A/N: Daisy would have been very young when she started work at Downton Abbey in 1912, probably no more than 12 or 13, and not yet begun to educate herself as she did in later years. The grammatical errors in this fic are to (hopefully) make her diary entries sound more authentic and sometimes amusing.

***chapter one***

Dear Diary,

My first day at Downton Abbey over with and I am proper bloody whacked! No sooner had I got my hat and coat off than I was expected to peel mountains of potatoes, then I had to wash hundreds and hundreds of plates, pots and pans, and just when I thought I was finished for the day Mrs Patmore the cook said to scrub the floor and clean the oven on the range - the big oven as well, not the little one! I nearly died when I saw the size of that range and it says in my duties as a kitchen maid – I was presented with a long list - I have to polish it EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Mrs Patmore said she'd ease me in gradually. Blimey, if she calls this easing me in gradually, what does she call hard work? My hands are red raw and I can barely hold this pencil, no word of a lie.

It's so busy and hot and noisy in those kitchens too with people coming and going and taking this silver tray and leaving that silver tray. I can't believe how much food goes to them upstairs! It's enough to feed an army and you'd have thought it was an army traipsing in and out and half of them in these posh uniforms called liveries with starched white gloves acting all snooty. I began to think I'd come to Buckingham Palace by mistake.

Most of the other servants said hello to me, which was nice, though they never had time to stop and talk, and I didn't either. My friend Sally from school went into service in a big house down London way and hated it because she said nobody spoke to her unless it was to bark out orders. But most people here seem very friendly, though I don't think I'll ever remember who they are. They're already mixed up inside my head.

Lizzie, who shares the room with me, just asked was I was writing home to my Mam. I told her no, Mam and Dad are dead, I'm keeping a diary. She said I am mad as a box of frogs! I said I never heard that before and it made me laugh -who was it opened a box of frogs to find out and why would you put frogs in a box in the first place?

She says I won't be writing a diary for very long when we have to be up at half five every morning to blacklead the grates and light the fires. But I don't plan to write every day. I just want to keep a diary because I've always liked putting my thoughts down on paper and sometimes bits of poetry and that and I'm going to write it as if I am writing to a friend.

Lizzie and me have just had a long chat about Downton Abbey and family and cats and everything. Lizzie said she hates reading and she can't read much, only very easy words like dog and cat, because she was kept off school all the time to look after her eight little brothers and sisters, though she said there might be nine now. She said they rent two rooms in a house with four storeys and a cellar and there are three other families living there. Bloody hell, that's worse than us. There were only five of us as well as Mam and Dad and we only had two other families but we were bursting at the seams. Lizzie said they even have a cat called Smokey, but she's for the rats. I said I could help her read if she wanted, but she said it's a waste of time, she can't be bothered with books, she wants to get married and have babies.

Lizzie went into the bathroom before and is sitting up in bed now fixing her hair. We share it with the whole floor and Lizzie said you have to be quick or you don't get in. She asked what did I write so far so I read it out to her except for the bit about writing poetry because it sounds daft and the bit about writing like I'm writing to a friend because...I don't know. She was telling me who some of the staff were, but I'll still never remember them all.

Lizzie said Mrs Patmore is very superstitious and she was very funny acting out her panicking about bad luck when the big salt pot got knocked over yesterday. I wish I'd been hereto see it!

I asked was she mad as a box of frogs and we laughed like lunatics and then laughed some more about what Mrs Patmore would do if someone picked up a box of frogs by mistake and put them in the oven for dinner and they got served upstairs. Lizzie did all the actions of everybody, even Lord and Lady Grantham. I don't know how she dared, but it was very funny.

I like Lizzie, though she talks a lot. She is two years older than me and has worked at Downton for fourteen months. I think we...

A/N: The abrupt ending is deliberate, they were interrupted. Not sure how often I will update this, but hope you enjoy reading.