My Granddad is Keeping Busy

Still a very cold east wind. Finished the windows last night. Swept the incinerator chimney and emptied the sump. Cleaned both jets and put a new washer on No.2 hot filter.

Frost this morning again and a cold east wind blowing. Car washing again. Mc. S. D. B. 23 to date. American sputniks not very successful. Too cold to finish off the windows.

A frost this morning. Went to see Dot and Ron. Had a nice afternoon by the fireside. Went to the Wheatsheaf at night. Saw Harry Mealer. Good session.

Dot, my mum and Lee’s daughter.

Day on today. Not a bad day but foggy. Got done early. Cleaned windows. Finished house and did a good bit of lab. Went to P. Dug the border. Burnt some rubbish.

Not a bad day again. Fairly mild. Car washing again. H. A. K. 19 to date. Cleaned both jets again. Gave 3 bags of salvage to the bin men. Going to clean windows again. Not fit last night. Rain.

Another mild day with showers at first. Had to clear the silage lab out twice today. Forked the borders round the vet labs. 3 sacks of paper for salvage. Cleaning windows if fine.

A nice mild day today. Swilled round the bins. Cleared silage bins again. A big lot of stuff to burn on the incinerator. 600 gallons of oil came first thing. Stayed to do a few windows.

A mild day but cloudy. Forked borders in front of lab doors. Emptied the silage bins. Burnt Mr Howarth’s knife. Saw first snowdrop. Cleaned both jets. Stayed cleaning lab windows 319 3wks. can.

Not a bad day but a strong, very cold north west wind was blowing. Did some car washing again. B polished and S. 16 to date. Brushed up around the bins. Asked Mr Howarth bunts.

(No idea what “Asked Mr Howard bunts” means.)

Not a bad day. Nice and mild. Got up 10am. Not fit to do any gardening. Dot and Ron came in the afternoon. Nothing unusual to report. Went to the Wheatsheaf at night.

Ron, my dad, on his motorbike.

Day off. Came out to clean the windows but got rained off. Went to P in the afternoon. Cleaned car. Did some tidying up. Went to the Wheatsheaf.

Not too bad today. Cold wind. Home last night without lights. Had to go to the Lydiate again. Boilers off. Cleaned points and jets. No good. Electrical fault. Car washing. H. S. A. K. 14 to date. (Off Lydiate. Stat in room furnace.)

A lovely sunny day and much milder. Washed and polished Howarth’s new car. Washed shacks. Cleared out the silage lab again. Lot in 4 bins. Gordon gone to Harrogate.

Milder today but a very strong wind still blowing. Bert and Ken finished the pumps. Cleaned out the silage lab. Finished the gravel path.

(Like some other entries, this one is marked with an X. Wish I knew what that meant.)

Another day of cold winds and showers. Brushed up round bins and the drive. Started to hoe gravel path round house. Cleaned both jets again and hot filters.

Roads slippery again this morning. Very cold east wind. Burt and Ken putting pumps on time switch. Mr Howarth got new car today. Did two cars K.D. 16 to date. Burnt 2 pigs* from sweat hse.

(* it could day 2 pies, but I think it’s pigs.)

A bright sunny morning but still cold. Got up at 10am. Young Ann round all day. Frank and Dora came. Dot and Ron stayed at home decorating. Never went out at night.

(Frank and Dora were my grandma’s brother and wife. Dot and Ron are my mum and dad.)

Still a very cold wind. Road slippery first thing. Started on the house windows. Went to P in the afternoon. Mended roof in the kennel. Bad cold. Came back from the Sheaf 9.30.

(Assume P is pub. Sheaf definitely is.)

Another day of high winds and heavy showers. Quite cold. Car cleaning again. A.A.S.B.Mc. 14 to date. Got 96 Argosy magazines off John Davies. Cleaned both jets again. Mr Howarth not got new car.

(I think the initials are the owners of the cars. Not sure.)

No frost. Mild with heavy rain and very high winds. Painted all the incinerator today. Cleared out the silage lab again. Joe in bed with the flu. Got space book off Doc Cargarin.

Roads very slippery again this morning but fairly mild during the day. Cleaned and painted the incinerator chimney. Plugged wall and put hook in to hang paper sack on.

Slight frost in the night and a cold wind blowing. Gave the yard a good swill down. Cleared the silage lab out. Painted both bins out of PM room. 600 oil. Cleaned both jets.

Cold wind with rain at times. 1 ton of coke. A.P. washed and polished. S. car. 8 to date. Cleaned out flues No. 1 and No. 2 boiler. Saw Mr Muir for few minutes. Ann went to Clatterbridge.

(There are quite a lot of abbreviations. I don’t know what S. car is or A.P. The Ann mentioned isn’t me but their next door neighbour’s little girl. I am not yet born. Clatterbridge is the local hospital.)

My granddad died in 1983. For the previous 20 years, he kept a diary, recording his day as a farm worker and then through his retirement. We are lucky enough to have his notebooks, all the entries in block capitals, often in pencil. He always tells us about the weather, sometimes about what is going well at the allotment. We get updates of how Liverpool are doing and the occasional political thought. He suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, was always in pain, but you would never know from these entries. My mum once described him as a contented man. Who knows, really, but certainly, there is something soothing about these entries. So I thought I would share them with you. We have a few years to cover so buckle up.

Anne