Completion of my investment summaries, statements and children’s trust account numbers before continuing to transcribe the Frank Hall interview tape as Debbie wins her ‘hostess badge’ at Brownies but Daniel needs supervision after ‘skimping’ on his prep. The East/West arms talks between Officials continue into ‘extra time’, an horrific Boing 707 air crash on take off in America at the same time as two Red Arrow display pilots collide and crash. Dr Marietta Higgs defends her actions in the Middlesbrough child abuse diagnosis enquiry.
Slept soundly after our recent exertions, but was not woken up until quite late at 7.15am. Hardly time to wake up and drink my tea, but I had a lot to do and so pushed on to be washed and dressed in time for breakfast. In fact, I got the children to tidy their rooms before the meal and it is not often I am up in time to do that. Once the children had gone, I worked smartly at my desk and finished a number of things, so that Diana could post them off for me. Then the morning spent finishing off the printing of my investment summaries and the completion of new statements showing how the children’s trusts stood at the end of the tax year and also how they stand now. Sorted out envelopes for Roger Brittain to be delivered by hand by Joan today and also for Gerard Chadwick to be delivered by Diana in Cambridge tomorrow. Then a salad lunch. Della had been all right at playschool today and Di had done some shopping. This afternoon and evening, I transcribed the last side (side III) of the Frank Hall interview tape, which was quite tiring, but now I have done them all.
Got it typing out (20 pages in all!) as I wrote up my journal and did a few other chores. This morning, I had a phone call from Peter Lewis of Ekins, who will look for suitable properties for me. I am seeking forestry and agricultural land in this area for investment purposes and have been meaning to contact him for some time. The nearest thing he has is some flood meadows in Godmanchester, but there is some closer land with river frontage that might soon become available – some mixed land – some river frontage and some plantation. Howard came round and took off some more photos for copying, but I forgot to give him a couple of items that annoyed me somewhat, as he caught me at a busy moment. Debbie went to Brownies this evening and got her hostess badge – at last! I had to get Daniel to do most of his prep work again, as he had ‘skimped’ it. At least he brought back his new coat today, which was a relief. The news today is of the two sides of officials preparing the way for the East/West arms summit agreeing to extend their meetings by an hour a day, as they did not have time to cover all of the items to be discussed. A Soviet negotiator still says that the summit is in no doubt. On the stock exchanges, Tokyo and Australia were well ahead overnight, then London raced forward today, but fell back to only a small advance at the close on further nervous profit-taking. Wall Street did the same. A horrific air crash in America, as a Boeing 707 flips over in the snow when aborting a takeoff. Here, two Red Arrow display pilots collided and crashed, but their parachutes limited their injuries, but one of the planes crashed into some houses. Paediatrician Dr Marietta Higgs has defended her Cleveland child abuse diagnosis during a Middlesbrough enquiry. These new methods involve examination internally of the children’s anus, which is rather traumatic, though she claims that only one child was woken up in the night for it. A brighter and drier day today.