Struggling with my bad back on a chilly morning that turned wet later watching the leaves begin to fall but the shrubs are doing well and the builders working away on the windows and we make a trip to St Neots to order a lounge suite and carpet before I spend time on my wills , trust deeds and national savings certificates as Tottenham council is at odds with the police with the Spurs cup tie called off and an Italian cruise liner Achille Lauro with 400 people on board is hijacked by Abbas’s Palestinian PLF.
Slept well and woke to my morning tea on a chilly morning. Strange how my bad back prevents me from sitting up in bed, so I stagger over to the chair to drink it. Breakfast, completion of my paper, and then washed and dressed whilst listening to the radio. Interviews with top Tory politicians, who are on the defensive for this year’s conference. Dressed and out to the doves. A bright and cool morning, but the wind has dropped and veered to the west and so I lingered in the gardens and observed the plants to see how they were faring. The leaves are beginning to fall and so are a number of twigs brought down by the wind. The shrubs all seem to be taking and the gardener is keeping the shrub beds free of weeds and planting more polyanthas to flower next spring. A lone builder works today and makes painfully slow progress on putting a single window into the wall of our dining room. In to the office to read my morning mail and study the kitchen appliance information. I decide that Diana has not fully thought through the sink design and, when I go back for morning coffee, I encourage her to look at it again. After coffee we go off to Brittain’s of St Neots, leaving Della asleep and in Joan’s care while she cleans. A long two hours looking at carpet and furniture, but we eventually earmark an oatmeal/flecked, heavy duty for the halls, stairs and landings and then, after much deliberation, choose a new £1,000 lounge suite and an Axminster carpet.
The suite is in a blue/grey, light striped pattern, trimmed with mahogany-type wood and quite firm with lumbral support. The carpet is apricot overall, but with some aquamarine content to match the suite. We have decided on a plain aquamarine wall colour and peachy curtains to match. The whole will look quite stunning and we were relieved to start the decision making process. Home in time to get a salad for lunch and then I spent the afternoon catching up with some work in the office. I finished off the wills and advisory notes and we got Joan and Pete to witness them. Then a letter to the Financial Times conference to cancel my appearance to save time and effort. Then to write to the BMMG officers suggesting my replacement at last as BMMG Director General. I now have other interests and priorities and I said that I would serve for 1-2 years and it has been a year and a half. Afternoon tea and then off to St Neots to post my letters and buy £5,000 each for Diana and I of the 31st issue National Savings Certificates. On to the Abbey National, but they have still not sorted out my high interest account – incompetent lot! Home by 5.00pm and out to feed the doves. It had been pouring with rain again this afternoon, but had cleared by this evening. Fed them well and then noticed, to my horror, that there was another mole hill on the riverside garden lawn! Tea of grilled herrings and then out to attack the mole, managing to find the run under a paving stone and put a smoke canister in it. In with the ducks and then a slow walk around the gardens looking at my plants again. This evening I watched TV, supervised Daniel’s prep and relaxed. My back seems a bit better now. Managed to collect my £210 rent from Gordon Road today. News today of the highjack of an Italian cruise liner Achille Lauro with 400 passengers on board. Two Americans are already claimed dead as the PLF gunmen try to compel the Israelis to release Palestinian prisoners. Security at the Conservative Conference was tighter than anything previously known in England. Inside the hall the politicians concentrated on bashing the opposition today, rather than presenting any policies for discussion. Tottenham is now in a state of uneasy peace tonight, but tomorrow’s cup tie has been called off and the local council is still blaming the police and threatening to withhold the metropolitan police rates precept. The police are considering the use of even tougher measures for riot control, including plastic baton rounds, tear gas and water cannon. Miners at three Yorkshire and Wales collieries have given up fighting the mine’s closure after threats of their loosing redundancy money. One is Cortonwood, which was the threatened mine that gave rise to the miner’s strike. The weather forecast to be dry and sunny tomorrow, but still breezy and cool.