Sunday November 27, 1983

 Advent Sunday

5, Club Street, Lidget Green, Bradford 8

Ally & Mandy.

Ally has bought an advent calendar which she has been gleefully waiting to open. You know, it's one with the little doors which you open daily up until Christmas. A bright and crisp start. Ally went out in her red dungarees and wellies to wash the dirty Mandy Metro. The neighbours all came out to greet us on our return. Poor Phyllis at the end of the street was washing her windows. Norman had a stroke yesterday and has been rendered speechless. Mary tells us that our new next door neighbours are Ukrainians. Eastern bloc types dwelling in Britt Greenwood's old residence doesn't seem right. At one we went to the Red Lion at Four Lane Ends. Chris and Elaine came down (for they were upstairs and always take Sundays off) and we sat until after 4 going over the details and all the ins and outs. Most of the customers look like geriatrics and incapable of serious violence. Chris cleaned his beer lines and Elaine chatted away to Ally, who was fagged out and fading fast. Home in the darkness of the early evening to Club Street. Feet up in front of the TV. 'Jane Eyre' again. We went to the Chinese take-away near the Fire Brigade pub. I had prawn sweet and sour and Ally a prawn curry. To bed. The prospect of two weeks at the Red Lion is not harrowing.

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Saturday November 26, 1983

Coleford, Gloucestershire

Ally & Matthew.

Woke up early for breakfast with Matthew, who smashed his crockery, and poured his juice on Tara, the dog. An electrician was working in the house and the electricity was on and off all morning. Ally munched her way through a tin of Danish biscuits. After breakfast of eggs and bacon we went to the local pub and sat in the entrance hall (because of Matthew) and had a couple of drinks. Everyone knows Graham. He must have an irresistible back because everybody pats him on it. After 2 we left Gloucestershire . Following Graham's map we were home by our fireside in 4 hours or so. Long, boring motorways. I walked to the fish and chip shop in drizzle and came back with fish and curry sauce. We lay in the dark watching TV and looking at our correspondence - bills, bills, bills. To bed with King Richard III and his hunchback.

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Friday November 25, 1983

 Chillandham Cross, Itchen Abbas

Gill and Matthew.

Ally got up before 8 to say goodbye to Frank who didn't come in last night until after 11. Hw won't be seeing his daughter again until after the baby is born. He is a man of few words. ________. At breakfast Bessie gave us cigars and a bottle of Charles VII champagne to celebrate with in 42 days time.... She seemed to be annoyed with F for not making enough of a fuss of his daughter at this important time. Bessie banged around in the kitchen and when she handed over the champers she said: "if he can give bottles to William Bullock then I can give one to you ..." We packed our belongings and Bessie went to have her hair done in Alresford. They fly to Jersey this afternoon for a round of dinner parties and socialising. Ally phoned Gill and arranged to go to Coleford today to sleep the night before returning to Bradford on Saturday. Bessie came back in with a Margaret Thatcher special hairdo and took me on one side in the kitchen, and said in a whisper that she hopes Ally will be brave because she has never been one to tolerate pain. I am sure that nobody likes pain, and feel sure that Ally will be valiant. I have instructions to phone them as soon as Ally's labour begins. We said our goodbyes to Bess and went off in driving rain to Coleford. The very heavy rain made the going bad. To Coleford for afternoon tea at the Dixon's Gloucestershire residence. Matthew is a mass of blond curls. He has the Lynn eyes but Gill says he's a typical Dixon... Gill is a very progressive mother. Graham went to get a haircut and came back having called at the pub. He made a curry with my assistance and we ate at 9 o'clock. Graham snored heavily after his curry, To bed at some late hour.

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Thursday November 24, 1983

 Thanksgiving Day, USA

Chillandham Cross, Itchen Abbas

Rain. We decided to torture ourselves and go back to Southampton. We were up early and managed to get away before 11 or so. We had breakfasted on boiled eggs, but I was still stuffed from last night's feast. We had difficulty parking in town and drove around aimlessly for half an hour. Visited Habitat and bought Christmas presents for Graham, Gill, & John &c. This really set the ball rolling and we moved on writing endless cheques at Tyrrell & Green, Owen & Owen, Plummers, Lilley & Skinner, & Debenhams, &c. A frantic shop but by 4pm we had completed our Christmas present buying. Both of us were damp and exhausted. I managed to buy next years journal. They cost over £3 now. Back to Winchester. ______. Avril Hargreaves called in to say hello, and did just that. No sign of Frank again this evening and we dined on chicken casserole at 8. Bessie would like a quieter life. Bed at 11.

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Wednesday November 23, 1983

 Chillandham Cross, Itchen Abbas

Ready for dinner.

Frost. Biting cold in fact. Bessie was out at her dentist and so we waited for her and took her into Southampton for the afternoon. She rarely ventures there because she doesn't like driving on the by-pass. We trudged around a damp Southampton for hours. We spent too long in Mothercare, and amongst other things she bought a dressing gown in readiness for her stay at the BRI. Later, in Dorothy Perkins she bought a grey and black creation suitable for next week's dinner dance, that is if our invitations ever arrive. Bessie gave Ally a pearl necklace which will go nicely with the new frock. The Princess of Wales has brought pearls back into fashion. Not that they were ever 'out' but associated with old matrons on the platform at the Tory conference. Tonight we went back with F & B to Southampton and the Potters Heron (where F had left his briefcase) and we dined at La Margherita's, a noisy but pleasant place, like a plot of Italy on British soil. I had steak au poivre, and the others had veal marsala. Very good. Ally says I'm quiet. Reflective maybe. Back at 10:30 and to bed shattered. I had a dream about the Red Lion and everything going wrong.

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Tuesday November 22, 1983

 Chillandham Cross, Itchen Abbas

Ally at Chillandham Cross.

Frost. Vast breakfast. Ally very moody when the mirror in the car fell off in her hand. She bit Bessie's head off and stormed around like Mussolini. We went to Winchester again, just the two of us. Looked at the shops but bought nothing. Spent hours looking at books. I do fancy Kenneth Rose's 'George V'. Were his last words really 'bugger Bognor', I wonder? I'd like to think they were. We went for a drink to the Market Tavern where the barperson spoke like Sybil Fawlty. Mind you, they all sound like Sybil in these parts. We resisted food in the pub and shopped until dusk. Home to Bessie who roasted a large piece of beef, too much for the three of us. Frank was out deputising for Richard Barclay at the Potters Heron and so he wanted no dinner. We three ate at 7. Yorkshire puddings courtesy of M.L. Rhodes, Esq. Twenty years ago this evening JFK was done in. I had just gone to bed, aged 8, at Goldthorpe, and Mum came up to tell us of the president's assassination. Ally cannot recall the event. Bessie seems to think she and Frank were out at a dinner, or maybe confusing JFK with Bobby 5 years later.

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Monday November 21, 1983

 Chillandham Cross, Itchen Abbas, Hampshire

Chillandham Cross.

Frost and cold. We had the usual vast Winchester breakfast and then, feeling guilty, we walked down by the river and through Easton before returning to Chillandham Cross. They are constructing a motorway just a couple of miles from the house and a great white scar of chalk and clay runs across Itchen Valley. The Transport Secretary should be castrated. Evidently, the monstrosity will slash three minutes off the journey from Bournemouth to London. I wanted to take a photo of Ally nestling in the bullrushes and mallard ducks but the camera went on the blink. Very annoying. We went with Bessie into town and spent hours in the shops. It's not something we've done for six months and so was something of a novelty. I took my erring camera into Dixon's (no relation) who fixed it in minutes. Ally can be very tetchy with her mother. My wife is wanting in tact and patience at times. I blame the bulge for this change in temperament. She must be so very uncomfortable at times. Roast leg of lamb with Bessie. Frank was out and when he returned he locked himself in his study.

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