Very full day driving to London whilst Norma looked after the children to go shopping before and after a Fountain Forestry lunch and presentation on investment and then tea at The Hyde park Serpentine Café before returning home to check on the dove chicks in mid-evening. This as Patrick McGee is convicted of the Brighton bombing, Bob Geldorf eventually gets the recognition he deserves and the ‘Eminent Persons Group’ aim to force Thatcher’s hand over South Africa
Awake and up in good time, showering and shaving well before breakfast. First, in fact, to the table and was pleased I was, as we were running out of milk and Daniel is quite capable of eating multiple bowls of cereal anyway. Out to feed the doves on plenty of seed and a large lump of lettuce in the wire cage I have made to retain it. I was glad I did, as it soon started to rain. I had time for an hour in the office tidying up my desk and working out my bank balances. Then Di’s mother and the cleaner arrived and we soon left by the Jaguar for our day in London. It rained more and more heavily as we drove and, despite our latish start, there was plenty of roadworks for improving the A1 at Hatfield and a remarkable amount of traffic. Eventually arrived to find a convenient car park beneath Cavendish Square and walked to Robert Sayle in Oxford Street and enjoyed a morning coffee and patisserie.
Then we walked along Oxford Street to Oxford Circus and down Regent Street to Hamleys toy shop. A good look round, but only bought a small thing. We did have a good look at the rocking horses, though they looked rather modern and we may prefer to get a restored second hand one from a contact that we found. On to Princes Street and High and Mighty, where we bought a range of extra tall sized clothes for me; a tweed jacket, some trousers, a sleeveless jumper and two pairs of pyjamas. A rush to get to Fountain Forestry’s offices in Queen Anne Street, but managed to drop our purchases off at the car and made it in fair time. An event which even Diana found interesting. Drinks, a buffet lunch, then a summary by the FF MD, Mr Howell, on forestry investment and marketing prospects. I met George McRobbie and pencilled in a couple of dates for this week’s pilgrimage to Broubster/Thormaid, and also renewed my acquaintance with Barry Gamble to remind him of my continued search for an amenity/commercial hardwood forest nearer home. We then slipped away and took a taxi to Harrods in Kensington for Diana’s first visit since we married and only her second ever. A good, if tiring, look round, until turfed out at 5.00pm. We walked to Hyde Park and had a salad sandwich tea at the Serpentine Café and then got caught in some more heavy showers, before finding a taxi to take us back to the car. More traffic driving home, but arrived at 8.15pm and the weather had cleared up well and ground dried out. Quickly out to the doves, but found the small one in the pole-cote cold and limp and appearing quite lifeless. As I held it and warmed it, it twitched and breathed and, though too weak to feed, it may yet revive, as the mother returned to the nest after I had fed her. Dodgy business, this pigeon-keeping! Then the chore of locking up and closing all the curtains, before the TV news. News today was of the conviction of Patrick McGee for the Brighton bombing and hence the murder of 5 prominent members of the Tory hierarchy. It was October 1984 that the Grand Hotel was bombed and he had made the mistake of leaving a palm print on the hotel registration card. Bob Geldof has been awarded an honorary Knighthood by the Queen on the recommendation of the Foreign Office. As an Irish citizen he will not be called Sir Bob – just plain Mister – but will have the initials KBG after his name. The Crossroads South African racial ‘war’ goes on, with allegations that the police are backing the black right-wing vigilantes in their raising of the rebel homesteads. There is mounting speculation that the 80-page eminent persons group will force Thatcher into accepting certain ‘further measures’, ie sanctions to keep the Commonwealth together. Asprins for children are being withdrawn in view of a possible link between taking them and getting Reye ’s syndrome, a form of brain and liver disease. England’s cricket team lost the first test match to India today by 5 wickets and David Gower lost the team captaincy to Mike Gatting as a result.