Wednesday January 25, 1984

 5, Club Street, Lidget Green, Bradford

Ally and I were awake at 8 but Samuel didn't stir. I went out to inspect the snow before breakfast and went to the shops, forgetting what it was I was supposed to be buying. Senile dementia probably. More snow fell in the night and my digging yesterday was wiped out. I watched Mary across the road falling flat down in the snow. She emerged looking like a clown. Toast with Ally. She now fits into her jeans. Ally phoned Catherine Alderson who knows of our baby news having seen the white nappies blowing on the washing line. ___________. We have heard nothing from Lynn since she came last week. Today I made no attempt to move the snow which is piling up outside. Bad of me really because I sat watching the old age pensioners on the street sliding around. I sometimes think we are the only residents of Club St under the age of 84.

Ally quite beautiful today. Her pre baby figure has returned with a speed we didn't think possible. She was upset when Samuel cried - genuinely upset. I told her the boy is in no pain. Isn't crying just a baby's way of communicating?

David Watts came at 5 and we gave him dinner. He is another one who doesn't touch infants. Jean is having dizzy spells and Hannah is undergoing numerous blood tests. Sounds grim. We had a lasagne and jacket potatoes. Is it etiquette to devour the jacket? I always do. We drank elderberry wine '83 - excellent, but strong. David brought two family bibles but they didn't reveal much. Ally went to bed at 10:30 and I watched Clint Eastwood in Magnum Something or Other.

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Tuesday January 24, 1984

 5, Club Street, Lidget Green, Bradford

Still, deep snow. Ally prodded me at 6:30. Samuel had slept since 11:30 last night. What a good boy he is. Ally 'topped and tailed' the infant and I went down with buckets of filthy nappies to wash them and make pots of tea and biscuits. Plunged into a hot bath. Boiled eggs for breakfast. Ally came down in red dungarees and yellow shirt carrying our wide-eyed heir. They sat on the settee listening to Ella Fitzgerald. Samuel particularly enjoys 'Manhattan'. Heavily wrapped I went out into the thaw, well it certainly looks like a thaw. Everything dripping and too bright and clear for further snow. I bought a newspaper and squelched around digging out the car from its white grave. I had to borrow a spade from Mary. She talked about 1947 like old people do whenever snow is lying on the ground. 

Tubby slept in his cot, and Ally, flat out on the floor, slept. I watched an awful 1940s film. Baby woke and I nursed him. I find his face quite fascinating. I phoned Dave Glynn. He laughed at the name Sam. 

We had chicken stew at 5:30. Dumplings - the lot. The TV was diabolical and for some reason we lost Channel 4. Must be the weather. Ally phoned David Watts who was just back from visiting Jean and baby Hannah. They had a real old heart to heart which isn't usually Ally's style.

Ally was tired tonight. We went up to bed at 11. This is Samuel's time to let rip. We messed with him until after 12. I feel shattered too. This father lark isn't all pipe and slippers and mint imperials. Dear me, no. According to 'today's birthdays' in the D.Telegraph Lord Spencer was 60 yesterday, and again today. In fact the earl's birthday is today.

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Monday January 23, 1984

 5, Club Street, Lidget Green, Bradford

The baby whimpered at 4:30 and our early morning ritual was thrown into operation. Samuel is like a hamster with brown beady eyes and pink sagging cheeks. I can see that he is filling out already and has achieved this with nothing but his mother's milk. You must be getting sick of this constant baby banter. 

We did not eat until noon. I had the usual egg and bacon but Ally stuck to toast and complained about the aroma from my frying. She opened the windows even though snow is lying deep outside. I spied sherpas on Necropolis Rd. 

We signed our management agreement and copies. It's like the Treaty of Versailles, or whatever it was they signed at the end of World War 1. Wrote to Bessie and my aunt Annie in Bramley. She is my only surviving great-aunt and is 79. I battled on out for a newspaper and was knee-deep in snow. I wore the tweed flat cap I found whilst walking home from Blackpool in '78 and look like Capt Phillips, minus the sturdy beast ( I am not referring to Princess Anne either). Nothing much in the (Daily) Telegraph. Rumblings about the Queen's recent speeches sparked off by criticisms from Enoch Powell. I must admit I found the last Queen's Christmas message peculiar. Did I say so at the time? Indira Gandhi was the star attraction. I cannot identify with the so-called Commonwealth. A collection of murderous banana republics of exceedingly dubious allegiances and led, in the main, by _______ who think they are either Napoleon Bonaparte or Che Guevara. No, my Queen, stick to concentrating upon us in Bradford and forget your territories beyond the seas. They are largely awash with discontent.

Phoned the Moorhouse and said we'd go on Thursday hopefully.

News: The Earl of Warwick is deceased in Rome. Tea prices are rocketing. (Tony) Benn will get Chesterfield. Horrendous.

Chick salad at tea time. David Watts phoned at 5:35 to say Jean gave birth to a baby girl weighing 5lb 12oz at 3:20am today but that poor Jean is weak and has lost more blood than she should have. She only went into labour until 11pm last night and didn't tell David until it was too late and he missed the birth by 10 minutes. The infant is probably going to be called Hannah. Mum phoned at 7 o'clock. They are snow bound at Horton. She had a phone call last night from great-auntie Annie and told her our news. This always happen when I write. Samuel was niggly tonight and we didn't sleep until 11:30. We sat reading in bed and giggling ... like you do.

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Sunday January 22, 1984

 3rd Sunday after Epiphany

5, Club Street, Lidget Green, Bradford

Baby slept until 6am which is amazing. Ally however woke at three and then again at 5 to listen for him. I went down in the dark to make pots of tea to find a thick carpet of snow outside. Cemetery Road was covered and a deathly silence hung over Lidget Green. It looked like the Brenner Pass. Samuel has been home for a whole week. He was fed and then slept and we went back to bed until 10am. He is such an amiable baby, and not in the least miserable. Slouched around half dressed until noon. Fried eggs and bacon and sat at the dining table watching the boys from the corner shop building a snow Yeti. A nurse appeared at 1:30 as Beethoven was belting out. Evidently, if you play Ludwig's tunes to a new baby they develop into mathematicians, according to the Americans anyway. She, the nurse, gave Ally the all clear and disappeared in her massive wellies into the white distance. We watched the second version of 'The 39 Steps'. Hopeless. I always think of Kenneth More as Sir Douglas Bader and expect his legs to fall off any minute. The heavy snow today deterred family visitors. We were pleased at this. Washed twelve nappies and changed Samuel numerous times. Sludgy yellow to green nappies. Ally had a nap after 6. Dined on roast chicken, brocolli, potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, &c. Saw the end of The Thorn Birds. The old cardinal snuffed it. The final straw was the Jimmy Young TV show where Greenham Common women heckled Lady Olga Maitland. ______. I would put the lot of them in Holloway and let them rot.  To bed at 11:30. Samuel did not stir and we drifted off into the grey oblivion.

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Saturday January 21, 1984

 5, Club Street, Lidget Green, Bradford

Club Street from Cemetery Rd

Samuel started to cry at 1:30am and so we spent a couple of hours feeding and changing. His eyes are as big as saucers. ______. A midwife visited and remarked how well Ally looks. Today she wore her blue 'Margaret Thatcher' frock and looked positively skinny. The bump has disappeared over night. Sue, Pete and Christopher came at 2:30, and Sue held her nephew for the first time. Her bump is starting to show now and she took home Ally's maternity dresses. Good riddance. Over cups of tea we decided it would be nice to have further offspring in the autumn of 1985. Is this asking too much? My God, I'll be thirty.

A management agreement document arrived from David Tyne. We now have to write back and say 'yes please, we do want the Moorhouse'. Ally sniffs that the money isn't much different to the trainee wage, but I remind her that we can make £100 a week on food, plus the bonus we receive in June or July. Chris Wills collected £1500 for doing nothing startling. The Nasons went off at 3. We ate sandwiches. Ally slept on the settee and I covered her beneath a quilt. She and Samuel snored. Mum phoned. They have been doing a lot of walking in the hills. I am pleased. It sounds healthy. ________. To bed at 11:40. How much sleep will we get tonight?

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Friday January 20, 1984

 5, Club Street, Lidget Green, Bradford

Samuel has a hairy back and shoulders, you know. I have to record these things because in ten years time who will remember? A freezing but bright day. A full washing line again. Sister Matthews came to see our son for the last time. She is on holiday next week and so we are to have another nurse. Ally felt quite at ease with the homely Miss Matthews. Perhaps we'll see her again some day. Samuel's tiny bit of umbilicle cord fell off too. Cards arrived from Bessie's cronies: Avril Hargreaves at Chilland Barn, and Margaret Hellier in Doncaster. My pay arrived from the brewery. £420 for doing absolutely nothing. I haven't set foot behind a bar since Christmas Eve. I find their kindness heart rending. Our society isn't all grab and coldness. Orwell's 1984 isn't here yet though David Tyne does look a little like 'Big Brother'. L. Gledhill phoned at 10 as I was washing nappies and says we can start at the Moorhouse on February 13, a Monday. This should give us a little extra time with Samuel first. I have to go to court in Leeds on Friday Feb 10th. Ally phoned Bessie who is flying to Jersey and then on to Guernsey to join Frank. She is dining with a pack of bankers wives tonight and is taking photos of Samuel with her. The knitting needles are continuing to click furiously at Winchester and at Horton-in-Ribblesdale. We discussed Samuel's christening. How about Mothering Sunday? Godparents are to be Lynn, Sue, and Dave G and Andrew._________. Will shall have to find the church at Hunslet and start the ball rolling. This evening: had salad. Watched a St Trinians film. They are masterpieces of British comedy. Bed at 11. Snatched a few hours sleep. Dropped off to the sound of Samuel breathing furiously in his basket. Is he reallyh ours to keep?

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Thursday January 19, 1984

 5, Club Street, Lidget Green, Bradford

Before I forget - Samuel had his vitamin K injection yesterday. He was very brave and only squealed once. He was fed in the middle of the night and then slept until 7. I went out into the frost and ascended Paternoster Lane to collect a prescription for eye drops. Samuel has a weepy left eye which has matted. I slid around in the ice with all the folk heading out to work. What a blessing it is that I no longer have to battle my way into Leeds every day as in days of old. We had a leisurely breakfast sat at the table. Eating off trays does become a habit. In the middle of our repast a midwife appeared with a male nurse, and because of this my Rice Krispies went soggy. Sister Matthews gave Samuel his eye drops and inspected his umbilicle cord which bled slightly. It should have fallen off by now. Later, I added my son to the family tree. He is the fourth Samuel Rhodes in a line going back to about 1840. The last is of course my poor cousin Samuel ____________. 

We ate odds and ends and couldn't be bothered cooking anything. Ally had a fit of giggles writing to her aunts thanking them for presents. She was amused at some of the suggestions thrown in by me. Eventually she turned out a couple of run of the mill lettters. I went out to buy a loaf and a birthday card for Graham Smith. Ally phoned Charlotte Smith, who was delighted at our news. Isobel is three feet tall. Is this gigantic? Have the Smiths produced a monster? Ally then phoned Marlene. We were visited by Mary Moore and then John arrived at 8. He was without Janette. They have fallen out again. Saw 'Top of the Pops'. Paul McCartney is at the top. Saw David Attenborough on a mountain top. It would have looked nice in colour. Also watched James Fox play Orwell. An odd fish. Upstairs Ally fed Samuel all night. John, who left at 11, didn't touch the baby. Samuel is too tiny. 

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