Monday May 11, 1981

 _. Ally is feeling slightly better. She drove off in the coughing, spluttering Audrey at 7:50. 

New president: Mitterrand

Francois Marie Mitterrand, 55, is the new president of France. Why are world leaders getting older when they come into office? Giscard d'Estaing was 55. Carter was 55. Reagan is 71. Foot is older than Callaghan and Wilson. Why not bring back George Lansbury and have done?

The IRA exploded a bomb close to the Queen at a Scottish oil refinery at the weekend.

Home at 6. Dad is now full of woe about their prospects of taking the Stonehouse following a telephone conversation with Clive Osborne. The bank manager is grumbling about the valuation and is demanding the accounts, &c. They're seeing Mr Osborne at 11 tomorrow. Mum phoned her 'friend' Joyce and asked for the accounts. She wasn't happy.I smell a rat.

Phoned Ally at 6:30. Graham Smith and Charlotte are coming at the weekend. We are told that Charlotte has shed 2 stone. 

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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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