Thursday May 14, 1981

 _. To Club St at 6. Had fish and chips. Ally is going mad cleaning in readiness for Graham and Charlotte's arrival. We watched 'Top of the Pops' and then went shopping to Morrison's. 

Dave G phoned. He's coming May 28-29, and so we have decided to throw a party, a belated birthday party combined with a pre-nuptial orgy.

Bessie, not Mrs D.

Mrs D phoned. I musn't call her Mrs D. I shall have to call her Bessie. Obviously, I could never call her mother. Ally's aunt, Elsie Swire, also phoned. We are commanded to go into the depths of Lancashire to visit her next Wednesday. We will also call on Auntie Annie in Colne. 

Mum and Dad saw Mr Houldsworth at Barclays Bank, Otley. He seemed very interested, but hasn't given the go-ahead as yet. He would like a timber survey.

Church news: the Pope is making very slow progress.

-=-

Wednesday May 13, 1981

Mad Turk shoots Pope.

 _. A mad Turk has attempted to assassinate the Pope in Rome. He failed miserably. Typical of the Turks, don't you think? I was traveling home at the time of the shooting quite oblivious of this anti-papal attack. Caught up with it on the news: crowds of wailing nuns running amok beneath the Basilica in St Peter's Square.

Back to this morning. I forced Ally out of bed at 6:50 because she had to do something with the mounds of bread in the kitchen. Her ears have gone into decline now. She can hear nothing, and as I sat with my humble breakfast looking across the table at her I could hear the wax squelching around in the labyrinths of her gorgeous ears. She left for Bradford at 7:50. Dave B came shortly afterwards with the Oliver, Kitchen and Flynn report [he's been looking at it to make a structural survey]. Jim Rawnsley is on business in London and so I went to Leeds with Dave. A hot day.

Frank D phoned Mum and told her to make an appointment with a Mr Houldsworth at Barclays Bank, Otley. She did as directed. Frank has had a word with him, and they are seeing him at 10:30 tomorrow. It's now in the lap of the Gods. I do not think Frank would have set this up if he didn't think they stood a chance.

Denise has sent me a bill for a further £15 for the Ios honeymoon. I phoned her at 3. She had been to lunch with C. Ratcliffe and Lynne Mather and they'd just been talking about me. My ears were burning.

Had a couple of talks with Ally. We are like Mrs Thatcher and Helmut Schmidt these days. Watched 'Private Schulz'. Bed 12.

-=-

Tuesday May 12, 1981

 _. Mum phoned me at 1:30. Clive Osborne at the Yorkshire Bank isn't prepared to give them a loan to purchase the Stonehouse Inn. Banks, he says, are not lending money on licensed premises.

Later at 8pm Dad spoke to Frank Dixon who says the Yorkshire bank have mishandled the whole thing and assures him that he will find them a a good business manager. Dad was embarrassed contacting Frank, but I do not share his qualms. Doesn't this world function on the lines of who you know, not what you know?

Ally came at 7:30. We had a drive around Menston and Hawksworth. Back at Pine Tops Ally baked three disastrous cakes, and a heap of brown bread. Indigestion. 

Tension tonight after a day of nail biting terror. Ally stayed. Bed after 12:30.

A judge was murdered today. Quite a rare thing.

-=-

Monday May 11, 1981

 _. Ally is feeling slightly better. She drove off in the coughing, spluttering Audrey at 7:50. 

New president: Mitterrand

Francois Marie Mitterrand, 55, is the new president of France. Why are world leaders getting older when they come into office? Giscard d'Estaing was 55. Carter was 55. Reagan is 71. Foot is older than Callaghan and Wilson. Why not bring back George Lansbury and have done?

The IRA exploded a bomb close to the Queen at a Scottish oil refinery at the weekend.

Home at 6. Dad is now full of woe about their prospects of taking the Stonehouse following a telephone conversation with Clive Osborne. The bank manager is grumbling about the valuation and is demanding the accounts, &c. They're seeing Mr Osborne at 11 tomorrow. Mum phoned her 'friend' Joyce and asked for the accounts. She wasn't happy.I smell a rat.

Phoned Ally at 6:30. Graham Smith and Charlotte are coming at the weekend. We are told that Charlotte has shed 2 stone. 

-=-

Sunday May 10, 1981

 _. 3rd Sunday after Easter - Mother's Day, U.S.A & Canada

Spent the day discussing the Stonehouse. The excitement blots out talk of family weddings and new babies. It's all consuming. Whilst Ally sat knitting baby clothes this afternoon I took down a few home made wine recipes for us to dabble with at Rue Club.  Rita Hayworth on the telly - a ghastly 1940s movie. We puzzle as to why it was ever made. 

Sue and Pete came for half an hour before tea. Chippy, Gus, Johnny and Tony Smith have taken a rented house at Chapel Allerton in close proximity to the Regent pub.

An evening of repeats on the telly. Part one of 'Pride and Prejudice' and part one of 'Private Schulz' [last seen on Wednesday]. Watched just half of a Tennessee Williams film, which was gruesome.

Retired to bed at 12.

-=-

Saturday May 9, 1981

 _. Rain. Ally and I had a successful day in Bradford looking at the shops, drooling over the fashions. We walked hand in hand around the damp city. Ally had to have a toilet break in Rackham's.

Bought a couple of birthday cards for Steve S and Dave L. Ally booked £15 of sunray treatment so that she'll be brown in June for our big day. She says she wants people to see where the dress stops and the skin starts. It's hard to believe it's only weeks away. 

Hutchison: scored at both ends

Home to Guiseley at 4. Saw the end of the FA Cup Final. It ended in a 1-1 draw for Tottenham Hotspur v. Manchester City. Amazingly enough the same player, the hapless Tommy Hutchison, scored both goals. He put one in at each end. Silly sod. Lynn, Dave, Jim and Margaret were watching the game, but all were gone at 6:30.

At 8 we went with Mum & Dad to the Stonehouse [in John's ailing Escort], where we met George Deacon and his daughter, Joyce. The old man had Mum behind the bar pulling pints, and applauding her finished effort. Joyce said how much she wanted Mum and Dad to have the pub, adding that she regards Mum as a 'close friend'. Oh dear. We were there until 11:45 and came home quite confident.

-=-

Friday May 8, 1981

 _. Oliver, Kitchen & Flynn, the valuers, have given Mum and Dad a glowing report on the Stonehouse Inn. They say the pub values at £70,000, but at auction it could raise considerably more. Dad has taken the report to Clive Osborne at the Yorkshire Bank. We await the outcome with eager anticipation.

To Club Street at 6. Sausages. Ally feels horrible. Dizziness and nausea.______.

Dave G phoned with Bill's address.

Jane Lapotaire: Cleopatra

By 10 we decided to call it a day. We went to bed and Ally buried herself beneath the sheets. I plugged the tv in the bedroom and watched 'Antony and Cleopatra' by W.Shakespeare, adapted for the telly by Jonathan Miller, and starring Jane Lapotaire as the Egyptian queen. Quite good. 

-=-

Thursday May 7, 1981

 _. To Club St from the YP. It poured with rain and I had to run, coatless, yes run, from the bus station to meet Ally waiting for me in the car. She looked very pretty wearing her hair up. She isn't feeling too bright.

Had lamb chops for dinner. Spoke to Dave G afterwards. Frank requires Billy's address for the wedding invitations, but David is none the wiser, and says he'll phone back tomorrow.

The Trade and Industry Secretary is to ban sales of  'Die Aktuelle', the naughty German magazine. The Prince of Wales and Lady Diana say that the transcripts are of conversations that didn't take place between them, and yet they are still to be published in Australia, the Irish Republic and in Europe. The British journalist involved, Simon Regan, has been forced to quit his Suffolk cottage because of the numerous death threats and barrages of abuse from his otherwise genteel neighbours. It is heartening, and shows we still have some patriots left. 

Other royal news: Roddy Llewellyn is marrying his ladyfriend, Tatiana, on June 27. Peter Phillips, the Queen's grandson, is a page boy on Saturday at the wedding of his aunt, Sarah Phillips and Frank Staples, a seemingly octogenarian stockbroker.

-=-

Wednesday May 6, 1981

 _. Stonehouse Inn excitement is escalating. Mum cannot sleep because of it. Dad too lays awake thinking of his snug bar and individual pork pies. I only hope they pull it off. One more disappointment and they'll give up the pub idea forever.

Watched 'Private Schulz' by the late Jack Pulman on BBC2. I was in fits of laughter.

To bed with Robinson Crusoe. I'm going simple.

-=-

Tuesday May 5, 1981

_. Ally has woken up with a cold sore, and is very grumpy because of this. She drove off after breakfast looking like misery personified. 

Bobby Sands, the IRA hunger-striking MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone died this morning in the Maze Prison. No doubt senseless bloodshed will follow. Unless legislation is hurriedly enacted I envisage another IRA hunger striker taking the seat at the coming by-election. What a mess.

It is alleged that on the recent royal visit to Australia the Prince of Wales's phone was tapped and a tape was made of HRH talking to Lady Diana Spencer and the Queen. Furthermore, it transpires that transcripts of the intimate conversations are to be published next week in a West German magazine. It seems that some are determined to ruin the royal wedding. Poor Lady Diana's first month in the full glare of royal limelight has not been pleasant. The poor girl must feel threatened. The papers are full of the bugging scandal. The prince's office has been in touch with our ambassador in Bonn and Charles is seeking an injunction against the unpronouncable magazine in the West German high court. 

Ripper: schizophrenic?

The [Yorkshire] Ripper was back at the Old Bailey today. Sutcliffe's defence says he is schizophrenic. Fun and games, eh?

Hilda and Tony came for drinks. Pub speculation grows.

-=-

Monday May 4, 1981

St George: Bank holiday?

 _. Bank Holiday in the UK -- New Moon

Climbed out of bed at about 10 o'clock. I am far from happy about celebrating this May Day bank holiday. It shrieks of communism. Why can't we celebrate on St George's Day instead, or the Queen's Birthday?

We took a completed banns form to Mr Nudds, vicar of St Wilfred's, Lidget Green, and then went aimlessly towards Otley, where we had a brisk walk in the deserted streets. Driving back to Guiseley we spied Susie and Pete driving into the Fox & Hounds car park, and so we joined them for a couple of drinks. Afterwards we went on to West End Terrace and she made us fish fingers and chips. We washed it all down with lager.

Back to Pine Tops after 7.

-=-