Halloween and ‘Back to School Day’ - A busy and frenetic morning, getting the children ready for school, after which I spent more time on the Apple Mac word processing function and organising data files before some outside work later on the games lawn with third of the top dressing now completed. The Mill Meadow farmer visited to tend his 21 cows successfully and this evening Debbie attended a Brownies Halloween party whilst I tracked news of the big vote in the House of Commons tomorrow where Tory backbenchers plan to rebel against plans for eye and dental check tests and more papers are released which were proposing the end of three further education and reduction of teacher and doctors training budgets. The Israeli army are wreaking revenge on the Palestinians by bulldozing their houses which is a gross atrocity and the Polish government announces the closure of the Gdansk shipyard with Lech Walesa claiming it is a political provocation, it being the birth place of Solidarity
Nice hot electric blankets to lull us to sleep last night on a very cold night. Slept well and woken before 7am with Di starting the mad rush to get the children off to school; Daniel and Debbie on the bus and then Della to Rising 5’s at the village hall. I continued with the Apple Mac Word processing learning session this morning and then found that another batch of my reformatted disks for copying onto my new computer. I called Bill Walston and arranged for him to get them ready next Wednesday evening. Pete and Joan had arrived without their car this morning, it had broken down at the weekend, but Joan was much improved and managed to do the domestic work today. I got Pete to mix up another large quantity of top dressing - this time for the games lawn. After lunch, I spent an hour or two spreading it evenly which was quite a chore. I did another 1/16 to make one third of it in all done now. With the sharp frosts and shortening days, I must really make use of the sunny weather and get the rest of the job done this week if possible. This afternoon, I also worked on a few desk matters and did some paperwork before feeding and settling down the birds at dusk. Whilst doing this, I saw the farmer opposite come to see how his cows are doing.
They have been loose for a week or two there on Mill Meadow and I told him it was good to see him there. He only found 18 of the 21 but then two more were in the hollow near to the river so all was well. Di was racing around again this evening – the Brownies had a Halloween party. It is becoming quite the thing now under the influence of so many US forces personnel around here. This evening, a meeting to constitute a village hall committee. It was well attended, and all the officers’ positions filled and so I did not have to offer to be chairman. I did, however, agree to be on the committee. News tonight is of the big vote in the House of Commons tomorrow. The government is offering an extra £1 billion for the health service but no concessions on the intended charges for eye and dental checks. They are spreading the story that they can overcome the rebels but that is not what the rebels think. We shall see. The Israeli army and government are wreaking revenge for the deaths of the three children and their mother. Houses and plantations are bulldozed down belonging to ‘suspect families’ which is a gross atrocity. Massed crowds attend the funerals and the hysteria grips the nation. The Polish authorities have announced the closure of that the Gdansk shipyard for ‘economic’ reasons which are probably correct. Leaders of Solidarity including Lech Walesa claim it is a political provocation in retaliation for the unrest. Labour’s education spokesman, Jack Straw, claims the receipt of confidential government papers proposing the ending of free further education and the reduction of teacher and doctor training