Tuesday May 25, 1982

 Ally and I sat eating Weetabix and listening to the pathetic Mike Read on Radio One. That was after I persuaded her to climb out of bed. I thought I was bad on a morning but compared with Ally I'm a Margaret Thatcher. 

To the YP late and I marched in offering no excuses. __________. Took a walk at lunchtime and intended going to the reference library to look at the 1881 census, but ran out of time. Passed the afternoon tearing up old files.

Home at 6. Dull and threatening rain. David L phoned and made a flying visit to collect his bottles, minus his friend 'Knocker'. Elaine Allinson, something of an expert in the finer points of sexuality, has declared that 'Knocker' is homosexual.

Poor Tim has taken a turn for the worse and is now on Ward 16 at the LGI, with a 'crushed heel'. [Sounds like a cheap cut of meat]. I tried to phone Jill and Hilda after 9 but had no response.

Watched a documentary on the Pope. I do wish he'd stay in Rome.Switching off the TV to come to bed at 10:30 I saw the Ministry of Defence spokesman, Ian McDonald, announcing the loss of another warship, but not Hermes or Invincible.

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Monday May 24, 1982

 Falklands: The EP says we 'invaded' the islands on Friday. Explain how does one 'invade' ones own territory? Anyway, in we went , and we've formed something called a 'bridgehead'. HMS Ardent and HMS Antelope have been lost. Meanwhile, the public are flocking around the PM and treating her like a lesser Queen Mother. At Chequers yesterday the schoolchildren were out in force thrusting forth flowers, &c.

David Middleton came from Kitchen Studios and we said yes to his scheme. I gave him a cheque for £50, and he wants another £277 before June 10.

Graham Smith phoned tonight to say Charlotte had given birth to a daughter, Isobel Clara, on May 21, at 2:30am. Eileen phoned Sarah too this morning to say she had given birth to a son, Daniel Paul, also on Friday, Ally's birthday. Babies seem to dominate. 

Egg and chips for dinner. Billy Wright phoned at eleven just as we were getting into bed. He was pissed and making no sense, and speaking from the Robin Hood.

Did you know that Francis Pym is descended from the Earls of Leven & Melville and the Lords St John of Bletso?

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Sunday May 23, 1982

 Sunday after Ascension

Stayed late in bed. Up and moved bottles to the cellar. We consumed 30 bottles on Friday! Damp and humid. Didn't go out to paint the back windows until after 4. Had lamb for dinner.

Ally watched a ridiculous Agatha Christie film based on the book 'Ten Little Niggers', but no doubt due to pressure from the likes of Lord Scarman it 's now 'Ten Little Indians'. Pathetic.

Watched an interview with the Duke of Edinburgh on the BBC at 10:30. Such silly questions. 'What's your opinion of the Crucifixion, Sir?' Does the BBC think he's the bloody Pope? And on the subject of the Pope I'm saying nothing. The devious little man has apparently deferred his decision on whether to come to Britain in June, handing over the responsibility to our RC bishops. Talk about Pontius Pilate. This pontiff may be the darling of the media, but I have my doubts.

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Saturday May 22, 1982

 Hideous. Up at 10. Gave coffee to the two Davids and 'Knocker', and they left at 11 looking worse for wear. We took Glynnie to Leeds and said goodbye at 1pm. On to Valley Road to see poor Timothy, who was encased in pot. On to see Auntie Mabel. Her friend Eveline Falkingham died on Tuesday. She was very upset, but looks at it in the right way. 'We all have to go one day'. Poor Mabel. She's all alone again. Auntie took us to Pudsey Market and Safeways, or somewhere, and we bought kidneys and bits of dead sheep. Home for the evening knackered.

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Friday May 21, 1982

 Ally is twenty four today. I was awake at 6 feeling festive and not wishing to return to the land of nod. We squealed with delight like children. I brought a tray upstairs  with boiled eggs and toast and a bottle of fizz [Pomagne]. Ally opened presents. I gave her the Soft Cell LP 'Non Stop Erotic Cabaret' and Simple Minds 'Promised You a Miracle' plus mounds of toiletry requisites for the bath and under arms, and blue plastic earrings &c. The book 'Therese Raquin' by Zola and Agatha Christie's 'Evil Under the Sun'. Bessie sent £10 and Mum a fiver.

To Guiseley and stole Mum's glasses for the party. On to Leeds and spent three hours in the shops. Hideous. Nowhere could she find size three shoes.

Met Glynnie at 3 after a swift one in Jacomelli's. Went to Da Mario's running through torrential rain. We sheltered on the way in Dacre Son & Hartley and saw Jacq.

Home at 5. Glynnie advised Ally on the making of her Quiche Lorraine. Glynnie and I went out to the mysterious Staircase Bar where he expected to find tarts but in fact the place is full of aquaria and OAPs. We left at 8 disappointed. Ally, a bombshell in a new blue mini-dress and blue earrings. Tragedy struck though when Karen phoned to say that Tim had fallen off a roof in York and had broken his leg. He and Jill didn't materialise.

Guests: Sue, Pete, Lynn, Dave, Glynnie, Dave & Elaine Allinson, Karen, Steve, Di, Paul, with some friends, Jacq, Jackie, Barry [who was violently sick], Dave L and 'Knocker' Knowles, his 17 year-old friend, who wore a suit, and looked like President Galtieri.  ___________. Dave L gave Ally fireworks which he wanted to ignite at 1am, but we refused to let him. 'Knocker' played all my records with typical teenage bravado, and his presence irritated Ally. Sadly, my reports of parties are always bitty because I recall very little. Glynnie was with Sue all night ~ they are very close. He took to his bed at 3am to escape Dave and 'Knocker' and the idiotic conversation.

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Thursday May 20, 1982

 Ascension Day

To the Co-op. Bought party food and then set to making a party. I made a mackerel pâté. Ally thought about a quiche lorraine but decided to leave it until tomorrow. Re-arranged the chairs, selected the music, squirted cream onto trifles until almost midnight.

I read with interest an article in today's Times by Robert Muldoon the New Zealand PM. It is sickening to think that such a good spirit talks such sense from the southern hemisphere when people at home like Michael Foot and Tony Benn would desert the Falklands and creep away from British territory as if it didn't matter. The Labour party members should be forcibly deported to the South Atlantic. Bed after 12.

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Wednesday May 19, 1982

 Sarah worries who will pay the mortgage when Trevor is called upon to sail with the Task Force to the South Atlantic. ________.

Ally ran a gauntlet of pickets at Chestnut House. Both NUPE and COHSE are grousing about pay and Ally, not being a member of either union, is stuck in the middle. She waited at the office with a few of the girls until a suitably sized 'task force' was assembled and then they marched through 'the big men with sticks' to the safety of the works department. Sit over dinner tonight listening to Ally's dramatic account of the latest industrial dispute.

'Coronation Street'. Ally put Jacobean wood dye on the front [and indeed only] door. The rain prevented a show of labour on my part.

Mum and Dad arrived in Portorož, Yugoslavia, today.

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Tuesday May 18, 1982

 Ally spoke to Bessie, in lieu of Frank, and they talked about the tattooed kitchen man. Frank was out at Rotary Club  and couldn't speak before 11. Ally cannot possibly stay awake so long. He has taken a close look at Kitchen Studios, and when he is satisfied all is well we'll have to go ahead. £1600 isn't too much, is it? __________.

Monday May 17, 1982

 Stephen Sanderson is twenty four today. He phoned this evening asking us to join them for drinks at the Stansfield Arms, Apperley Bridge. We went. The barmaid was stone deaf and the place cold and unfriendly. Steve wanted to move on to the George and Dragon but we had to wait for Tony, who was in a meeting. Hilda came in with Jill and Tim. Discussed the Falklands. Steve says they'll never land [the British that is], but I hold the view that the prime minister will not call a halt now. Hilda told me of their visit to Buckingham Palace where Diane received a Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award, not from HRH's hands, but he was present. Hilda says Prince Philip is only a tiny man. I'm sure he's 5' 10ins, or even more. On to the George & Dragon and then back to Wilsby where we admired Tony's parabolic archway separating the dining and sitting rooms. Home at 12.

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Sunday May 16, 1982

 Rogation Sunday

Unable to get out of bed until after 2pm. Ally kept coming into the bedroom and looking solemnly down at me. She was making busy downstairs and eventually I struggled down and played with some paint on the windows. At 6:30 a horrbile little man bedecked in tattoos came in and talked about making us a new kitchen. It was a far cry from Kitchen Studios. He made a pitiful drawing and went away leaving us despondent. It is going to cost us £2,000.

Mum and Dad left for Yugoslavia on a coach at 7:30am and they are staying somewhere in France tonight.

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Saturday May 15, 1982

 Went into town and bought baby Christopher a china mug and egg cup from Rackham's. I painted before going into Bradford, and again afterwards. To Guiseley at 6:30 and sat with large whiskies in jovial spirits with Mum & Dad. The subject of John and Maria was only lightly touched upon ________. On to see Sue and Peter. Sue wearing a mini skirt. Peeped at the baby. A gathering of both clans ~ including Pamela and the elderly Peter. Much drink. Home at a disgusting hour.

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