Sunday June 23, 1985

 Moorhouse Inn

3rd Sunday after Trinity

Catherine Elizabeth Mary is 6. Ally woke very grumpy. She gets over tired. I went to get Samuel some breakfast and we played with his toys. I could hear Anne, our aged cleaner, banging away below. I presumed it must be Anne. For all I know it might be Myra Hindley. 

The Sunday Telegraph was smeared in strawberry jam. I suppose it's the price one pays for having children. Samuel's talking is coming along great guns. He can now speak numerous words and will have a go at anything. Mummy is still a difficult one. Dull, overcast sort of day. Over to Menston (to see our niece on her birthday) via the cemetery at 3:30. David has nailed a large name plate into Mum's grave. "N.Rhodes" in large black letters like a car number plate. I muttered a few words to the occupant below. To Leathley Crescent. It was full of children, all the grandchildren except Hannah. Lynn and Dave organised party games - they seem to have a forte for it. I sat in the kitchen thumbing through a catalogue of headstones. How very ghastly and bizarre Lynn and John suggested we 'buy the cheapest', but that was never Mum's idea of how to carry on. I selected one, not too flash, but reasonably priced. We returned home after 5, very jaded. Together my family is a daunting bunch. Dad's eyes were like piss holes in the snow. He'd been out on the tiles with John & Janette last night. Very busy evening. Gary in.

-=-

Saturday June 22, 1985

 Moorhouse Inn

Paul Edwards is 21 today. Ally and Samuel went to Morrison's at 11 and I stood around in the pub which was dead, very much like Scholemoor cemetery. The TV was blaring in the tap room. Old Jim and George were watching a 1963 film about the Spanish Armada starring Christopher Lee. When Margaret came in to work I went off and made some cheese on toast. Jack Collett, in his corner, was having trouble with a crossword. 'Saint Giles was one' is the clue and it is C _ _ _ P _E. Was St Giles a cripple? or perhaps a 'clippie'? He has a cathedral named after him in Edinburgh, if that helps. Mind you, we could have several saints answering to Giles. I do wish I had my Brewer's with me.

Ally came back at 1pm. Very animated. She has visited our pine dealer. Yes, she has found a TV and video cabinet for £220. I squealed with delight. It looks as though I am getting the 'go ahead' at last. She has bought Samuel a pine frame for a single bed (£55). Bang goes the bonus from the brewery. Did I ever tell you about my bonus? I wasn't expecting one. Donna Lea always has such a long face, but she appeared and told us of our good fortune yesterday. I cannot say exactly how much but it is worth double my monthly salary. 

This afternoon Ally took me to look at the Tv cabinet - superb. We then went to Valance's and Schofield's looking at TVs and videos. Just looking.

Phoned Lynn. They have been looking for mirrors. Big gilt framed ones. Quiet evening. Margaret worked both sessions today.

Bed at 12 with 'George V'. Ally thumbing through baby magazines. She is grumpy about something.

-=-

Friday June 21, 1985

 Moorhouse Inn

Longest Day

Wet. Served no lunches. Well, perhaps two toasties. Abysmal. And to think we pay a kitchen assistant £20 a week. 

Game Cock Inn.

Dad phoned at 7:30pm to say he was going out for a walk so I wouldn't worry if I phoned Waltergarth and received no answer. Uncle Arnold joined him for lunch today. They went to the Game Cock Inn at Austwick. John and Sheila are back in the country and Dad has invited them to Waltergarth next weekend. Arnold will be going too and Dad is thinking about taking them to the Little House restaurant in Settle. A good idea. _________________. 

Busy night. I sat in the tap room. Ally worked with Gary until 10. Edna is back on form. Her laugh is so very infectious. Mavis Adams is now a regular. Funny, but she never came in when Archie was here.

Later, watched Joan Collins in 'The Bitch'. Dreadful.

-=-

Thursday June 20, 1985

 Moorhouse Inn

Our day off until 5:30pm. We slept late and then dashed to Club St for 10am. A warm, sunny day. I pottered in the garden. Sam followed me indiscriminately tearing up the shrubs and flowers, and he took the occasional painful tumble on the uneven pathway. Upstairs I viewed the bedroom for the first time since Mum vacated it on May 6. ________. I took Samuel out for a walk in his pushchair and to Scholemoor cemetery to assess the tombstones. I fancy white marble. Mum wouldn't have wanted anything 'flash'. Ally went to Linfood for eggs and cheese. We returned to the pub quite knackered at 5. 

Janet phoned at 7:55 to say she has an upset tummy and wont be coming to work and so Ally and I did the evening session alone. We had a good time really._________. To bed with 'George V' by Kenneth Rose. Very perplexed about His Majesty's abandonment of Tsar Nicholas in 1917. We'll never know the full tale.

-=-

Wednesday June 19, 1985

 Moorhouse Inn

Mum and Dad's 31st wedding anniversary. I woke at 7:15 to hear Samuel bawling. I went to him and he was sat in his cot pointing at the lump in the double bed in the corner of his room. It was of course the recumbent form of his sleeping grandfather. We left the room without waking the old man. We had bacon sandwiches at 9. A relaxed affair. We didn't mention the anniversary. What can we possibly say? Lynn phoned at 9:30. They are going to the cemetery together at 3 with flowers and then Dad is going on alone to Horton calling first at a stonemason in Ilkley. 

Later Dad took Samuel out to the park. He looked such a dot in his red T-shirt. He came back exhausted, and by lunchtime the baby was worn out. Dad left at 2. I gave him some words for Mr Hanson (stonemason) :-

"Sacred to the Memory of NORA, beloved wife of Lawrence Rhodes, born 2 Jan 1935 died 18 May 1985." 

At 7 Dad phoned to say he has collected a tomb stone brochure. Prices vary from £250 to £2000. He insisted that my words are used because nowadays it isn't the done thing to include the date of birth on the stone and that the age at death is the norm. I want it included because Mum and Dad have the same birthday, and one day, without being morbid, it will make a poignant feature to the memorial. He said the cemetery was a depressing sight. Both he and Lynn had a good weep. They laid flowers and placed a wooden marker on the grave. He is alone tonight. His boiler is knackered again.

Our night off. A marble topped chest arrived today. We rearranged the sitting room to accommodate it. A domestic pub-free evening. Retired at 11:55pm.

-=-

Tuesday June 18, 1985

 Moorhouse Inn

Waterloo Day. Royal Ascot, &c. Garter processions. Peerage news: a certain Mr Patrick Hope-Johnstone is claiming the dormant earldom of Annandale & Hartfell this week. He's a scion of Lord Linlithgow's family. Lady Camilla Fane, a former so-called 'possible bride' for the Prince of Wales, has become engaged to a Mr Hipwood. Her Papa (Lord Westmorland) is Master of the Horse. 

We had a visit over luncheon from Rob and Ryan Piper. They sat in the lounge and we discussed the Red Lion Watering of the Beer Scandal. He tells me that L. Gledhill is coming back as our area manager. That must account for his visit last week. Ally brought Samuel down to the bar to play with Ryan. Sam was more interested in Ben Rycroft's walking stick. Rob left at 2. We sat with a lager. Dad came in looking tired and pale. When staying with Lynn she gets him out of bed at 7:15 and calls it a 'lie in'. We had rabbit pie for lunch. This evening we sat with Werner, the little POW from Cologne, and Dad talked to him about his days as a military policeman in Hamburg and Hanover. It was the first time I had heard some of the stories. Upstairs at 11 for coffee and large sandwiches.

-=-

Monday June 17, 1985

 Moorhouse Inn

The Bakers.

I went driving with Karen H at 9. My first lesson in a month. I do need some practice, not just my weekly £6.50 jaunts. My test is in nine weeks. Dad, staying with Lynn, set out walking into Guiseley with Katie, supposedly to settle his bill with the undertaker, but she became hysterical in the bank, and she walked around Guiseley wailing uncontrollably, his task unfulfilled. The poor Baker girls are forbidden to sleep in the day, and Dad blames this lack of sleep, the exhaustion, on their violent tempers. He received his police insurance money for Mum today (£1700). He has increased his own cover by £1000 taking it to £5000. It matures when he is 60 (in 1994) when it will have to be transferred. I am named as his executor or beneficiary. He can only name one. Jack Denison's bill was remarkable. We expected it to be £1000, but he charged just over £500. Dad says he chose that particular undertaker because, as a policeman, he has observed him at work and says he has always found him a 'gentleman' behind the scenes treating his corpses always with the greatest respect. Some undertakers must be appalling and slapdash.

-=-