The mildest December for more than 50 years allowed our conservatory to be built, fitted out and stocked with its first Koi Carp and to then become our dining room, with me providing some of the skills alongside the builders and specialist Avenue Fisheries Koi experts. There was still the shower room fan and tiles to install, and the annual Christmas lights to erect and gutters to clear out.
I recovered from a chest infection this month, Diana was ill with soreness and coughing and was slower to recover; my mother was coping with her shingles and my father had his operation for ear cancer. The children were fine and doing well at school and enjoying friends to stay and many outings and school activities. We celebrated Christmas with my parents staying and Di’s visiting.
The first year of my Council work has gone very well, as I already tackled many local issues, saved the village hall from disaster and encouraged colleagues onto the Parish Council and to get elected for the County Council next spring but progress on my history book has been slow as a result, although I have had my Apple Mac upgraded and a scanner installed to help this project.
Thatcher unwisely continues her row with Belgium/Ireland, refusing to accept defeat over the IRA extradition despite widespread European opposition and her new Anti-Terrorism Bill contains provisions for detention without trial, flying in the face of the European Court of Human Rights. This was a month of disasters, The Clapham Junction rail crash and the PanAm Lockerbie crash, the aftermath of which was poorly handled by government ministers. Elsewhere, The Armenian earthquake tragedy left 40 to 45,000 dead.
Outgoing USSR leader, Gorbachev visits the US to say his goodbyes and announces huge Soviet conventional arms cuts and the US agrees to support direct talks with Yasser Arafat of the PLO as positive developments, but the threat of an EEC/US trade war increases.
Thus ended December and, with it the year of 1988. Despite the odd cold day, the month has been unusually mild (some say the mildest Christmas Eve for 50 years days and the mildest month and Christmas Day for 40 years, which is as long as I have lived) which enabled first my conservatory to be completed and then the fish and plants to be introduced without straining the floor with my heating too high. The conservatory was a bit of a distraction and vexation in the end, with me trying to get the thing finished and tradesmen to do their parts, such as the decorating, floor tiling, window winder installing, joined and plumbing and but I am well satisfied with the result. It has been expensive (£30-£40,000 plus) but adds proportionately to my £1 million home by way of increased amenity for the colder months when the swimming pool, games lawn and river are out of reach. I had several jobs to do myself, including wiring the sockets and lighting, fitting door and window security bolts/locks, alarm contacts, conservatory guttering and pond spotlights. There was the trellis to put up, planters to install; and fill; and I was constantly skimming the pond to keep it free of the building and decorating dust before I started stocking the pond with fish which soon looked healthy and were feeding well after I managed to commission the pond ventura satisfactorily for aeration. The first small Koi carp were released as water tester fish and then a bigger Koi, a fishy character, which soon settled into the pond and calmed the others down too so that they fed well.
** PRESS "Read More" BELOW for the complete story **
I heard the sad news that Mr Fields snr from The Avenue Fisheries Koi carp place had suffered a stroke, but his son continued to help and advise me. Della and her friend Holly helped me clear up the conservatory after the work was finished, when the fish and heating controls were a fascination for us all. I then bought two large Leylandii shrubs to screen the new conservatory from the front gate and was soon receiving more plants as gifts from Percy and Nigel, where I saw my god-children Ashley and Kate. Then, together with Daniel, I rearranged the house furniture to make the conservatory suitable for dining with my former dining room then providing a downstairs bedroom for my visiting parents. I also managed to do a few house chores such as installing the fan and tiles in the shower room, I worked outside clearing the gutters and erecting our Christmas lights. After this, the whole family enjoyed our new 33-inch TV/Video with ‘super VHS’ recording now occupying pride of place in the lounge, admiring the terrific picture. I had my own health problems this month; with a persistent headache and sore throat whilst coughing from a chest infection, but I gradually got better. My mother seemed to cope reasonably with her illnesses, but her shingles still causes headaches, which is the same problem that my local history contact, Mr Ramply of Southoe, gets – a nasty condition. My dad had his operation for an ear cancer and we hope he will be all right. He was pleased to see my pond and conservatory and the idea of creating a bedroom for Mum and Dad in the former dining room worked very well as they stayed with us over Christmas. Diana remained in the wars with soreness and coughing but was all right to be taken to Bedford shopping on one very mild day and then I pleased her by doing some DIY chores she wanted doing and watching ‘Anne of Green Gables’ with her one evening to please her and she awoke early the next day much better. We celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary on the 28th with my parents still here after Christmas and we played more games before and after dinner with my family, but Diana was ill and tired again such that we had an early night after watching a film together. As for Frida and Alf Butterfield, I hear very little with minimum contact. My sister and her husband have deliberately chosen a remote location and are even further from us in ideals and aspirations; but I suppose we would attend to one another’s big family events. At least we met Diana’s Australian cousin and family one day by chance in Cambridge. Our household staff – Peter and Joan Hewlett – manage well for us. Their illnesses are under some control and the mild weather has helped Pete to keep working his full hours. Our neighbours are not very close to us and the departure of Marilyn opposite from Willow Close with the breakup of a marriage was a sad event for 1988. The children are as happy and contented as they should be with such goods and possessions and a measure of care and affection as much as any in the world. They average achievers at school, which is fair enough as the Kimbolton School standards are high, Daniel taking an Applied Maths test and doing well, he returned from his stay with his friend Gary to join another friend Steven Hicks for a great Kimbolton School narrow boating holiday. He was a reluctant helper for cleaning our cars. I took Debbie horse-riding regularly and Di went to Kimbolton School to see Debbie perform in the carol service. She had her friend Helen Cranston to stay and I took them both riding. Diana struggled to book a swimming course for Della and helped organise a Brownie’s bring and buy sale and I took Della to her Playschool play after which I could playback my recordings for Diana to see. I was trying to be the perfect head of the family over Christmas, decorating the Christmas tree, overcoming the problems of the Christmas preparations generally and entertaining my children and parents of Diana and me. Di took Della for a trip to London by train to see Father Christmas at Selfridge’s and then Matthew and Sooty in pantomime at the Mayfair Theatre. We all attended the St James Church Carol service together and a pantomime in Cambridge with Marti Caine, after which we rushed home the Brownie and Guides Carol Service. I went with Di and Della to watch Debbie’s Christmas horse-riding party and then came home to watch Debbie in the Kimbolton School Pantomime. The with Diana to the Kimbolton School Christmas Concert to see Debbie playing! Soon my parents arrived, and we played games in our new conservatory before and after a fine Christmas lunch and a more relaxing afternoon and evening watching television films. On Boxing Day, with my Mum and Dad still here, Diana’s relatives arriving for lunch, and so we had 13-14 sitting around our extended table in the kitchen. The next day, I fed the ducks and doves with my Dad before he and Mum left after morning coffee. I had both the Rolls Royce and Range Rover serviced and Di had to use the latter to use the swollen Hail Weston Ford to get home on one occasion and we cut a lively dash in our Rolls Royce when visiting Baldock Farm, Graveley, for dinner with Marion and David Woodbridge. Domestic matters include the projects of boat and car restoration; teaching Daniel to drive and attending to several tasks for the Hayling View. My resolution now must be to relax for a change and avoid too many onerous projects until the children have left home and, although I was taken by an Ekins land agent to look at an investment opportunity in Little Paxton, I concluded that there is much to enjoy here as the days, months and years pass all too quickly. The council work for 1988 has gone very well. Though I have not been popular for it, I have made my impression in Huntingdon but could use some additional political support. With this in mind, my help with Mike Pope and Percy Meyer’s electoral chances for May has also been effective – although I will have to get my history book out of the way in order to find time to help them when they need it most. Locally, Little Paxton Parish is also getting some community spirit and, again, I have encouraged progress rather than sought favour with the Parish Councillors, but they respect my work rate and concern for the village which is good. There remain many battles to fight on behalf of Little Paxton with which I daily become more synonymous. Looking ahead to 1989, I do so and look forward as well. All very good but not very productive for my history project but this phase will soon pass and my first resolution for fulfilment will be the book’s publication. I attended a nice social event at the Parish Chairman’s house after the last meeting of the year, with mince pies before a St Neots History Society social evening. I was attending Pathfinder House for a four-hour Poll Tax Seminar which was revealing the full cost and complexity of its introduction., I hosted a meeting of Mill Lane residents with Mike Pope to hear of their concerns about Paper Mill expansion and we will forward these to our respective councils. I had a satisfying experience reading the long HDC Full Council meeting minutes after my orchestrated interventions. I did find time to continue editing and laying out chapters of my book and got my Apple Mac memory capacity increased in order to scan many images for my book and FOCUS newsletters. I drove to Cambridge to collect my Apple scanner and used it this evening for scanning documents and pictures. This before visiting Mr Ramply to collect his Little Paxton Scrapbook and then taking my computer to Cambridge for upgrading. As far as the news is concerned, the county and world in the hands of such bigoted and determinedly-extreme people with the population at large so busy with their own priorities and un-concerned; the task of revolution and evolution must wait until Thatcher goes. She was unwisely continuing her row with Belgium/Ireland representatives at the Common Market Summit in Rhodes, refusing to accept defeat over the IRA extradition despite widespread European opposition. This is hardly helped by the preoccupation at Westminster with a new Anti-Terrorism Bill containing provisions of detention without trial, flying in the face of the European Court of Human Rights and the Law Lords have ruled that the ‘Shoot-to-Kill’ inquest was unlawful. Poor economic news includes Morgan Grenfell closing its market-making business and shedding 450 jobs. Market demand for eggs has fallen by 60% due to junior health minister Edwina Currie’s silly statements on eggs and she resigns as £19 million of aid has to be poured into the egg industry to try and offset the damage. Mortgage rates rise to 13.5% . The Post newspaper of Eddy Shah has folded again but Vickers won the UK Challenger tank project despite a pro-American lobby. The NUM votes against an overtime ban but NHS Hospital doctors complain of tiredness after working 80-hour weeks and it has been revealed that water highly polluted with aluminium was delivered to residents of North Cornwall last July. The Vegetarian Society was protesting at the opening of the Smithfield Livestock Show and so-called ‘animal rights extremists’ firebombed stores in London and Cardiff. A tonne of cannabis is seized in West London. Neil Kinnock rules out an electoral pact with the SLD. When police intervened to stop a bank robbery, one officer was shot dead and another critically wounded; but one perpetrator also died and another apprehended. This was a month of disasters, the aftermath of which was poorly handled by government ministers. There was a horrific train crash at Clapham Junction, where three trains crashed into one another, killing some 40 people and seriously injuring many more but evidence emerges of a prior known fault with the signalling system. A Waterloo blaze leads to an evacuation. - and the shipping accident on Christmas Eve has affected 10% of British North Sea oil production, as three platforms are shut down. The Pan Am plane crash killed all its passengers and many more on the ground as a fireball engulfing that area of Lockerbie, with 239 bodies already found but 30 more still missing and rows of coffins are lined up in the town hall as a makeshift mortuary. No evidence of structural failure was found and Semtex explosive was discovered as having caused it. Transport Secretary, Paul Channon, has met criticism for choosing to go on holiday at this time but H.M. The Queen issued a special message of consolation for the victims of Armenia, Clapham Junction and Lockerbie which showed the necessary sympathy. The Armenian earthquake tragedy left 40 to 45,000 dead as all the multi-story buildings collapsed. Then, further tragedy in Armenia as rescue aircraft collide in the congested airspace, as rescue efforts founder through poor coordination and then the weather closed in on the earthquake region ending any rescue attempts. USSR leader, Gorbachev visits outgoing US President Reagan and incoming President-elect Bush to say his goodbyes and announces huge Soviet conventional arms cuts to which NATO now considers their response. PLO chairman Yasser Arafat is making progress with the UN and USA at the United Nations Assembly in Geneva as the US agreed to support direct talks with Yasser Arafat of the PLO leaving the Israelis on the side-lines and the Briton held in Iran has been released, The US applies more trade sanctions by way of tariffs on EEC food imports and the threat of an EEC/US trade war increases as the posturing between the two is escalating. Another US space shuttle is launched but with spy satellites aboard. Five Russian robbers flew a hijacked airliner to Israel and flights in Germany are cancelled after six died in a military plane air display crash. Nelson Mandela refuses privileges in his South African jail unless fellow prisoners are also treated better and Roy Orbison dies, aged 52. Former President Marcos of the Philippines is both ill and facing corruption charges and there is also a corruption scandal in Japan.