Productive but Icy and chilly day working on my alarm system and procuring tools and materials, a busy lunch with Daniel and his friends but then a poor end to the day as Diana wanted to go to bed and not celebrate the New Year. Thatcher rewards her cronies in the honours list and ignores Tom Geldorf and myself which we consider an honour in itself for speaking out against her policies
Wakeful until relieved and then a sound night and long lay in. morning tea and the FT at 8.00am and allowed ample time to read it before a late breakfast at 9.00am. Kode shares are up another 7p to 120p now, which is a big improvement on the 65p at their low. I shall see how they move before my tax deadline and might well cash in some of them as a contribution towards it. Breakfast and ablutions as normal. My black eye is beginning to fade very slowly. Dressed and in a quandary what to start first – my alarm items ordered yesterday have arrived – but I have to go shopping in St Neots with Di and Debbie for a while. Joan just arrives in time so that Daniel, not now needed to look after Debbie, can go across to the water meadow opposite with Jonathan Bloom and Steve Hicks to slide on the ice puddles. A good session shopping, as I manage to get Fishers to agree to deliver a 4 metre ladder today.
Parts for my torch and some more electrical accessories as well. Unhappily the Cross Keys coffee place was closed and so we had to wait until we came back. Then to my new office and to phone the C-TEC alarm company about my PC cards, but no reply; only an answering machine. Then to call Roger Brittain about Gardener Pete’s tax affairs before lunch. All Daniel’s friends to the meal; Stephen, Jonathan and Gary, which is a bit of a trial. The ducks and doves afterwards. The weather is still chilly, but not so bitterly cold as the last few days. The ladder arrives and I scale it to clip the outside fire alarm wires closely to the wall and balconies and then come inside to spend the rest of the day wiring up and testing my alarm system. A period of rest for tea and then back to it again until late. Apart from the smoke detectors (for which wires are adjacent and we await the printed circuit cards) the rest (3 break glass alarms and a kitchen heat detector) are functioning perfectly by nightfall. If anyone cuts any part of the wire, the alarm goes off anyway. Then to my office, today’s journal, before the TV for the news. Main story is still the fate of Winnie Mandela. Arrested and jailed yesterday, she is released on bail today and is at a secret location outside Soweto, from which she is banned. Her lawyers are investigating every avenue to see if she can be allowed home in Soweto, pending her appeal over the banning order. Meanwhile, South African President Botha in a new year’s message, criticises the world-wide pressures for fast change in the country, but everyone feels that the changes have been left too late and are too little. More fighting in Lebanon today as President Gemayel’s car was ambushed and three army officers killed. Fortunately the President was not in it. Salmonella in the Farley’s baby food factory in Cumbria has been found in dust from the cleaning system, but no trace yet of the cause of entry. The New Year’s honours list is out today and the normal reward of Thatcher’s political cronies and placemen, civil servants, personalities and sportsmen are honoured. A good crop of Industrial Knighthoods, but it is yet to be seen whether the correlation between these Chairmen and their companies donations to Tory Party funds are as common as the last few years. No awards for Bandaid in general, or Bob Geldof in particular, and a growing row over it. David Steel thought that he may have been omitted for “ruffling a few feathers”, a reference to criticisms of government overseas aid shortcomings. Tonight’s chilly and raw weather is forecast to continue tomorrow. Icy roads and a chilly wind will make the weather continue to feel very cold. Mum & Dad phoned tonight to wish us a happy new year, but Diana did not want to stay up and so we were in bed by 11.00pm.