Wind still cold and rain all day. Too wet for cars. Cleaned both jets. Helped Gordon catch 50 birds for shack. 600 galls of oil came. X. Paid 3/9 3 weeks canteen.
(“50 birds for shack” – no idea)
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.

Wind still cold and rain all day. Too wet for cars. Cleaned both jets. Helped Gordon catch 50 birds for shack. 600 galls of oil came. X. Paid 3/9 3 weeks canteen.
(“50 birds for shack” – no idea)
Got up at 10 a.m. Strong bitterly cold wind blowing. Showers, sleet at times. Nell went to Dot’s. I had a very nice afternoon by the fire watching tele. Met Nell off 10.30 bus.
Saturday on. Still very cold. Got done at 10. Grand National. No luck. Went to P. Put the dahlias out and forked borders. Cat still missing. Went to Sheaf at night.
New leather. Another day of cold winds but sunny. Put some early spuds in last night. Saw first daffodil out in the wood. Car cleaning A.S.D. making 78 to date. Daffodil one month later than last year.
Heavy rain first thing and all through the night. Dot came last night. The cat missing since Monday. Cleared main drain in field. Gave the chicken house second coat of paint. Warmer today.
Still very cold with a sharp frost during the night. Finished painting the chicken house. Gave Len a hand up at the old battery yard. Got a nice lot of early sets off Mr Werrit.
Another day of cold winds but some sun. Cleaned both jets. Started to paint the chicken house by the incin. Lille the cat is missing today.
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.