August 1989
Home was 27 South Drive, Chorltonville. Kate and Mike's cousin Ellie was with us today.
I think the cat was called Squidgy.
Michael was very busy at his desk.
He never did learn to ride a bike...
We had a day out in London - Nell, Mark, Kate, Mike and me. We visited Buckingham Palace, Westminster, the Science Museum, St James's Park, and McDonalds by the Piazza.
Kate must have taken the next picture.
Sparse diary entries record us around that time visiting Mary and Tony at their farmhouse, High Hurst, in Dunnerdale.
It's a lovely spot. Mary (RIP) is long gone from there, but she and Tony carried out a loving restoration of the place, after she retired as a GP and moved away from Manchester. Her son, 'Big Mark', still visits Nell in Chorlton every now and then. [The Mark featured here is 'Little Mark', Nell's son.]
Michael was clearly at the age (5) when a stick was a good toy to play with. WWF wrestling would come later.
Whoever took the next picture can't have been very tall! (Kate?)
We went for a walk around the estate, which had been much improved by Mary and Tony, including the planting of hundreds of trees.
They must have been looking for something...
Mia, on the left below, used to be Mary's cleaner. When Mary left Manchester we inherited Mia, whose son lived near us and trusted Mia to exercise his bouncy labrador when he was on holiday. The dog was clearly too much for Mia, and I could often be seen being dragged across Chorlton meadows by the bouncy beast. But it was me who was doing the dragging on the return leg!
My diary records "Adventure over a stile with Mia, a Barn Owl in the barn, and Mark fell over a rock..."
Was Kate enjoying herself?
Michael has a reputation for going to sleep in strange places.
We visited an elderly relative of Mary's who lived in Broughton in Furness.
This is probably the last picture I have of Mary Lobjoit and Mia.
So, that was a 'snapshot from 1989' - 33 years ago.
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