Spending a dry and windy day looking after my doves, Trust affairs and family whilst Nigel Smith drops in after which I take Daniel for a good evening’s fishing. This as Boy George’s American song writer, Michael Rudetski, dies in his mansion of a drug overdose, Thatcher has her finger operation and £4Bn is knocked off the Stock Exchange in its biggest one day fall with lots of bad news at home and abroad
My turn to sleep poorly, as the upper sheet became untucked and I was in contact with the rough blanket, instead of a smooth sheet. Woke Diana to get the drinks, then shaved, washed and led the move to breakfast. Cereal and croissants for this morning’s repast and then out to feed the doves on a dry, but very windy day. They struggled to keep their feet, but their hunger and the demands of their offspring ensured that they persisted. The young white squab keeps straying out of the nest and so I have now removed a solid ramp-like platform of droppings that should ensure that it stays in from now on. To the office, where I made a start on the paperwork, updating statements and working out how to transfer funds.
Di was going to town and so I got her to do the necessary with the bank and building society. Continued, getting steadily more bored until lunch and was glad of the break and enjoyed a nice salad lunch. Back to it after, filling out application forms for the three children’s trust accounts and then got together with Di to book a short holiday in Great Yarmouth for the family next week, and some more riding lessons for Debbie. As we finished, Nigel Smith dropped in for an unexpected chat and told me of his exploits in Spain in a water playground and I showed him my Harraden water colour drawings and told him of my local study plans. A nice tea of trout, which the children joined in with, and then I worked a little more on the chores until Daniel came back from a cycle ride with his friends. Dan and I took the opportunity to do an hours fishing at the sewage island and caught about 15 dace and a chub – all small – before coming home. News tonight is of Boy George, as his American song writer, Rudetski, died in his mansion of a house after a drug overdose. Yet more bad publicity for the singer. Thatcher has had a ‘successful’ operation on her finger and is recovering in hospital. The Stock Exchange has had its worst one-day-fall, knocking £4 billion off of company valuations. There is widespread pessimism about the likely success of the OPEC deal and also there is depression over the insurance implications of a massive deluge and flood in Sydney, Australia. Emergency meetings are to take place in Ulster, as businessmen consider what to do in response to the IRA threats of reprisal for security force suppliers.