Wednesday April 15, 1981

 _. I decided to go to Bradford after tea and gathered up a mass of records and chased a bus down Bradford Rd. Ally met me on Manningham Lane, and took me on to our home. Spent the evening in comical discussion on the subject of our finances, or lack of them. I refuse to worry about money. Why fret over scraps of coloured paper with pictures of dead nineteenth century nurses peering up from them? No, I'm sure all will be well in the end. Anyway, prisons are quite comfortable places these days.

We ate toast and drank tea and watched TV. Happy and domesticated. I wish it could be June now. 

I took down my family tree to add the baby and found another Frances. My great-great grandmother was Frances Proctor. She married Edward Fawbert, and was mother to Rella [my great-grandmother], who was born in June, 1855.

To bed in the region of midnight.

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Tuesday April 14, 1981

Frances Anne.

 _. Baby Frances made her first visit to see Granny and Grandad Rhodes at Pine Tops this evening. I sat nursing baby watching Barry Norman's film profile of Marilyn Monroe on BBC2. Baby looks much nicer. Nicer than Marilyn Monroe that is, not Barry Norman. Ally arrived looking pale and complaining of pains. ____. All eyes were firmly fixed on the baby and even the return to earth of the Space Shuttle paled into insignificance by comparison. I wasn't even aware that it had gone up, and so was mildly surprised to see it plummeting back over Colorado. Until we can walk on the floor of the Pacific, cure cancer, and live healthily until we're 300, what's the point of going into Space? Small minded of me, I bet you're saying, but expect more ridiculous observations in future.

The Bakers went home reasonably early to feed Frances and we all went into the usual raptures - baby raptures.

-=

Monday April 13, 1981

 _.Giggling with Ally on the phone this afternoon. I told her the only food to have passed my lips all day was one Nuttall's mint. I was chastised. One boiled sweet is hardly adequate for a growing boy. She phoned me this evening saying she has eaten some mushrooms which had probably 'gone off'. I worry, and advised arrowroot in warm milk. She went to bed early with a batch of my letters for a reappraisal. 

At home, mowed the lawns. Watched Coronation Street. Later, watched Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars.

Dave G phoned for a bulletin on Lynn and the baby. Dave L phoned but I was in the bath, and I asked Mum to ask him to change his coming visit to Club St from Wednesday to Thursday. He agrees. He stands a much better chance of getting a decent meal on Thursday. 

Mum and Dad were like love-birds tonight and seemed to be incredibly happy about something. They visited the Stonehouse Inn on Friday evening and found old George sitting in his fireside chair, with cat on his lap, looking healthy again. His daughter, from the south, says that Blubberhouses is the most boring place on earth. OK, it's no Juan les Pins, but it'll do.

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Sunday April 12, 1981

 _. Palm Sunday

Up at 12. We ate sparingly. We made ourselves look decent in time to go to Lynn & Dave's at 2. She brought Frances home from hospital at 12, and a family gathering erupted around this historic event. The baby changes daily, and was surrounded by flowers and cards. Ally remained 'peaky' throughout the visit but didn't show any outward signs of her discomfort. Baby Frances was a brilliant antedote.

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Saturday April 11, 1981

 _. Ally came to lunch. At 7 we went to see the Rev Calvin Ward at Esholt. He says he is going to begin reading the banns soon, but first we have to visit the vicar of St Wildred's, Lidget Green, a Mr Nobbs [?], who will read the banns likewise in his colourful parish. Ward gave us a book, or perhaps manual, on marriage guidance, written by Margaret Hook, the wife of a former Bishop of Bradford. This gave us a few belly laughs on our drive back to Lidget Green.

Ally dresses, in a pastiche of pink, looking gorgeous and almost edible. At 10 we joined the still-proud David B, Karen, Steve, and Dave L at the Railway pub at Rodley. We passed Jacq and Paul in the doorway as they headed to the party, and we joined them at 11. Karen and Steve left as soon was decently possible, and Ally, Dave L and I stood propping up the kitchen sink. We discussed Bessie and Frank. Ally's parents were engaged for 10 years before they committed matrimony when she was 30 and he was 25. The mind boggles. ______. Dave B left before midnight, looking exhausted, but we remained clinging to the kitchen sink. Paul shouts and balls as though he's on stage at the National Theatre. ________.

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Friday April 10, 1981

 _.Up late feeling atrocious. I cannot take my drink at all these days, or so it would seem. Four pints of lager and I'm knackered for the day. Left Ally at 8 and missed the bus to Leeds and so I went by train instead. The only other occupant of my compartment was a drab looking, tweedy spinster, hiding behind a book 'Rediscovering God'.

I staggered along Wellington St and reached the office 10 minutes late. Grotty day. Buggered. Sarah took my lethargy for a developing cold and so avoided me for the day.

Home at 6. No sign of Mum and Dad. They visited Lynn and Frances this afternoon and I guess they went on to the Stonehouse Inn afterwards. Ally came at 7:30 and we cuddled in the dining room listening to Annie Nightingale on the radio. At about 9 I made eggs and chips and we sat with the plates on our knees watching TV and swilling gallons of tea. Mum and Dad came in later and Ally went home [a funny thing to do on a Friday] but she wants to do her washing in the morning, and an early start is vital.

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Thursday April 9, 1981

 _. Sun again. From the YP at 5 on to Lidget Green. I managed to secure a lift with Roy Holland in his shifty sports car. He lives at Clayton Heights. We discussed the Yorkshire Ripper and Ronald Gregory, amongst other things, as we sped along. He seems to think that the Sutcliffe case will come up at Wakefield in June, and that Sutcliffe will plead manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. Roy's covering the proceedings with Tony Harney.

Was cuddling Ally in the Spring sunshine by 5:15. We had fish and chips with curry sauce and looked in at Top of the Pops on the telly. Hazel O'Connor is something of a novelty, and will go far I'm sure.

Joined by Catherine [Brook] and David [Alderson] and at 8 we went to a pub at Clayton called The Three Legs, or The Three Stooges, or something. Unimpressed. The place was warm and too brightly lit. Ally was stunning in a multi coloured shirt and dangling maroon earrings. Home quite sloshed at 11 for coffee. David sat eating fish and chips as I attempted to make the drinks, and dropped and smashed the sugar bowl that Catherine and David had  bought us for an engagement present. If I was the sensitive type I might have been embarrassed, but wasn't.

To bed at 1am. Late for us these days. Mum and Dad visited Lynn and Frances again today. Mother and baby come home on Monday.

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Wednesday April 8, 1981

 _. Swimming today at the International pool with Sarah, Shazzo and Trevor. The announcement of Frances's birth appeared in the YP and EP today. 

Had ham and eggs for tea. David came afterwards and took Ally, Sue, Pete and I to Airedale at 6:30 to see Lynn and the baby. A pleasant hour. A typical family gathering around a cradle. We laughed at Peter, who took more interest in little Michelle Louise [a baby in the bed opposite]. Frances wasn't as wrinkled today and looked slightly yellow. Lynn was full of beans. After half an hour we left Dave alone with her.

On afterwards to the Shoulder of Mutton for a couple of hours. Dave, still puffing on a cigar, told everybody in the pub of his good news. Home at 10:30 and Ally, Dave and I had a conference with Mama and Papa in their bedroom.

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Tuesday April 7, 1981

 _. Warm day. At the YP I decided I wanted a half-day and so headed for home. Joined by Ally at 1pm. We had eggs and toast. At 2 we collected Sue at Carter and Parker and went to see Lynn and baby Frances at Airedale Hospital. Lynn looked very bright and not at all miserable about being in hospital. The tiny baby is like a new-born rabbit, pink, and wrinkled, but with large alert eyes. She has a button nose, but don't all babies? Susie called the infant 'Fanny Annie', which I think will undoubtedly stick.

Tonight David took his Mum and Dad to the hospital.

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Monday April 6, 1981

 _. Not much work was done today. Mum phoned me at about 11 to say Lynn was in hospital, but had no further details. She phoned again at 1 to say Lynn was in labour and that David was with her and added 'I don't know whether to laugh or cry'. She decided on the latter option and hung up on me such was the violence of her emotion. I phoned Ally, who was similarly on the verge of collapse with excitement. Jacq phoned, and I told her I'd speak to her tomorrow.

Back in Guiseley I bought bread and other vital provisions and was home at about 5:30. David had phoned at 5 saying Lynn would be labouring for another two hours or so, and we were settling down for a gripping and tortuous evening when he phoned again at 6:05pm. Lynn gave birth to a daughter at 5:40pm weighing 5lb 13oz and she is to be called Frances Anne Baker. Such a relief. Dad wept like a baby, and did so for the remainder of the evening. Ally appeared and she too burst into tears. The whisky bottle came out. Ally and I went to see Muriel and Jim to convey the news, and they kept us too long and made us drink sherry. Maureen Eccles, from next door, came in for a drink, just as David returned from Airedale Hospital. He puffed on a cigar looking very proud. We sat until after 12. Frances is a name we never expected. I had a great-aunt, Frances Wilson, born in August, 1874, who died in infancy. It's not a name I'd ever pick, but quite pretty and certainly sensible.

To bed, merry and late, full of joy.

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Sunday April 5, 1981

 _. Passion Sunday

My twenty sixth birthday. Up in the region of 10 and ate a fried breakfast with Mum, Dad and Ally. Ally gave me the Madness LP 'One Step Beyond' and a batch of ten cassettes upon which I can tape for the next 50 years, she says. All my birthday cards have an air of lunacy about them. Most of them would look acceptable to a three year-old. Lynn and Dave phoned with a singing telegram. Sue is knitting me a cardigan, but as yet it is unfinished.

Ally and I paid a flying visit to Club Street this afternoon and returned to Pine Tops dressed for dinner at 7. At 8 we joined Mum and Dad and Frank and Bessie at the Cow and Calf Hotel. Dinner felt quite a nervous affair. We seemed to be the only people dining. Frank took control of the proceedings and bossed us around, but we all took it in good heart. He chose the wine and treated the staff like servants. But that's just the way he is. Ate far too much. Home at 12. Ally drove home leading a convoy, with F & B following.

Mum and Dad had visited Lynn before coming to Ilkley. Mum's opinion was that Lynn is 'edgy' and on the verge of giving birth.

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