A lovely day, warm and sunny. Started to fork the borders. Dot and Ron came. Stayed the night. Got my A.B.C. back off John Roe.
(Granddad collected sticks in the shape of every letter of the alphabet and framed them. My mum still has it.)
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.

A lovely day, warm and sunny. Started to fork the borders. Dot and Ron came. Stayed the night. Got my A.B.C. back off John Roe.
(Granddad collected sticks in the shape of every letter of the alphabet and framed them. My mum still has it.)
A morning of heavy cloud but not so cold. Finished the fence. Started to rain about dinner time. Rained all afternoon. Unable to go to P. Watched tele.
A cold wind blowing again today. Started on the fence. Worked at it all day until 8 p.m. but not quite finished. No one came to see us.
A nice day. Dull at first but nice and sunny later. Another heifer to burn. Cleared lab bins. Car washing. H.S.Mc. making 95 to date. Burnt 100 chicks from an experiment.
Milder today but rain again. 300 galls of oil came. Hope it’s the last for this time. Burnt a heifer. Also a lot of hens from Hans Hall. Got some more wood for my fence Buried B Cottrel.
Not quite so cold today but still cold. Very dull with some rain. Old Bill Cottrel died yesterday. Cut an old yard door up for lighting the incin. fire. Edged the grass along concrete paths.
Another day of bitter east winds. Some rain. Car washing again today. A.B.D. making 92 to date. Cleaned both jets again. Lot of stuff to burn.
Got up at 9.30 a.m. A bitterly cold east wind blowing. Too cold for gardening. Allan, Girl, Joy, husband and kiddies came for tea. Also Dot and Ron. Girl went home 7ish.
(Girl, my granddad’s sister. Actually called Jane. Allan was her husband and Joy her daughter, my mum’s cousin.)
A day off today. Again very cold east wind. Did the mowing at home. Went to P again. Did the mowing and the edging. Finished digging the big border. Went to the pub at night. 3/- sweep.
A frost first thing but a lovely day later. Plenty of sun. 1 ton of coke . A.R. paid for 5 c.w.t. of coal. £2.2.6. Car washing again. H.Mc.K.S. making 89 to date. 10/- Howarth.