Off to St Neots shopping for household goods and fireworks as the builders worked on before resuming work on administration in my office and see Linda visiting Diana briefly as the worst ever Motorway pile-up kills 13 and injures 35 and at last Thatcher agrees to some South African sanctions at the Commonwealth conference in the Bahamas
My aspirins allowed me to sleep reasonably, but I was still a little restless at times. Awake to my morning tea and then I experimented by reading whilst lying down in bed and it seemed to be quite practicable. Down to breakfast of toast and fruit juice and then to complete my paper before getting washed and dressed. Out to the birds with Della in tow, who is now sporting her all-weather boots. A fine sunny day that stayed so until dusk. A bit chilly, but not too much so for the time of year. Two eggs only again. Both a plasterer and carpenter arrived on site this morning, as both of these trades are subcontracted by the builder. The plasterer put up the under layer for the sitting room and dining room, and the carpenter built a couple of door frames, modified a third and put up a framework for the Daniel and box room walls. Off with Di this morning to St Neots. First port of call was the gas showrooms, where we are to return on Thursday to decide upon the best deal for our Moffat cooker and hob. On then to Brittains, where we chase up our lounge carpet and order it urgently, then select some material and curtain poles for the same room.
They sent round a workman to measure the room in the afternoon and fortunately missed the worst moments for plastering. Lastly this morning we went to Claytons and bought an array of fireworks, including rockets, sparklers and both a £6 and £10 firework box in case Eddie & Stella had a do in addition to our own. Today I spent quite a lot of time in my office typing in the updates to my investment and income summaries, which is quite a job these days. I checked latest interest rates with Barclays Homelink and the Abbey National to see the true comparative. The Abbey have it by a walkover. By 4.30pm, the builders had called it a day and so I took some more video shots of the progress before tea, whilst Diana chatted to Linda, who had just returned from a holiday in Yugoslavia. Both the doves and ducks fed hungrily this evening, as a consequence of the colder weather. Tea of pork chops, sausages and vegetables, with the last of Diana’s birthday cake and some shortbread to follow. After tea I checked Daniel’s prep and was again horrified to see that Mr Comer, his maths master, had not been there to take his lesson again, or set his homework. Also the last 2-3 preps remain unmarked. I am resolved to telephone his Housemaster and complain tomorrow. Then to my journal and the TV news. In Britain’s worst ever motorway disaster 13 people were killed and 35 injured in a multiple pile up and fire on the M6 near Garstang, Lancashire. In the same place, two people were killed yesterday at the site of motorway repairs and maintenance and a tail-back. The Prince of Wales visited Northern Ireland today in a surprise visit, but still managed to meet the people in impromptu scenes. Kinnock was in Liverpool for discussions with the Labour council, made easier by their decision recently to call off the redundancy plans. A third miners grouping has voted to leave the NUM and join the new breakaway union. Their members were mostly expelled anyway for working during the national strike. In the Bahamas, Commonwealth Leaders are leaving after a conference compromise on South African sanctions. Three new measures are; a ban on Krugerrand sales, no more trade promotion finance and a ban on new government loans. Thatcher is playing them down, but Ghandhi of India and Kenyatta of Kenya have done well to get some change after her strident opposition. A delegation is to go on a fact finding mission to SA, but will be poorly received by an arrogant government that has no respect for the Commonwealth ethos. Geldof returns exhausted to Britain tonight after his tour of the famine areas, but has no plans to give up the work in spite of recent reports to the contrary. More fine weather is forecast for tomorrow, but also some mist and fog, which is a further hazard for the motorways.