Reluctantly catching up with paperwork, reconciling bank accounts and paying bills after a pleasant start to the day reading about Norwich and Norfolk. Daniel had Steve Hicks staying on his little boat for company, Debbie was inviting friends for a small party and was having riding lessons booked. West Germany is now offering to scrap the Pershing missiles, South African miners continue their strike despite intense intimidation and two more Norfolk pilots die in another Welsh low-flying accident
A good night and awake as Di was leaving to get the drinks and so sat up in bed and read a good portion of my new book on Norwich and Norfolk. I think that we did well in our time spent in this capital of East Anglia, but we obviously still left very much to see on a future occasion. I went down to breakfast in my pyjamas and then showered and dressed afterwards. I was still at the table with Della for a while and read her a couple of stories and kept her company. Reluctantly, I made my way to the office and started the process of catching up on my paperwork. I reconciled my bank accounts, then made out cheques for a large number of bills outstanding from our time away.
Lunch of salad and fruit pie after, and Steve Hicks joined us to eat, after spending the night on his little boat moored in the river. Daniel had his company for most of the day. Debbie made out invitations to her friends for a small party later and Di phoned the riding school and arranged for a day’s horse riding and picnic lunch on Friday. I worked on this afternoon a while, updating my investment summaries and then broke off at 4.00pm to go into St Neots and post a stack of envelopes. I also did some financial transactions and looked in on the Shaw’s auction lots to see if there was anything worth having. It rained continually all day today. As with June, August has produced double the ‘normal’ level of rainfall and it is quite depressing. I found a spell of only light rain this morning to feed the ducks and doves and another this evening but, in both cases, heavier rain returned as I was out there. After tea, I changed tack and went through a week’s older papers for Little Paxton press cuttings – this only leaves 3 weeks, plus the current week, still to do! I am quite depressed with all of these paperwork impositions, but I suppose I will feel better about them in a day or two. News today was of West Germany offering to scrap the Pershing missiles that remain one obstacle in the arms talks, but both sides react with caution in these latter stages of negotiating an agreement. Despite a lot of pressure, victimisation and improved offers on benefits, South African miners vote to continue their strike in a surprising show of courage and solidarity. As the first of the Hungerford shooting victims is buried, Her Majesty The Queen makes a donation to the appeal for money for the victims’ families. Another two Norfolk pilots are lost, as their military aircraft crashes during a low flying exercise in Wales, but there will be no change of tactics in these training procedures. It seems we have to endure another showery day before brighter weather spreads from the west in time for the weekend.