Sunday May 15, 1983

At Horton

 Sunday after Ascension

Slept until about 9:30. A luxury for us these days. We could smell the fried breakfast and hear the Lancastrian guests chomping away. Ally is off fried food, and requested toast. We breakfasted with Mama and Papa at about 10. Dad going on and on about Mrs Thatcher again. He really is cut up about her having a general election just to please the media (he says), but at least this time both are going to vote. They have to have a postal vote as they are still on the electoral roll for Guiseley. Ally and I went out and walked around the village looking at the distant Pen-y-ghent which is black and sinister today. Dad says it never looks the same from one day to the next. The day was dull and turned to rain. Susan phoned to say Christopher is having his stitches out today and that Margaret and Jim may be calling at Waltergarth. They didn't materialise. Ally and I plan our bus route home but then Lynn phones to say she is calling in at tea time and so we fixed a lift back to Bradford with them. We had afternoon tea and sat around the crackling fire. Ally, looking pink, requested more scones, at which Mum went to the kitchen, muttering some concern about Ally's condition. Nothing further was said, but is the cat out of the bag? The Bakers came at 5 and we all left together at 7:30. The car was exceptionally hot and and both Ally and I felt quite sick. Little Katie was boiled and looked like a beetroot by the time they deposited us in Bradford. Ally, done in, went up to bed. I watched Brideshead Revisited and then joined her.

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Saturday May 14, 1983

 Sunny morn. I phoned the rail enquiries and discovered that the train goes at 8:20. We were up at 6:30 but still eating our eggs at 8 and didn't get into town until 8:30. Instead we made the journey by bus stitting upstairs at the front, soaking in the scenery like OAPs on a mystery tour. Ally feels well but is permanently hungry. We stopped at Skipton where we posted a birthday card to Steve (Sanderson), and arrived at Settle at 11:30 just as they heavens opened. We went into the Royal Oak to shelter and sat for an hour until the tiny bus came to take us to Horton-in-Ribblesdale. We arrived at Waltergarth at 12:45 and found Papa painting a sign in one of his garages. For the first time in years the drink supply seems to have dried up. It was a alcohol-free weekend. We had afternoon tea - Ally wolfing down the sandwiches. Dad came in after his labours. They are not doing a roaring trade. They have two lads staying there at the moment, from Lancashire. They are not unduly worried about it. They have to build up the business from the tatty remnant left by the Crowthers. We dined together and watched TV. Dad was pacing around the room during 'Dynasty'. Ally was whacked and at 10:30 we went off to bed in the 'pink suite' leaving Mum and Dad sitting by the fire. They do seem very happy. Can you recall those fiery and uncomfortable days of five or six years ago when they behaved like unruly children? We slept very comfortably despite the nylon sheets. The silence of Horton takes some getting used to. Just us and a few sheep.

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Friday May 13, 1983

 Sunshine today. I don't think God has sent us a fine day since I 'retired'. I went marching off at 8 after Ally's departure and walked to the market. Spent £7 and walked home, heavily laden. Saw old Charles, with his wobbling dentures, at No. 12, who tells me he is 83, and almost 84. I say "so you are from last century" and he wandered off looking vague, trailing his shopping bag.

I racked six jars of wine and did my housework to the sound of the thumping stereo. The ash tree is about to bud, but the Christmas tree planted out is on it's last legs. Phoned Ally at 3 to discuss our evening meal. Pork chops. We have decided not to go out with Lynn & Dave B and the Allinsons on Saturday because a) we would have nowhere decent to sleep, and b) Ally doesn't feel like alcohol at the moment. _______. How can we avoid the evening without raising suspicions in Lynn? We are due to visit Horton too, but she doesn't fancy that either. She will be more settled once we know yeah or nay.

I am sitting in the sun by the window writing this watching the cars on Cemetery Road. _____. I have despatched our application form to Whitebread's. The silence from the breweries is horrid. We are left high and dry until something crops up with the added excitement of Ally's gynaecological situation. _____. When Ally came in we discussed the calendar for the next month and decide that perhaps tomorrow is our last chance to go to Horton before Christmas. I phoned Mama and told her we'd go tomorrow afternoon. Ally doesn't want to go far & doesn't want Mum adding two and two together. I attempted to phone the British Rail information desk for details of trains to Settle, and typically, got no reply. To bed after 10.

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Thursday May 12, 1983

 Ascension Day

Pouring bloody rain again. Eggs and kisses. I watched Ally at her bus stop where she peeped from under my black umbrella.

I made a loaf of bread which looks good. Sarah phoned to ask how to address a lady councillor who is the widow of a baronet. I say 'Councillor Diana, Lady Ingilby'. She went off in a hurry but said she'd speak to me later.

Ally phoned and we discussed the format for when she should visit her doctor. I phoned the surgery at Paternoster Lane. ___________. The rain stopped. I got a bus and met Ally at the hospital. I told her she now has to begin the urine sample racket again. I am trying desperately not to become too excited by all this, as we have been through it before, in '81. We went along to the Co-op and spent one hour and £9 on a few provisions. We left and walked slowly back down the road. Her lunch time back ache is raging. Derek is being thoughtful about it all and had a nice chat with Ally this morning. I had to run for a bus down Squire Lane, heavily laden with six carrier bags, and was home for 1:45.

The Prince and Princess of Wales are home from the sun scorched island of (blank) with the Romseys. Both women are like bean poles. I expect the announcement of another royal pregnancy in eight weeks. Watch this space. The Daily Telegraph reveals that the shadow cabinet took only an hour yesterday to decide upon their manifesto. Obviously, a lot of thought has gone into it.  An amusing betrothal in the social columns. A granddaughter of the last Lord Trent has become engaged to a Mr Kumaramangalam. It sounds like a sexually transmitted disease. 

Sarah phoned again. Just to chat. No news.

Tonight Ally finds no comfort with her aching back. She laid flat on the floor with her head upon a cushion, but it wasn't a success. We went upstairs and upon the bed I rubbed her back which brought her some comfort.

David G phoned. Very bad because I seldom phone him. He says that Garry has found a girlfriend and they have been inseparable for three weeks. We laughed. On the very first date he took her home and was invited in for 'coffee'. The Nescafe was still warm when she whispered in his ear: "come on. We are going to bed". She dragged him upstairs leaving her mother, quite unperturbed, watching Terry Wogan's late show. Dave added that Billy is off work and depressed. We went off to bed at 10. Too tired.

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Wednesday May 11, 1983

 We refused to get up until 7:30 and then it was a rush to get all the breakfast consumed. As you know it's an Edwardian repast every day. I went out and got a thorough soaking at 9:30 when walking in to town to enquire at the job centre about possible courses for training in pub management. They know of nothing other than writing to breweries, which is what we have done without any success. Back at home I wrote to Bass North and Scottish & Newcastle.

Ally phoned at 12:30 (just as the sun came out) and asked me to make a quiche. She has back ache. If she isn't pregnant then I'm Sir Harold Wilson. I had a bath, scanned the BMDs in the Daily Telegraph. I do not miss the YP, not even vaguely. 

Labour want to 'Get Britain Back to Work'. I fail to see why. What is this obsession with work? Why should we sweat and labour until we drop? Surely, if we can survive until our three score years and ten without having to do anything it's all for the better.

I finished reading 'Dorian Gray' to the sound of rain splattering outside. It has been a dreadful May. Ally was home at 5 and we ate our peculiar quiche together. Later she reclined on a settee and almost leapt out of her skin when David B crept up to the window to peep in. He is always doing this. He tells us he is going ten pin bowling with the people from work next week. __________. Do we want a night out with him, Lynn and the Allinsons on Saturday? We shall see. 

We watched the final episode of the current season of 'Dallas'. The place was burnt down with all the Ewing family trapped upstairs. We now have to wait until September for the fire brigade to arrive. To bed at 9:15. I read 'Lord Arthur Savile's Crime' - a bit of a laugh. Was snoring by 11.

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Tuesday May 10, 1983

 Rain. I got a soaking going out for my Daily Telegraph. We ate rounds of toast. Ally stood in the bathroom clutching the sink.  ___________.

I hope we hear from a brewery soon. Steve O'Connor came at 12 and bagged up the debris in the garden and went up a ladder with a hod of cement. They pottered around until about 4:30 and went away without saying anything.

I read 'Dorian Gray' and watched an interesting programme on the BBC about the exinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

Ally phoned to say she was coming home early and arrived at 4:15. She was beaming up at the workmen on the roof.

I am feeling under the weather. Dry throat, blocked ears and nose. I have the beginning of a cold. A dreadful thirst too, swigging coffee all night. Mum phoned at 6:30 and I spoke to both of them. They visited Guiseley today to see Christopher and rushed back. Business is poor. They have only had one guest since John stayed two weeks ago.

Dad says he might not vote at all at the coming general election. He is annoyed at the PMs decision to go to the country a year early, and with a majority of 30. Papa has always been a political animal and he would have been furious with me had I expressed a decision not to vote when I lived at home. It is age for you. Apathy comes with wrinkles and grey hair. I think I might be out of favour for not going up to Horton since my birthday. We have had too much on. 

Watched Daphne Du Maurier's 'Jamaica Inn' which dragged on all night. A new comet has passed over within 3,000,000 miles of earth and I went out at 10:30 to detect it but too much cloud prevented me seeing even a glimmer. It was such a thing which collided with earth 65m years ago killing the dinosaurs. When will it be our turn to go? 

Bed at 11:30.

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Monday May 9, 1983

 My alarm went off at 6:44 just like in the days of old __________.

I made eggs and toast. Photographs arrived in the post. The ones I took at the YP on the day I leftt are bad, but I hadn't mastered the instruction leaflet at that stage. 

Pouring rain. Ally went out, and I pleaded with her to take it easy. She spoke to Derek (Jenkins) and told him of her gynaecological condition. She phoned me at lunch from Duckworth Lane. 

Saw Steve O'Connor in the van but he didn't come here. I fear the roof repairs are going to drag on all summer. We have a room full of washing, and I took the iron upstairs and spent three hours like a male Hilda Ogden. The radio informs me that the PM has held an emergency cabinet meeting and has gone to see the Queen. Oh dear. At 2:15 it was announced that Parliament is to be dissolved on Friday and that the general election is to be held on June 9. She (Thatcher) cannot possibly be defeated and certainly Michael Foot is the best opposition leader she could put up against. If she survives until 1988 then she will be the Queen's longest serving prime minister. By June 9 we'll be gaga with all this electioneering. I hope that Foot will live that long. Denis Healey would be a more formidable opponent, but still no match for the divine Margaret.

I came downstairs wilting like one of the daffodils outside now crushed by Steve O'Connor and his broken roof tiles.

Len Fairclough has been remanded on bail for sexually assaulting two eight year-old girls. He will have to be written out of the Coronation Street script.

Retired at 10:15.

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Sunday May 8, 1983

 Rogation Sunday

Mother's Day in USA and Canada

A long lie in. A slight hangover but this is only to be expected. Up at noon for toast and tea. We disposed of the washing up from last night and ate the leftovers at lunch. A bowl of ratatouille with cauliflower cheese and mushrooms all covered in the steak and pepper gravy. Delicious. We watched a Bob Hope film and a few of his stupid cracks raised a smile from Ally. At 5 we watched a programme on the royal family narrated by Ronald Allison. He interviewed the Duke of Gloucester whom I haven't heard speak before. The poor man looks very much like the Buccleuch family, but sounds sane anyway.

Bessie phoned at 3:30. Frank is on a 17-mile sponsored walk at Newbury raising money for eye operations in India. Trevor Lynn, Gill's brother, and Teri , are to be married by Mr Lynn at Kings Worthy. Andrew is still courting Lorraine. Ally, wearing striped dungarees and one of my shirts, dosen't say anything about her possible condition. No need to create panic at this stage.

(to be continued)

Saturday May 7, 1983

 I was awake early and could not go back to sleep. I was reading Alexandre Dumas before 8am. At nine I climbed out and left Ally a note and went out to buy bread rolls and a newspaper. A dark, wet and grotty day. It pelted with rain this afternoon and is about as much like a May day as Michael Foot is like the leader of a political party. We worked in the kitchen preparing dinner from 9:30. Furious activity cooking and cleaning. _____________. The food emerged splendidly and the only mishap was when I accidentally kicked a two litre bottle of lemonade down the cellar steps. The incident resembled the sinking of the Titanic. Ally looked sexy and slinky in her long purple frock, three years old but good. We sat with elderberry wine waiting for the dinner guests, and toast Ally's tummy.

MM drove Marita and Dave L here for 8:30. We dined at 9, and amazingly we were still sitting at the table at 1am. We dined on tomato and orange soup, seafood pancakes, and silverside beef cooked in wine with black peppercorns, &c. Profiteroles with chocolate rum sauce, cheeses, coffee, two bottles of white wine, one bottle of red, and two carafes of home made red. Sumptuous, impressive and a delight. Dave had eaten a salad before he came not expecting such a repast, but managed to keep up with us all the same. Discussed religion, reincarnation, ghosts, and Princess Anne, and in HRH's defence I say her unpopularity is media manufactured, &c. Marita, who is into ghosts in a big way, told us she has a photograph of her great-grandmother which is haunted and speaks to her. The face, Victorian, changes with various moods. She can tell how great-grandma is feeling by looking at the framed photo each morning. MM cannot take it seriously and thinks it's a joke. I can believe anything. 

David is godfather tomorrow to Helen Orchard, daughter of Mick, and he laughs because he is a non-believer, and yet people clamour to ask him to stand as godfather to their children. We looked at photo albums and they left at 2am. A very enjoyable night.

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Friday May 6, 1983

 A wet start, muggy later, and sunshine at the end. Ally once again had her eggs in bed and I read aloud excerpts of news from the Daily Telegraph. A suit of armour worn by Henri II, King of France, has sold for £1,750,000. The local elections have proved nothing and yet they continue to say that the PM will go to the country in June. The big noises are gathering at Chequers on Sunday supposedly to discuss the details. I wouldn't advise an election before October, or next year.

Ally slept until 11 and I made pancakes for the seafood pancakes for tomorrow's dinner party. We later went to town to buy the food and I was very worried about Ally who looked deathly pale, so much so that I thought she might faint. We went into the cool of the fish market to buy prawns and the smell brought her round. The suspense continues. We spent a fortune on food and I carried it all back on a hot bus at 3:30. I phoned MM to make sure they are coming. He was just washing emulsion paint out of his hair and was in a state of confusion. They are bringing Dave L with them so that the lad can indulge in alcoholic beverages. We dined at 5:30 and Ally threw a ratatouille together (for tomorrow) and the delicious smell drove me wild. Drooling at the mouth. As I write Ally has gathered all the house plants together to water and the kitchen resembles the Guatemalan jungle.

We have been talking about christian names again. Foolish of us at this early stage but it cannot be helped. Ally likes Samuel. Of course I have a cousin, Samuel, in close confinement in a Carlisle institution.

We watched TV and went off to bed after part 4 of a slow thriller which has dragged on for three episodes too many. Watched 'Death of An Expert Witness'. I phoned Peter who was watching TV in solitary. Christopher's hernia operation went off well and the boy was up and playing on the ward this evening though bruised and with stitches. The hernia was bigger than expected.

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Thursday May 5, 1983

 Ally phoned Patricia and had breakfast in bed.  We went down to the school to vote in the local elections. The Conservative lady got my cross. Hand in hand we went to post our quarterly rates bill (£19.87) and then decided to go to Guiseley to see Lynn and Dave and the Baker sisters. Over to Thorpefields for 1pm and spent five hours with Lynn and the delightful girls. Frances, David's double, was a little shy at first (she had just got out of bed) but chatted away in a broad Yorkshire accent. Katie smiles beautifully and doesn't seem to object to Frances who jostles her with great vigour. She (Katie) drank from a bottle for the first time, and didn't enthuse about the experience. We left at 6 and at the end of Thorpe Lane instead of turning towards Bradford we went to Menston for a T-bone steak at the Fox, a Beefeater restaurant. Ally had a well-done steak just to be on the safe side because rare meat can damage a foetus - if any. Prawn cocktails, steaks, ice-cream, cheese, &c. All for £15. However, I dislodged a filling. The waitress was so revoltingly humble I was almost sick. We got a bus from there and was home for 9:30. Watched the beginning of News at 10 but nodded off. To bed with water. Restless sleep.

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