Sunday March 15, 1981

 _. 2nd Sunday in Lent

Woke up early with a crashing headache. Took a couple of asprin and climbed back into the pink bed. The room looks like a marshmallow, you know. We eventually surfaced at 12. I paid a visit to the corner shop to buy a loaf. Lunch turned out to be tinned spaghetti on toast. 

At 3 we drove to the Stonehouse Inn, where we had a short walk, and then went on to Otley. A neurotic sheep leapt out at us from a bush and attempted to gore the car. I took the wheel and bombed through suburbia like Carlos Reutemann at Brands Hatch.

Dinner with Ally [a mass of curls, and wearing new pink shoes] and Mum and Dad. Liver. A chilled lemon sweet, divine. Ally and Mama sat knitting afterwards. Watched Glenda Jackson playing Elizabeth I, on the BBC. It looked really dated. Yes, I know it's supposed to look Elizabethan. I didn't mean that. It's 10 years old.

-=-

Saturday March 14, 1981

 _. We didn't get up until 10:30. Whilst Ally dressed I packed piles of sandwiches, mainly salad, in readiness for our excursion to York. We head out to the northern capital at about 12 and we spent the afternoon trailing around the shops looking at books, china, and lots of shoes. We bought Graham and Gill a decanter and six wine glasses from Habitat and gloated over the numerous things we'd love to buy but cannot afford. 

At 4:30 we drove, with our picnic, to a lay-by near Acaster Malbis, where we ate and drank something called Pony [it's like sherry]. Half way through an egg sandwich I looked to my left at a gnarled and ancient five barred gate. Hanging from the said gate were seven or eight used Durex, arrayed like trophies, left no doubt by some randy farm boy, following steamy sessions with a local barmaid. Ally howled with laughter.

We returned to Guiseley and sat until about 10. Ally is obsessed with knitting. By the look of things it's a theraputic pastime. Her face take on a certain serenity, a tranquil countenance, which I haven't detected before. Mum and Dad came in at about 8 and we ate by candlelight.

Later Ally and I went to Pudsey to see Jill and Tim [I didn't phone them until 9], and the four of us went to the White Cross in Pudsey, and then back to Wilsby. Jill and Tim collect the keys to their house in April, and want to marry in August or September. We sat drinking cloudy ale and apple wine until after 1. Back to Rue Club.

-=-

Friday March 13, 1981

 _. Friday the Thirteenth. John and Maria were married in mist and gloom on this day five years ago. We sent cards of remembrance to Scotland.

Frantic day at the YP. _____. The chairman of United Newspapers, Lord Barnetson, has snuffed it at the age of 63. No doubt Gordon Linacre was on the early train to London to grab all he can. Mark my words, he'll soon be Lord Linacre of Bramhope. 

To Ally's at 6. Helped her prepare dinner for Mum & Dad who arrived at 7:30. Mum looked good in the chiffon dress she wore at Sue and Pete's wedding. There she was in her white fur coat peeping through the door. Ally says Dad becomes more quiet every time she sees him. He has never been what you might call a circus act, bounding with joy, but he was quiet and inobtrusive through the Queensland cocktail [avocado and crab], chicken sweet and sour, followed by meringues and strawberries. Scrumptious. They left at 12.

-=-

Thursday March 12, 1981

 _. Yesterday the Evening Post carried my article about Lady Diana's black dress at the top of the front page, including the pics of the Queen by Dorothy Wilding, and the recent one of Lady Diana. Impressive. Fred [Willis] winked, and said: 'You're on the list.' Whatever that means. It could be a death list. I simply don't know. 

On to Club St at 6pm. The bus journey was hazardous because of the pollution caused by the smoking Bradfordians on the upper deck of the 72 Leeds-Bradford bus. By the time I arrived at Ally's I felt like one of those Beagles from an animal research laboratory, and covered in a thick layer of fag ash. 

We had fish and chips from 'Mother Hubbard's' - not too greasy this time, and afterwards watched Top of the Pops and 'Brave New World', part one. 

Ally spent the evening going over the house with a duster and the Hoover in preparation for Mum and Dad's coming visit. I did point out that they are my parents, not Mr & Mrs Peter Shand Kydd, but she didn't let up. At about 10:30 we both sat down before the 'snowy' telly to watch Sir Geoffrey Howe defending his Budget. Is it perhaps his last? By next year the occupant of No. 11 could well be a 'wet' and Mrs Thatcher might be on the back benches licking her wounds. Or am I going in the wrong direction? I do hope I am wrong.

-=-

Wednesday March 11, 1981

 _. Sunny day. Left the YP at 12. How splendid it is, to be able to take a 'half day'. Ally joined me at 1pm and we trundled over to Horsforth to pay £115 to Denny for the Ios honeymoon, and then did a bit of shopping at Morrison's. We collected Lynn at 4:30 and brought her over to Pine Tops for dinner - prawn curry. Lashings of wine. At 7:30 Ally and I went [in drizzle] to Pudsey to see Auntie Mabel. She had her gas fire belting out like Port Talbot Steelworks. We had supper and went on to Club St at 11.

-=-

Tuesday March 10, 1981

 _. Received a letter from Denise asking for £115 to cover our Ios accommodation. I phoned Ally. We decided to withdraw the cash from a building society account and pay Denise tomorrow. I marched around Leeds in the rain.

Sir Geoffrey Howe presented his budget. Petrol goes up by 20p a gallon from 6pm, and he's put 4p on a pint on beer, 14p on a pack of cigarettes, and £10 on car licenses. I refuse to become morose and miserable about this.

Queen: 1952, and Diana 1981

I spoke to Fred Willis on the EP newsdesk about a good picture story. The dress worn by Lady Diana last night is almost identical to one worn by the Queen in July, 1952, when she sat for a portrait by Dorothy Wilding. He was very enthusiastic. Stephanie Ferguson was amazed by the likeness, and for some minutes the three of us discussed high fashion to the backdrop of Sir Geoffrey Howe droning on and on. Stephanie says the wedding dress is to be made by a Mayfair fashion house, and is now besieged by the press. On the subject of the royals: Prince Edward is 17 today. One day will he be Duke of Sussex, Cambridge, or even Clarence? I'm beginning to doubt whether he'll ever be a royal duke. I do not think that the Queen enthuses about dukedoms.

Ally phoned tonight. She says Auntie Mabel phoned her to say thank you for the birthday card, and they planned that we should go to Pudsey tomorrow. She was all alone at Club St, knitting by her fire. At least she now has a telly to break the monotony of her secular existence.

-=-

Monday March 9, 1981

 _. Up at 6:45. Ally took Dave G and I to Kirkstall from where we walked into town and I said farewell to the lad as we reached the YP. He disappeared into the grime of Wellington Street carrying his large, blue bag. It was an easy day because I completed most of my mundane tasks working on Saturday. 

Home at 6. Ally came to dinner again and afterwards sat knitting with Mum. The clicking of knitting needles was almost deafening. Lady Diana was on the 9 o'clock news, attending her first official function. She accompanied the Prince of Wales to a charity performance at Covent Garden clad in a black chiffon dress which brought the glamour of the 1950s back to the Royal Family. Obviously, Lady Diana will be criticised. Should a future Queen display her bossoms? But we who know differently, and have access to thousands of historic photos, know that Her Majesty wore an almost identical and revealing dress when she was in her 20s. We haven't had a teenage bride at the forefront of the Royal family since Alexandra of Denmark in 1863. I find Lady Diana's awkward shyness, and sudden blushes quite enchanting. 

Ally brought four books we've bought from a book club, including the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, which I buried myself in for the remainder of the evening.

-=-

Sunday March 8, 1981

 _. 1st Sunday in Lent

Auntie Mabel is 62 today, and Dave B is 25. We slept late, until about 11. I took a cup of coffee up to Dave G in the 'Brown Suite' , and found him in a state of undress and looking extremely nervous. The wardrobe and collapsed in the middle of the night, and onto his bed, and for some time he was entombed in a pine sarcophagus. He thought someone with a grudge had put a brick through the window. 

We ate scrambled eggs on toast and then lounged around doing absolutely nothing until after 3 when we went to Guiseley to see Sue and Pete. He was sitting in an armchair saying little, and looking more angry than ill. He was wading through a pile of his old school exercise books which I thought looked very odd. Dad appeared and at 5 we took him on to Pine Tops for dinner. No 'outsider' fits into our family like Dave G does. It's as if he's been here all along. 

Yet another TV session. Watched Cheryl Campbell and a brilliant Sir John Gielgud in Agatha Christie's 'The Seven Dials Mystery'. David pointed out that Agatha must have been sober when she penned that tome. Then we watched Joe Orton's 'Loot' starring Sir Richard Attenborough and Hywel Bennett. I laughed until I cried. 

-=-

Saturday March 7, 1981

 _. Rain and damnation. Up at 6:45 for boiled eggs and toast. Ally joined me for coffee looking delightful with shaggy hair, and wearing one of my striped shirts. I got a bus into town and then on to Leeds and the YP. Drab and dreary, yet industrious until 1:45. Ally and Dave collected me. [They'd spent the morning preparing dinner. Dave had been given the job shredding mushrooms]. We went to the Ling Bob pub at Wilsden, via an antique shop in Armley, and then on to Haworth. David had never been to the latter. As usual it rained. We bought cream cakes and ate them in the street. Back to Club St for 5pm. 

Lynn and Dave came at 8:30. A tearful Sue phoned to say Pete is violently ill after a vodka session last night and they cannot join us. We had beef goulash with rice, then cheese and biscuits, &c. Lynn ate like a horse and is looking big and fit. Afterwards she sprawled out on the sofa, and to quote her ~ 'like a walrus with a thyroid problem'.  They stayed until after 12. I had far too much wine.

-=-

Friday March 6, 1981

 _. New Moon

Lynn is twenty three today. I phoned her at 11:30. David bought her a Kenny Rogers LP for some reason, and is taking her to the cinema tonight to see 'Airplane'. Such bad taste.

At 5 I met Dave G at the railway station and we got a train through to Bradford and met Ally at 5:45. We took Dave to Club St for dinner. Lasagne washed down with white wine [bought by Dave]. I thought Dave might want to go out for a drink but he was content to sit by the fire watching our snowy TV. After dinner we listened to the 'Emotional Rescue' LP by the [Rolling] Stones, then watched Huw Wheldon's 'Royal Heritage', including a rare 'interview' with the Queen Mother. Before bed we watched Robert Donat's 'The 39 Steps' - hilarious in parts - especially the very end where the dying memory man asks: 'Was I right, Sir?' At that point the telly went on the blink, losing sound and picture, and so we shall never know.

David was given the newly decorated 'Brown Suite'. He stood aghast looking at the flying pigs. We have named them Charles, Diana and George. [George is the baby].

-=-

Thursday March 5,1981

 _. Ally, bless her, eats banana on toast. She's besotted with this peculiar delicacy. I cannot enthuse or share her taste.

To Club St at 6 for dinner with Ally,who was feeling gloomy. We had a casserole with kidney and dumplings, quite excellent, and reclined afterwards. A life of domesticity. It must be a relief to the neighbours. For two years they've seen and heard us bombing around in the dead of night in varying states of alcoholism. It must be a shock for them now we behave like lieutenants in the Salvation Army. We have yet to tell Mrs Greenwood of our coming nuptials.

At 11:30 we went to bed to escape Sir Robin Day.