Starting the day training Debbie to eat properly ahead of her new school practise and then continuing with my history project, concentrating on the Ramply tapes before returning to Daniel and Debbie’s school work as our young white dove chick is lost to local cats, the ducks resume laying as Reagan suffers in the wake of his Arms deal confessions, Lester Piggott is charged with both Vat and tax fraud, the Danish ship full of explosives is still drifting off of the Cornish coast and they say 17 trawlers have now been sunk by submarine nest snagging off of the Irish coast
Slept well and was also reluctant to both wake and get up this morning. Nevertheless, up early, showered and dressed in time for breakfast and occupied Daniel's seat next to Debbie again to ensure she ate her meal properly. Insisted that she had some cornflakes, as well as her favourite rice crispies. Once the children were gone, I went out to the doves and found that the white youngster had gone. It was virtually fully grown and I am surprised, but it seems that a cat must have caught it last night. I saw it in mid-afternoon, but was away with Debbie's horse riding and then interviewing last night and so could not check at dusk. The plague of local cats is a nuisance and I will have to think of a way of discouraging them.
Rather sad by this discovery, Di and I had our morning coffee and then got down to our work (she does not have Joan to help with the housework on Thursdays). I had searched the neighbourhood and found no remains of the dove. At least I managed to ring another white chick and perhaps that will be more lucky. Caught up with some reading this morning and also started to play back the Ramply tape of my recent interview with him. Soon it was lunch of pie and vegetables. Di's mother had joined us for lunch and the conversation turned to children’s food fads. I was rather annoyed by tales of what Di and her father ate in the past and it is quite obvious to me where these fads were allowed to develop. I think my annoyance showed through, as I was also upset about the dove. This afternoon, I completed a transcription of the Ramply tape and typed up a word-processing file of the interview before the children arrived home. Time then helping Debbie with her writing and Della by reading her a story, so that Di could make the tea. Put the ducks away and still no sign of the dove. The ducks have started to lay eggs again – we had two yesterday. Cold outside again today, but milder than the last couple of days. A tea of sausages, chips and vegetables and we managed to get both Debbie and Della to eat theirs all up, which was an achievement. This evening, I sat in the lounge reading the local newspaper and cutting out items on Little Paxton for my scrap book and also supervised the two children’s work. Debbie continues a long story and Daniel did his maths and then a fair sketch of his own silhouette and shaded reflection in a mirror for art. He was awarded a 2B- for his last art work, which is quite fair. Managed to catch up on my journal before the news started on the TV. The first BBC TV news story is about President Reagan, who is now trying to turn attention away from arms scandals towards arms agreements. In his speech, his voice sounded rather strained, but he has won a measure of praise for his candour, although the views of the American public are mixed. There is pressure for him to hold a full news conference and answer all outstanding questions. Lester Piggott is to face new charges of fraud over VAT, although also facing similar income tax fraud charges. The ship laden with explosives from Denmark is still drifting off the Cornish coast, but it will not be boarded until it is safe to do so. The Hornstrand has still a 5-mile exclusion zone around it. There are stories of corruption in the Kent police force being covered up. Lotus Cars in Norfolk are taking on 11 hundred of extra workers and so are Jaguar. It is reported that a running total of 17 fishing trawlers have been sunk by suspected submarines in the Irish Sea. A government proposal to ‘privatise’ the UK driving testing system and take it away from the Dept of Transport, has run into an immediate storm of criticism from the Automobile Associations. There was also a Commons clash over the living standards for pensioners, after the link between pension and average earnings has been broken.