck [at Otley afterwards]. Ally and I went on to Lidget Green.

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Saturday May 2, 1981

 _. Despite what I said earlier in the week I gave in and spent the day on a ladder painting the house white. Life went on quite normally beneath me. JPH is making a big impact. Maria came and then went [she seems to be obsessed with Otley]. John spent the day under his car on the drive, and was joined by Jimmy Macdonald, and his wife, Karim. Ally occupied herself with Mum and Catherine. My little niece calls me 'Mikey' or 'Micah'. Finished daubing paint at 6:30.

Ally and I went to Burley-in-W to 'baby sit' for Frances whilst Lynn and Dave went to join Sue and Pete at the White Cross. The baby decided she wanted to feed in the middle of 'Dallas', and so the US saga had to wait while Ally found a bottle. Lynn phoned twice from the pub and came back feeling guilty at abandoning her daughter.

Home to Pine Tops after 12.

-=-

Friday May 1, 1981

 _. May Day, for what it's worth.

Uneventful at the YP. Carol J's birthday passed once again into the annals of history. She has become quite impossible in recent times. We cannot take much more. 

To Guiseley for 6. Mum and Dad went to Pudsey. Ally came here. John was here too, covered in oil underneath his ailing Ford Escort 1300, on the drive. Good to see him. JPH was next door visiting his friend Richard, and no doubt organising things.

Tea time was a bit of a circus. Dave B called in with some plans of the Stonehouse Inn and surrounding land. He was downcast. The seven acres, he says, are worthless. We had sausages, eggs and chips with John, still covered in engine oil, and JPH prodded an egg, ate half a chip, and demanded we release him to go play with Richard. John made no attempt to make the lad eat, and so I gave him his liberty. JPH reminds me so much of his father at a similar age. He attracts dirt like a magnet and is the epitome of the naughty child portrayed in childrens story books.

Ally and I spent the evening watching tv. Mum and Dad returned from Pudsey at 9:30.

-=-

Thursday April 30, 1981

 _. Went shopping to Safeways. Carried bags of goodies onto the bus for the journey to Bradford. To Club St for 6pm. Ally waiting hungrily for my arrival. We had a curry with rice [not hot enough] but pleasant all the same. Afterwards we sat reading 'The Further Letters of Henry Root', another hilarious volume of his letters to the rich and famous illustrating just how easy it is to fool people. Not many years ago such a book would not have been tolerated. We ignored the dull tv. 'Top of the Pops' is becoming more hideous. Just who does Jimmy Savile think he is, anyway?

Spoke to Mummy. She and Dad are going to see Marlene tomorrow. Bed at 12.

-=-

Wednesday April 29, 1981

 _. Sunny with the odd shower. Cousin Jill's 19th birthday. Went to the office wearing a tie and gave some of the members of staff heart failure. Shazzo says I'm projecting a 'futurist' image, whatever that means. 

Ally's food supplies are virtually gone. She has eggs and mushy peas in her cupboard. She has despatched a shopping list in the post for me to spend my pay on the likes of washing up liquid and toilet rolls.

Auntie Mabel phoned Mum. __________. 

The Ripper trial opened, and was adjourned until Tuesday.

Jean Rook, in her newspaper column over two days has been interviewing Lord and Lady Spencer in an attempt to throw light on reports that they are cashing in on the forthcoming Royal wedding. Both made it clear that they are not doing this and are very upset at the rumours. Gossip of this nature is going to spoil things for the family on July 29, and the Prince of Wales and Lady Diana will have no happy start to married life if the press are going to pursue the character assassination of family members.

A report in the Sun suggests that Lady Diana's wedding dress might be pink. Bollocks.

Lord Cambridge died last week, and now Prince Philip's sister Princess Margarita of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, has died in Germany, aged 76. She was the eldest child of Prince Andrew of Greece and his wife Princess Alice.

This evening Dad and I painted the garage, and then adjourned to watch the Lloyd George drama. Philip Madoc is excellent in the part.

Bed at 12:50.

-=-

Tuesday April 28, 1981

 _. We are like nervous wrecks waiting for something to happen about the Stonehouse Inn. The valuers are now on the case and George has sent for his accounts from Skipton, or Berkshire. Some background: the pub is at Thruscross [from the Danish word Thorscross] on the outskirts of the sunken village of West End [which is beneath Thruscross Reservoir]. The pub was built in the 1790s as a farm, but an adventurous farmer and home brewer did such great things selling his ginger beer that it soon became a public house. For 54 years from circa 1868 one Jesse Peel was the landlord/owner, and he was succeeded by his daughter. George Deacon bought the place in 1947. The Stonehouse is the last of five pubs that were in the Washburn Valley, all the others are now submerged beneath the reservoir. The Gate was the last to go in 1964. I only hope and pray that they manage to get this place. It will suit them down to the ground.

Wrote to Ally and phoned. She is busily knitting. Cousin Tricia is her current victim, or rather her baby is. I phoned her again when Mum and Dad went to see Sue and Pete.

I went to bed with Robinson Crusoe. I get the impression that he and Man Friday were on the peculiar side.

-=-

Monday April 27, 1981

 _.Sun came and melted the snow. Britian is now knee deep in rotting, dead lambs, all caught unaware in the snow surprise of the weekend. We are also swimming in something else. I'm talking about canine excretia. Alighting from my bus this evening I proceeded to skid and slide, like a male version of Robin Cousins, in the numerous dog turds evenly spread over my homeward route. Britain is indeed in decline. The BBC 9 o'clock news failed to mention that Princess Michael of Kent had left hopsital with her newly named daughter. Kenneth Kendall went on and on about Bobby Sands [and the battle for his 'Slimmer of the Year' title], and Ringo Starr getting married, and listing endless boring Scottish League football results, but not one mention of the royal infant. She's been named Gabriella Marina Alexandra Ophelia Windsor. Gabriella is a good European RC name, and one of the baby's Austrian ancestors. Marina is for her grandmother the late Duchess of Kent. Alexandra for her aunt Mrs Ogilvy. Ophelia for the character in Hamlet who went bonkers and drowned herself bedecked in garlands. The baby was of course born on Shakespeare's birthday. We are told, in the press and not of course by the BBC, that the Lady Gabriella, eighteenth in line of succession to the throne, is to be known as 'Ella'. I'm unhappy with this. Sounds very un-English and calls to mind the wobbly, and collapsed 'Ruritarian' thrones of Europe.

The YP was a drag. Spoke to Ally. She had been in Bradford looking at baby clothes. Phoned her at 8:30 and our chat ended on a note of discord on the subject of money. Why is money the cause of all our problems? Why do I ask such stupid questions? Appropriately enough, the Monday film on the telly is 'For a Few Dollars More' - Clint Eastwood again.

Mum and Dad had been to the bank, and to the valuers, Oliver, Kitchen & Flynn, who are visiting the Stonehouse this week. At £75,000 I cannot see any difficulties. 

To bed at 12.

-=-

Sunday April 26, 1981

 _. Low Sunday

I eventually went outside and shifted a bit of snow just to let the neighbours know we aren't taking Alaskan citizenship. Ate beans and eggs and things for breakfast, and tolerate Sir Jimmy Savile, KG, OBE, on the radio. [No doubt he'll soon be Lord Savile of Stoke Mandeville]. 

Ally made herself beautiful - a rhapsody in blue no less, and at 3:30 we climbed into her coughing little French car, and onward to Guiseley. Snow has devastated the Pine Tops garden. Like a Mount St Helen's eruption. Conifers flattened, daffs squashed, &c.

Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. Mum and Dad went with David B at 7 to the Stonehouse Inn, where a deal was made. George is selling the inn for £75,000 and it's now down to Mum and Dad to come up with the cash. Valuers and bankers on the case. Ally and I, laden with sherry, went on to Burley and sat holding the baby for a couple of hours. Home at 11. Pub talk. Too exciting. 

Ally leapt into my bed. I've been reading Robinson Crusoe.

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Saturday April 25, 1981

 _. Club Street has disappeared beneath a white blanket of snow which persists throughout the day. We ventured outside and walked down the middle of the road [the paths being too heaped with snow] to Morrison's to buy minced beef and other vital provisions. Ally looked a belter in her blue wellies. All was well until a large, fat rat emerged from a snowdrift and ran across our path. Ally took off like Mary Peters at the 1972 Olympics. Back at Club Street for 3:15. Ally made one of her delicious lasagnes. It is a dish that I'm sure would convince any IRA hunger striker to change his mind. Ally and her Prestige Crock-pot could be the saviour of Anglo-Irish relations.

A marathon tv session with a box of Mr Kipling's French Fancies. Randolph Scott in two westerns, Dennis Weaver in a Hawaiian-themed thriller. Shelley Winters in a ludicrous 'black magic' type thriller, and then a Hammer Dracula epic.

-=-

Friday April 24, 1981

 _. Snow fell over night throwing everything into chaos. Sat giggling with Ally at breakfast watching the snow swirling across the Bradford landscape. One wouldn't believe it's May next week. To the YP. Phoned Mummy. She expressed surprise that I wouldn't be going home tonight, but I do want to spend the weekend at Club St. Women! Only days ago I was treating home like a hotel.

I escaped the office at 4 to battle on to Bradford on a smoke-filled omnibus. Didn't get to Club St until after 6. Had a huge dinner, steak and kidney with dumplings. A romantic evening looking out at the falling snow. Snuggled down watching our tiny, black and white, and illegal tv. 

News: Sick of hearing about the IRA hunger striking MP Bobby Sands. _________.

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Thursday April 23, 1981

 _. St George's Day

Harry, England and St George, and all that. Spent an hour in Leeds Market looking for suitable pork chops and new potatoes. I approached a little red faced woman on a veg stall and asked for some spuds. 'What quantity?' Floundering, I came away with 2lb. 

Whilst Lord Cambridge was being planted at Frogmore at 2:30 Princess Michael of Kent was giving birth to a daughter at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington. What we have lost in the Cambridges we have gained in the Kents. No names for the latest Windsor have been announced as yet, but Marina is bound to feature in there, and your Elizabeths, Victorias, Alexandras and Dianas are inevitable.

To Lidget Green at 5:30. Dined with darling Ally. Dave G phoned. He wants us to accompany him and the lads to Steak Kebabs on May 2, but I say this is out of the question.

Mum phoned. Our wedding invitations have arrived at Rhodeses stationers.

-=-

Wednesday April 22, 1981

 _. Mum took one of her monthly swings at me which I took with my usual bluffness  and ill-humour. She objected to the way Ally and I had 'moved into' Pine Tops for the Easter weekend and had treated the place 'like a hotel'. How on earth can you treat your own home like a hotel? I sat brooding in front of the TV. The David Lloyd George series has improved with age.

I took to my bed with Burke's Peerage. Frances was a very popular name until the early years of this century and was abundant in the 17th and 18th centuries, but has since given way to Eileen, Brenda and Yvonne. 

-=-

Tuesday April 21, 1981

 _. Miserable day really. I can do nothing right. Dad did nothing but complain about the painting I did in his absence yesterday. I am very annoyed at his attitude. In future he can get on with his bloody work alone. The man is fastidious to the point of insanity.

Back to the YP after my Easter break. Kathleen, in her lengthy absence from us has been thinking up ways to destroy our perfectly good filing system. All the numers relating to files are to go, and we are going all alphabetical, she has announced. In other words Princess Anne will come before apples, and muscular dystrophy will come before music. I've worked with the numbered system for eight years, but now Divorce [2192], Iran [187], Greece [682], Sex[4768], Spiritualism [1063], Sheep [1E], Films [516], the Conservative Government [937H], and such, are to go.

Today is the fifty-fifth anniversary of the birth of Her Majesty the Queen, who is celebrating quietly at Windsor Castle. The Marquess of Cambridge, 85, a cousin of Her Majesty, died last Thursday without a male heir. It is my belief that one day HM will bestow the dukedom of Cambridge upon Prince Edward, a title long associated with the Royal Family over hundreds of years, and cousin George's demise makes this all the more real. Speculation is also growing in the Press that the Prince of Wales is to become the Governor General of Australia after his marriage. I think not. It would never do for Charles to become bogged down in colonial politics, and it wouldn't be right for Lady Diana to bring up a family 'down under'. The future cherubic Wales babies will require Gloucestershire air.

-=-

Monday April 20, 1981

 _. Bank Holiday in the UK [Except Scotland] & Canada

Mum and Dad went off with John at 8:30am to Penrith to tow his car back. I spent the day up a ladder painting the house. Got more paint on myself than the walls. Ally cleaned her car.

Mum, Dad and John came home at 6:30 and Dad wasn't happy with my painting. Bloody charming. Later, watched [for the eighteenth time] 'Where Eagles Dare'. They show this film every Bank Holiday, and every time they think Richard Burton is about to die. Buggered.

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