Tuesday March 31, 1981

 _. Ally got up in one of her ratty moods and was gone. She looked exhausted and edgy. She was a bit of a monster. I thought I was going to get not only head bitten off, but a large section of my torso.

President Reagan is reported to be sitting up, taking notice, cracking jokes, but I'm not all that convinced he hasn't been assassinated. Who is to say he won't suffer a relapse in eight weeks? Bullet holes at his time of life cannot be very helpful. 

A day of grind at the YP. I am increasingly coming to realise just how pointless it all is. Where can I go? What can I do? Surely there is more to life than cutting up newspapers?

Home at 6. Lamb for dinner. I mowed the lawns afterwards. Their first cut of the year. It might not be summer, but the cut grass made it smell like it. 

Papa has discovered a very large varicose vein in his leg. I put it down to too much cycling. I asked to view the invasive, blue monstrosity, but received no showing. 

I phoned Ally at 7:15. She's eaten watercress soup, and sounded much better. 

Retired to bed at 12:24am.

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Monday March 30, 1981

 _. President Reagan was shot and wounded in the chest this evening. The president's press aide, Brady, is reported by Reuters to be dead, and several secret servicemen seriously wounded. Reports say President Reagan was shot by a bullet just an inch from his heart. We heard of it at about 8:50pm during 'Panorama'.

Work was hideous. Phoned Ally several times. Phoned Lynn too and invited myself, and Ally, to Burley this evening.

Mum and Dad were in better mood this evening. Ally joined us for dinner. To Lynn and Dave's at 7, until 11:30. Lynn is fit and happy and waiting for the big day. David says baby will come on Thursday. He'll come when he's ready. Watched a Western and discussed the attempted assassination. Very shocking. Home at 11:30.

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Sunday March 29, 1981

 4th Sunday in Lent - Mothering Sunday

_.A day saying goodbye to endless relatives and friends. Both Frank and Bessie look so relaxed now the pressure is off. Sat watching 'Brief Encounter' with Frank, Bessie, Auntie Annie [Frank's sister], and her husband Uncle Bert, hideously paralysed with Parkinson's Disease.

We ate a good deal. We left at 4:30. At home Mum and Dad have had a fall out over his annual leave, casting a murky cloud into the atmosphere. Bed at 1am.

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Saturday March 28, 1981

 _. My Auntie Hilda is 45 today. Graham and Gill married at St Mary's church, Kings Worthy at 1pm. A gloriously warm day with blue skies. Gillian Margaret Jane looked almost Edwardian with her piled up hair, large hat, and parasol. Graham behaved very decently. He boomed his responses loud and clear. They were married by the Rev Canon Colin MacBeth, Canon of Winchester, in his 70s, and retired. Gill's father, the Rev Matthew Lynn, contributed. A day of fun and humour. Martin mislaid the rings this morning, but of course found them, and we had a stiff drink in the Cart and Horses before crossing the road to the church. Mrs Dixon, in blue with a feathery hat and pearls, had

experienced a dreadful morning with a house full. She seemed almost lost. More Dixons than Lynns attended. So many of them [Lynns] are in southern Ireland. Florence, Gill's mum, is very young looking. Andrew and I [ushers] traveled to the reception at the Westacre, with Midge and Eugene. Hilarious. Ally and I were on the table with Mr & Mrs Peter ['I touched no bollards'] Lynn. The next wedding will be ours!

Ally and I went to the Plough at 9:30 and afterwards went with 'Navy Dave' for a prawn curry in Winchester. Bed exhausted at 1:30.

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Friday March 27, 1981

 _. Fun and gin. Spent the day in Winchester, with Ally to the shops and then to the Plough , listening to the notorious Lynn brothers recount tales of last night, and their arrest. Trevor remains incarcerated, but Gill is thankfully kept in the dark about this.  Graham became horribly pissed on gin.

Tonight saw the arrival at Chillandham Cross of Bessie's sister, Joan with her little husband, Jim, and two daughters, Patricia [pregnant], and Margaret, accompanied by a policeman, a member of the Lancashire force. We took the cousins to the Southgate, and sat listening to tales of a constabulary nature. It's just as well we didn't let the constable meet the Lynn lads. We saw 'Navy Dave' and his little girlfriend. He had no idea we were engaged and appeared quite stunned. He does have a soft spot for Ally, you know.

We were back at Chillandham Cross for 12. The lanky constable carried off Margaret in his Triumph Spitfire, just to travel a few miles to the pub where Joan's family were staying, the Runnning Horse, in Alresford. They never arrived. Joan phoned Bessie in an agitated state. Frank, by now in bed, emerged with a raincoat over his candy striped pyjamas, and set out in search of the missing couple. Patricia's husband, Nigel, was out with a torch, searching the Hampshire hedgerows. Frank came back some time later. He'd found them parked up in a field, caught in grappling passion in the rocking Spitfire. The windows of Triumph Spitfires do not steam up, and so I think Frank saw more than perhaps he should. We howled with laughter.

-=-

Thursday March 26, 1981

 _. Warm day. Went out minus jacket or pullover and basked in the sunshine. To Portswood [?], Southampton with Ally where she had a fitting for her hideous bridesmaid dress. It's so very 'girlie'. It's a case of 'Snow White' meets Shirley Temple's 'Heidi'.  Afterwards we joined Graham, Gill, Martin [the best man], and Neil for lunch at a pub in Chandler's Ford. The sun poured in through the windows giving a topaz glow to the beer splashing bountifully in our glasses.

Graham's stag party this evening. A multitude on a pub crawl in Winchester followed by something of an orgy at the Southgate Hotel. Graham's testicles were shaved bald by the naughty Lynn boys [Gill's brothers, Peter, Trevor and Michael]. Afterwards they practiced Kung Fu on several traffic bollards in the city centre and were arrested and carted off to the gaol on grounds of criminal damage. Trevor was incarcerated over night. One of the lads was found to be in possession of ________. Very foolish of him. Fortunately, this did not appear on the charge sheet along with the other misdemeanors. All this took place after the fun at the Southgate, where we drank vast quantities. From about 9pm Graham resembled the comedian Freddie Frinton's drunk act. I was missing Ally most dreadfully until the Scotch took hold in the Royal Oak, or wherever a dance band was playing. I think Neil and I waltzed. I was supposed to be looking after Andrew [17].

Frank collected Andrew and I at about 1am. He dropped me off at the vicarage at King's Worthy and then took Andrew home. The girls had been for a pizza and were very sober. Ally took me off in the car and we sat until about 3am in the Southgate car park. _________.

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Wednesday March 25, 1981

 _. Warmer. By evening it was positively Spring-like. Kathleen took the day off to gather herself for the busy two days without Sarah and I. 

Swam eight lengths of the International Pool at 1pm. 

At 5 Ally met me on Wellington Street in Audrey [Citroen] and we went down to Winchester minus Trevor Lynn [brother of the bride who was supposed to be coming with us], who flew from Newcastle instead, on an economy flight. We stopped off at Oxford for something to eat, but found nothing. This cast a shadow over the journey and for some miles afterwards we sat coldly in the car watching the countryside rocket by. Arrived at Martyr Worthy at 10:30.  Very busy here. Graham and Gill came in from the Plough spattered in blood following an accident in the bar. We guess a fight had taken place. Bessie looked pale and tired. In fact wedding fever is gripping the Itchen Valley.

-=-

Tuesday March 24, 1981

 _. Wet at times but warmer. The temperature in Leeds hit 54 degrees. My alarm rang at 6:50 but I remained stubbornly beneath my duvet until 7:15. Bone idle today. 

The YP is dreadful with the chief back. One has to be forever looking for work, and after eight hours this becomes somewhat trying. Sarah has arranged a swimming party for tomorrow and I made no escape to avoid it. Sarah says swimming is good for the stomach muscles, and I am certainly in need of some treatment in that area. [Please do not assume that I am in any way on the large side. I am six feet tall, almost 26 years old, and still under 12 stones in weight. That's good, isn't it?]

Kathleen, looking at photos of Lady Diana, says she disapproves of the lightweight Christian name, and that the future Queen should fall back on her middle name when Queen, and be Queen Frances. How ludicrous. Diana is a fine name.

Phoned Ally several times and she came for tea at 6. I ate like a horse because I hadn't eaten all day, and to make matters worse Felicity McCormick had delayed my exit from the office until 5:20 because of the Hollis Affair. She wanted my imput because Sir Roger Hollis claimed descent from Tsar Peter the Great. Hollis's brother Christopher was a Tory MP who spoke in the House frequently on the dangers of Russia and it's increasing strangle-hold on Europe. I do not agree with character assassinations where the alleged criminal is long dead and gone. Hollis cannot defend his name. This Chapman Pincher is a rogue. He also claims that the homosexual Tom Driberg [later Lord Bradwell] was a KGB agent too. 

After tea we sat before a smouldering TV. Alan Ladd in a film from 1953. Ally knitting solidly for three hours again. She and Mum did a lot of giggling. Mum kissed me at bedtime. She seldom kisses. I won't be seeing her again until Sunday night. I have left a Mothering Sunday gift with Papa. To bed after 12.

-=-

Monday March 23, 1981

 _. Got a thorough soaking in the heavy rain at lunchtime. It was Kathleen's first day back since Christmas. It can be described as the 'day of the long knives' because Carol has told Kathleen that Sarah's rule has been nothing short of disastrous. The ensuing exchanges lent the library a revolutionary or anarchistic air. Kathleen, to appease the mob, bought cream cakes for her staff at lunchtime, and I joked with Sarah about having 'funeral buns'. The custard slices and doughnuts are usually reserved for birthdays. 

Phoned Ally at 2 and again at 8. Wedding fever is gripping Chillandham Cross [Graham & Gill's wedding]. Bessie has been chained to a food mixer since last week. Ally was doing her washing tonight, and my heart went out to her as I pictured her over the sink scrubbing away at her smalls in the way her grandmother would have done in the early days of the century.

Dave G phoned just for a chat. The next Anglo-Stockport talks are scheduled to take place in the first weekend in May.

There's been another scandal involving a senior diplomat. Sir Roger Hollis, head of the MI5, 1956-65, is now said by Chapman Pincher to have been a spy for Russia for over 30 years. Dad says that the only thing worse than this would be the revelation that the Duke of Edinburgh has been working for the KGB since the 1940s and that he only married the Queen to get his hands on the contents of her red boxes. I go further in this daftness and suggest that the Queen is really a Russian agent, a doppelgänger, planted in the palace in the 1940s, swapped for the real Elizabeth who is now wearing an iron mask in a Kremlin cellar. Her Majesty is the fourth man in the Burgess, Maclean and Philby affair.

Bed 12:16am.

-=-

Sunday March 22, 1981

 _. British Summer Times Begins - 3rd Sunday in Lent

We climbed out of our burrow at about 10:30 and spent the day in the sitting room. Despite the arrival of "summer time" we'd been subject to an attack of snow in the night, however throughout the day the sun shone splendidly, not so splendidly to tempt Ally away from her knitting and into the car. In the past few weeks she's gone almost insame knitting baby garments, like a wartime effort. A look of pure serenity passes over her face as she clicks away.

Watched Bernard Miles in an old wartime film, from 1944, full of propaganda. I was settled for the afternoon, but then Mummy phoned suggesting we accompany them to the Stonehouse Inn, for our first inspection of the pub. We were off like a shot. Sue and Pete were included in the invitation, but Lynn and Dave were visiting Chris and Julie in Easingwold. So, at 7pm we drove the 14 miles to Blubberhouses and spent a couple of hours in the tatty, endearing pub, which is typical Yorkshire without fancy decoration or comfort. We found it palatial after previous descriptions. George, the owner, was upstairs in his room, and we could hear him wheezing and coughing, poor man. His miserable daughter was loading his cup of cocoa with sleeping pills. George's son-in-law, fat and red faced, with twinkly eyes, sat by a blazing fire, and resembled old Jolyon in 'The Forsyte Saga', or at least the actor who played him on the telly in 1967. He gave us a tour of the ground floor rooms, one not opened since 1958. Mum and Dad were so impressed. I can just imagine them there, discussing sheep with the locals from Pateley Bridge, or wherever. 

Home and to bed by 12.

-=-

Saturday March 21, 1981

 _. Supposedly Spring. Up at 6:45am. Ally is feeling a little better. Life without Dixie would be like plants without flowers.

Shazzo was in the office this morning but, after doing absolutely nothing, left at 12, leaving me indexing a dismal YP. 

Ally collected me at 1:45. Pouring rain. Neither of us were in excellent humour. Ally wanted to go shopping for shoes, and wedding shoes at that, in monsoon rain and overcrowded streets. Whilst in Stylo, looking for cousin Jill, she spotted a pair of pretty white shoes, and without further ado purchased them. We bought a plant in Leeds Market before heading on, quite bedraggled, to Menston, where I collected a morning suit from 'Charles' the tailor. It's an excellent gentleman's outfitters. 

Home to Pine Tops for dinner. Rabbit pie. Afterwards I fell asleep to the sound of clicking knitting needles, and Lana Turner on the telly. I was told afterwards that my snoring ruined the Hollywood epic.

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