Some work on my finances early on as Di fussed over the children’s work, checking on my Corniche purchase and mower delivery before the ATCO Club was delivered this afternoon and I was well pleased with it. Then to write my election candidate’s address for my evening meeting at Michael Pope’s house where my Paxton campaign was discussed first. Two North Sea oil rigs have broken their moorings in high seas and blustery gales, the government increases prescription prices by a bumper 8% today, South African churches are defying the ban on meetings and more violence has broken out in Israel.
Slept well enough, but was slow to start this morning. Ended up a whole half hour late for breakfast and ate alone. Diana was upset, as Debbie had forgotten some maths revision at the weekend and Daniel had left his room in a messy state this morning, even after being told to clear it up. Got straight down to my office work today, first reconciling my bank and building society accounts and writing cheques to all and sundry for Diana to post on her visit to St Neots. Then the balancing transfers to get the money back in the right accounts, which is quite a business these days. Then several phone calls to check on the progress of our vehicle registration transfers and then tackle Pete Eatonton of the Chelsea Workshop on the price query on our Rolls Royce Corniche. I thought we had agreed £28,000 and he is charging me £28,500. I also chased up the delivery of the special multi-bladed cylinder mower for the games lawn and then returned the call of St Ives Marina about my plans for a new boat.
They put me on to Michael Carrington, son of Fred Carrington, and I phoned him and went out to meet him for lunch. I bought him a drink and a ploughman’s lunch at Stephenson’s Rocket and had a good meeting. He will cost and enlarge on the design specification and seems keen on making quite a business of it, which would be good for this river. This afternoon the ATCO club mower was actually delivered. It is in good condition and a bargain at £450, considering that they are well over £1000 new and never usually come up for sale second hand. I eventually got down to composing and printing my election address and biography each side of tea and went off this evening to a candidates meeting at Michael Pope’s. I was the only candidate there on time, with the paperwork and photographs, and so forced the meeting to consider first Little Paxton and get this dealt with, so I could leave soon after 9.00. I had dropped Diana off at her slimming club in St Neots as well and we then drove home together. I am left with the task of organising the artwork for a total of two leaflets for our Paxton campaign. Home to the news this evening of a classic own goal by the IRA, who lost two men in an explosion of a bomb that went off prematurely. Prescription charges are to go up by 8% (twice the rate of inflation) even though the Chancellor is presiding over record surpluses. One deficit he does have is on the Balance of Payments, which took a turn for the worse in January. In South Africa, church leaders are holding services and protest marches in open defiance of the Afrikaans government, to ‘fill the gap’ left by the banning of political opposition to apartheid. In Israel, more violence has broken out in the occupied territories. The weather today has been of cold and blustery gales and two oil rigs went adrift in the North Sea high winds and heavy seas. More conventional vessels are missing and in difficulty.