Our car giving trouble with a flat battery after our  US trip
Our car giving trouble with a flat battery after our US trip

An early car crisis as the Daimler had a flat battery for Di’s visit to Cambridge which we jump started with the Range Rover and then I stayed at home continuing my history archiving and monitoring the stock exchange and, venturing to believe that the bottom had reached and a recovery underway, I started buying equities. Later, to collect Debbie from school after her recorder lesson and to review Daniel’s school work, where his English is the remaining subject to improve. More rain and gale force winds are forecast to continue a thoroughly miserable autumn.

A better night’s sleep, but still tired this morning as I struggled to wake up. Showered, shaved and dressed in time to arrive half way through breakfast, which is an improvement. A dull meal of cereal and fruit juice again. Problems this morning. Di was trying to get out early with the Daimler to take it to Cambridge for the day. Marshalls were due to do some factory recall modifications on the anti-lock braking system. Unfortunately, it was many weeks since we had used it and the battery had run flat. All hands to the pumps as we eventually used the Range Rover’s battery and jump leads to start it, but not before I was oily and tired and Diana was an hour late! This very day I was due to have my second consumer satisfaction telephone interview from Jaguar and didn’t half give them some stick! This morning I scanned the paper and then watched closely the stock exchange movements on TV teletext. Spoke twice to my stockbrokers, and used my Prestel phone set to scan data on several companies of interest. The market fell sharply on opening and had then started climbing back and so I made the decision that it was at, or near, the bottom and time to buy some shares again. Telephoned orders through for £1,000 (each for the children’s trusts) in both Argyle Group and Courtaulds and then £40,000 in each of three shares for me (Plessey, Bank of Scotland and Courtaulds).

Phoned back Fountain Forestry, who had tried to contact me during the mayhem and discussed this year’s planting budget and tax rebates, which are now an urgent issue, along with everything else. Made my own salad lunch with ham & egg pie and ate some fruit afterwards. I am still 4lbs over my limit and hope to lose this amount soon. This afternoon, I started sticking in the remainder of my copy photographs, referencing and annotating the scrap book as well. Had to break off at 4.00pm, because Di was stuck in Cambridge with the Daimler and so I had to drive over to Kimbolton School in the Range Rover to collect Debbie from her recorder lesson instead. Once home, it was time for tea and then I checked Daniel’s school work. His French has come along well, he is still doing well at maths and physics, reasonably at geography, biology and, history, but English is his problem area. He might scrape English language, but will fail literature unless he makes a dramatic improvement. Debbie sat up all evening, until late, doing her work, then practising her recorder. I tended to more photographs and now only have the copy postcards still to do. Very tired tonight as I wrote up my journal. The news is of the funerals of the Poppy Day Enniskillen victims, with more condemnation of Sinn Fein and the IRA and debate in the UK and Irish parliaments. More hopeful signals from the US on budget negotiations, but we shall have to see whether a compromise can be soon reached. One answer towards raising the tax half of the equation is increased fuel taxes, in line with levels in the rest of the world. Both Democrats and Republicans seem in favour of it, but neither wants to be blamed for proposing the idea! So much for politics, but optimists hope for a deal by the end of the week. The UK Government have yet again increased the time delay for those wishing to receive unemployment benefit after having resigned their jobs voluntarily. Once it was 6 weeks, now it is 12 weeks and the government proposal is to increase it to 6 months. In another unpopular spend-limiting decision, the UK government is the only one in Western Europe to refuse to increase our contribution to the European space effort and so will be alone in not taking part in a new manned European space and shuttle programme. More rain and gale force winds are forecast to continue a thoroughly miserable autumn.