A trip to Cambridge with visits to Belinda’s and The Copper Kettle whilst Diana has her contact lens appointment and Daniel worries about Aquabean sinking but we install a new bilge pump pipe upon our return and he is able to re-float and restore the vessel happily. This as The Westland Affair is elevated to a drama with Heseltine the subject of the tyrant’s wrot who is also oblivious of the implications of abolishing the Metropolitan Councils.
A much better night’s sleep, but reluctantly awake to our new early morning schedule, with the Financial Times for company. Down to breakfast with the others after also listening to the Today programme on Radio 4. Toast and fruit juice as usual and Di starts flustering to get us all ready on time. Unfortunately, I am delayed 15 mins by Caroline grooming herself opposite, as I watched the weathervane indicating almost due south. It had been a wet and windy night and the river is coming up again. Daniel’s boat, Aquabean, is now listing badly to one side and he tearfully tells me it is ‘sunk’, which is an exaggeration. All ready and off to Cambridge by car, after dropping Debbie off at the local school. A fair journey listening to Daniel’s cassette tape, but Della was restless and continued the whole day rather difficult to please.
Parked in the Round Church car park and Daniel & I took Della to Belinda’s to eat cake and drink orange juice, whilst Di spend an agonisingly long time in the opticians for her contact lens consultation. He feels that Di’s contact lens trouble is a result of an allergic reaction to wetting solution + the weight loss and dust and wants to see her in 2 weeks’ time. Together to see a few department store sales and I buy a few tools and accessories; before we collect the mains-intercoms from Tandy/Cambridge Computer Store. To the Copper Kettle for lunch, where I insist on Daniel having roast beef, rather than a roll, and he thoroughly enjoys it. Home by 1.30pm and in good time for Di to spend the next couple of hours with Linda, Helen and their children. Unfortunately, the children are all badly behaved and the experience is a bit harrowing. Daniel and I bring Aquabean into the slipway and I fix his bilge pump up with some pipe and he is able to pump it nearly dry. He is grateful and much more cheerful as a result. Tea of grilled herrings, which were delicious and then we ‘played’ with the new intercoms. They worked well, but not with the baby listening level. I aim to buy more intercoms of the same type instead of it. This evening I read a Country Companion to Debbie and she told me of her wish to go to church. She also has a prayer book and said her prayers for the first time tonight, which was very cute. It is sad that I do not have the experience to take her to church, although I really think it is Sunday School that she is attracted to. News tonight of a day campaigning by Michael Heseltine in favour of the European Westland bid. And tonight it seems he may succeed – Bristow with 10 ½% and USH with 5% are pro-Europe and can certainly delay proceedings by adjournment and may even muster the 25% total support to throw it out. On the political front, Thatcher and Brittain comment saying “No recriminations”, but their offices beaver away to discredit Heseltine behind the scenes. Within the conservative party, MPs divide on the affair and the spotlight begins to turn on Thatcher’s autocratic and centralised approach of running the government. New airline safety directives were issued by the Civil Airline Authority on better airliner escape routes, lighting and flame retardant fabrics. The machine guns will now be displayed at Manchester Airport on Monday, but Manchester Chief Constable, Anderton, feels that this should not be permanent, “We are police officers, not soldiers,” he said. The Roskill Commission calls for the end of the jury system in cases of complex fraud, but he will have trouble convincing the public at large (including me). The law and trials should be made clearer, not judged by expert specialists. There is a growing crisis over the effect of the abolition of metropolitan councils on grant aided voluntary organisations. The EEC is to provide 1/8th of the grain needed to fend off a deterioration in the Sudanese famine.