Raining today but a bit warmer. Nell still under the weather. Car washing again. K.Mc.S. making 75 to date. Little Ann’s birthday today. Forgot to alter T.S. on 1 hr.
(“Little Ann” isn’t me, by the way. It’s their next door neighbour’s daughter.)
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.

Raining today but a bit warmer. Nell still under the weather. Car washing again. K.Mc.S. making 75 to date. Little Ann’s birthday today. Forgot to alter T.S. on 1 hr.
(“Little Ann” isn’t me, by the way. It’s their next door neighbour’s daughter.)
Heavy frost again this morning. Too hard for digging. Clocks on an hour last night. Ron made a supervisor. Him and Dot came to tea. I went to the Sheaf at night.
(You may have noticed yesterday’s entry made reference to Nell, Lee’s wife and my grandma. Spoiler alert, she recovers from her German measles. This is a picture of Nell from much earlier, when she was in service at Gayton Hall, on the Wirral. She is second along from the chair.)

Day on today. Still very cold wind. Got finished late. Had the doctor to see Nell. An attack of German measles. Went to P in the afternoon. Did the drive. Washed car. Paid 3 B Edwards. Sweep.
Another day of bitterly cold east wind. Some sleet showers. Paid A.P. £2.2.6 for 6 bags of coal. Car washing again. S.H.D. making 72 to date. Brushed round the bins.
A dull cloudy day with cold winds. 1 ton of coke last night. A.P. X. Painted gates in the calf pen. Took the stands off the walls. Cleaned silage labs out. Cleaned both the jets.
Another day of cold winds. No sunshine at all. Finished cleaning the lab windows last night. All done again now. W. Finished white washing in the calf pens. Brushed them out.
Some sunshine but wind still cold. Doing some more white washing in the calf pens. Not much in the lab today. Knocked one burner off at 10a.m. Window cleaning tonight.
A frost first thing, sunny during the day but wind still very cold. Car washing again. B.A.S. making 69 to date. Cleaned both jets. Cleaned the copper. Working on the lab windows tonight.
More heavy frost again this morning. Got up 10 a.m. Finished digging one side of my garden. Put a new clothes line up. Ron and Dot came for tea. Went to the Wheat at night.
Went to Shrew with Alf last night. Got tight. Still cold today with frost. Day off. Had a good lie in. Went to P in the afternoon. Tidying up in the wood. Burnt a lot of rubbish.