Tending the doves on a milder morning as Debbie went back to school, Diana went to Keep Fit, her parents came to help with Daniella and Daniel disrupted the house with friends playing hide and seek. This as I tried to work on the house, Heseltine resigns from Thatcher’s Cabinet over Westland, Unemployment has risen to more than 3 ¼ million Police are armed with sub-machine guns at Heathrow
An averagely poor night and an early start to the day as we were all awake at 6.30am, being Debbie’s first school day. I lay groggily in bed for a while listening to Today on radio 4 and then ventured slowly down to use the bathroom. As I showered before retiring, I only washed and shaved and then opened the house for the builders and got down to the last main circuits on my alarm system. This morning I tidied up the cable in the loft and put the ironing room and corridor floorboards back together. No sign of the plumber, who was to do some work today and so I ploughed on, laying the cables for the ironing room and rear hall French doors, letting the cables into the woodwork and around the floor once again. Out to the doves on a much more settled morning. The snow was fast melting away, the air still and, though it was still cold, it was by no means as chilly as of late.
I therefore decided to launch in to the balcony doors in earnest and took off two large ones to lay in the magnets and complete the circuits. The children were a handful today. Though Debbie was at school, Daniel had both Gary and Steve round and they rushed excitedly from room to room playing hide and seek, which was most disruptive. Di’s parents came today and helped with Della, whilst Diana went to keep fit. We all had lunch of pie and vegetables, but Daniel and friends were only just within the bounds of reasonable behaviour. This afternoon, I finished circuit 6, connected it and began the slow task of clearing up, relaying the rest of the floorboards, and then putting back the carpets. Tea and then to relax for once, hearing of today’s extraordinary happenings in the Thatcher Cabinet. Refusing to be gagged on the Westland issue, Michael Heseltine resigns as Defence Secretary and promptly holds a press conference, critical of Thatcher’s leadership and mishandling of the entire Westland matter. In the City, Alan Bristow also makes a pre-preemptive raid for 4 ½% to total 8% of the company, as the focus moves on to the forthcoming shareholders meeting. Other news is of the mother, Sandra Riley, who had killed her two youngest babies in the past, now drowning her 8 year old son. Her statement says that he fought for his life crying, “Don’t kill me mum”. She has been sent to a mental home, after her previous probation had proved woefully inadequate. Unemployment has risen to more than 3 ¼ million and by 15,000 on official statistics, and is more in total, and now 13.2% of the workforce. Police at Heathrow were photographed with their new machine guns today. Interviewed travelers found them reassuring, but I find the phenomena appalling. The weather forecast is for rain overnight and I worry again about the river, as it is already swollen again with melting snow.