Ayatollah Khomeini incites Islamic fundamentalists to kill Salman Rushdie
Ayatollah Khomeini incites Islamic fundamentalists to kill Salman Rushdie

A generally benign month of weather for February and the river was not often threatening our gardens but it had its moments.

Apart from Daniel and I getting the odd cold, the family are mostly well; Daniel enjoying computers and his boat with Gary, Debbie her new pony Sundance (sharing with neighbour Gemma and school friend Helen) and still seeing her neighbour Amy and both Debbie and Della were taking regular swimming lessons.

I forgot Diana’s card for Valentine’s Day and Debbie was jilted as well but we had Di’s parents for lunch to celebrate Charles Snr’s 72nd Birthday. I had trouble with my Koi Carp after stocking my new pond and feeding them too much before the biological filters had started working, with my poor Ohgon Koi carp the main victim; I strengthened my conservatory by Frosts adding support struts; I completed several more chapters in my Little Paxton History such that that I had finished 13 chapters with just four and the indexing section to go; and I had been busy making plans for the forth-coming elections as SLD Facilitator with campaigning and leafleting on planning and development matters.

The UK government was presiding over public health, safety and economic failures, whilst under attack from political critics and the violent IRA and now animal rights extremists. The political row between Iran and the UK/EU continues with mutual diplomatic expulsions over the Salman Rushdie affair.

The last Soviet troops leave Afghanistan as there is a state of emergency and a civil war seems likely and, in South Africa, the ‘Mandela Bodyguards’ have been charged with murder. More checks are proposed for Boeing airliners after another Boeing crashes into a mountain over the Azores, killing 1- 200 people.

A month of mixed weather; with very warm days at times, alternating with sunny days that were cold and wintry bitterly-cold days with sleet and snow. At times, severe storms raged in Scotland with heavy rain in Inverness where a rail bridge collapsed and properties in both Scotland and Northern Ireland damaged by 100 mph gales and the Great Ouse rose later in the month after a deluge overnight but stopped short of flooding our gardens.

I had a few days suffering from a bad cold when I was feeling shivery and heavily congested and I had to suffer a rather unpleasant trip to the dental hygienist. The family were mostly well; Daniel just with a cold for a couple of days and otherwise keen on computers and anticipating his birthday and car, Debbie managing her pony-riding (which was improving by the week) and Della continuing to get on well at school with no problems whatsoever. My father still awaits a hospital ear operation but my mother soldiers on. Daniel and his friends Gary stayed at each other’s houses, at Gary’s house in Cotton and then back at The Hayling View where Daniel and Gary spent most of the day working on his boat, but I did get him to clean the car. Della visited her friends Caroline’s house in Caxton. After recently acquiring her own pony, Debbie, her pony-sharer Gemma and her friend Helen were having lots of opportunities to ride and groom Sundance.

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At first, he had not been getting enough exercise and was without his controlling reign and so difficult but then Debbie successfully mastered him, overcoming her nervousness as she formed part of a road ride in company that ventured out gingerly after the recent equine accidents. After this, she did not hesitate to join other occasions for accompanied road hacks. On occasion, I would drive both Debbie and Gemma early to the stables where we mucked out and fed Sundance before leaving him in Gemma’s care so that Debbie could come home for her swimming lessons, which Diana normally facilitated.  Sometimes, such as when Debbie and Helen they had brought home their satisfactory school assessments, they shared Sundance. After recent purchases of riding tack, I bought more riding clothes for Debbie. Debbie still saw her friend Amy and was worn out walking around the Little Paxton Pit Nature Reserve with the Law family. Diana also took Della for swimming lessons and forgot the pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. Di also took her to Ely for a children’s cathedral service and fun session. Diana gave me a card on Valentine’s Day but unfortunately, I had forgotten a card for her, and Debbie’s Valentine gave a card to another, so we were both embarrassed! I did take Diana for lunch at the Tempsford anchor and an afternoon trip to Willington garden centre to buy hanging baskets, plants and other things and we had Di’s parents for lunch to celebrate Charles Snr’s 72nd Birthday

After stocking my new conservatory pond with Koi carp, I ran into trouble after feeding them too much before the biological filters had started working and the nitrite and ammonia levels caused problems with their health, making them susceptible to bacterial infections. I was able to spend some time tending my Koi and plants under the shelter of my conservatory, as the plants were suffering from greenfly. Most of the larger carp recovered with salt baths in the isolation tank but my Hariwake Ohgon developed a swelling and exuded a septic puss from the swollen cheek and eye and more treatment was needed. I found and corrected a dangerously-high level of ammonia in my fish hospital tank which had not helped. Stephen Fields tended my poorly Ohgon Koi carp and took swabs of its infection away for analysis after administrating a wide-effect antibiotic and then also came to make the Ohgon’s second injection once the bacteria was identified. I had been siphoning out and topping up the isolation tank between efforts to tend my other fish, plants, ducks and doves as well as setting out trays of seedlings, checking on the safety of our boats during flooding and working on my History project, Council work and correspondence. After Building Regulations criticisms, Charles Frost visited and agreed that the conservatory struts needed to be changed for stability and therefore re-worked the support posts and made a mess. Then the fireplace contractor arrived to fit Diana’s new marble floor slab and untidy both the lounge and my office in the process. I then had to get down to the job of relaying the office and lounge carpets, around the enlarged hearth stones.

This had been the month when I had hoped to put my Little Paxton History book to bed but now my other commitments were catching up on me. Even so, I completed the St James’s Church section, scanned drawings and laid out illustrations for my Paxton Park chapter before spending a whole afternoon and evening editing it. A whole day thereafter on my Paxton Park Christian Science School and Maternity Hospital sections before starting my chapter on The Mills of Paxton, including my Paper Mill and The Haylings sections. Then my ‘Farms’ chapter, with Grove Farm, and my Pre-War History Chapter ending with one on Little Paxton Village Before the War so that I had finished 13 chapters with just four and the indexing section left to do. I secured the help of my neighbour John Law who came to make photographic copies of all my remaining plates from the Little Paxton Scrapbook and the Mr Forscutt and Norris Museum loans

It had been a fairly quiet month for political campaigning as I had been busy making plans for the forthcoming elections. As well as my own constituency, I was working on the Buckden Ward Focus leaflets as the electorate of Southoe and Diddington are part of that County Ward as well as being villages in my Paxton District Ward. Whilst out organising Focus newsletter deliveries, I spent some time chatting and advising Southoe residents and spent two hours with the Mill Lane Residents Association advising them on how to oppose the Samuel Jones planning application. In nearby Priory Ward, I was attending the Priory Doom Meetings advising them on resisting developments as Michael Pope could not. From my District meetings, I heard of the ‘Harrison Way’ St Ives road-naming reversal when attending a HDC Policy Committee meeting at Pathfinder House and assisted my neighbouring St Ives colleagues to make a fuss about that. I was attending SLD meetings to discuss the County Council election campaign including one at Hinchingbrooke House for a Democrat meeting and training session, where I was given the role of being a facilitator on the campaigning. In other ward issues, I head progress from the St Neots Museum committee about finding a site, met the district Council footpath officer to discuss bridleway opportunities, attended an evening Parish Council meeting dominated by Paper Mill development issues but also encouraged decisions to welcome back the village football team. Following computer problems, I backed up my files and took the AppleMac over to Cambridge successfully for repair as I cleared my backlog of paperwork during its absence.  

Elsewhere, the country is suffering from real or apparent problems with food and water safety; and the government is, for once, as unpopular as it ought to be with its programme and performance. The Labour opposition leads the Tory government in the opinion polls for the first time since October 1986. Edwina Currie agreed at last to make her grudging appearance at the Select Committee on Health after her devastating comments about eggs and has now cast doubts on the safety of soft cheeses by considering a ban, leading to threats of retaliation by the French and threatening the livelihood of organic farmers. The government suffered a defeat in the House of Lords over compulsory ID cards for football supporters and Britain’s prisons have been condemned by a report as being the most unsanitary in Europe.  This, as deadlock remains in the national prison dispute with Wandsworth prison in  London and the Isle of Wight presenting problems. Inflation rises above 7.5%; the highest level for more than six years and the stock exchange fell well back. Chancellor Lawson warns of more inflation to come and the stock exchanges fell even more on this news.  Neil Kinnock attacks the Thatcher government’s handling of electricity and water privatisation, as private water company prices rise by 30 to 50% and is criticising the government for not protecting the health of the public and failing to improve drinking water standards and dioxin has been found on the site of Manchester chemical accident and as we had news of a new outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in Central London. Gang robberies and assaults are taking place on trains now that guards have been withdrawn as a result of government changes. A North Sea oil rig was shut down for safety reasons, a controversy has erupted over the British Telecom chatline services running up bills for youngsters. and a new campaign to apprehend drunken drivers is launched with new laws planned as one in five accidents involved consumption of alcohol and the Tories propose new restrictions on local government. In this month’s by-elections, Labour and the Tories retained their seats, but the centre vote was split between the SDP and Democrats and so Paddy Ashdown puts out a challenge to David Owen over constituency selection of candidates.

The Duke of Edinburgh controversially bows before the Japanese Emperor’s tomb after a Shinto ceremonial, once a sign of the Japanese militaristic faith

In a month of IRA activity, a lawyer is murdered in Belfast, another Belfast City Centre bomb attack injures a policeman, an army minibus driver was shot dead in Londonderry. In England, an IRA bomb exploded overnight at the headquarters building of the 2nd Para Regiment in Shropshire and the police cleared an area in London after Semtex explosives were found. A German diplomat helps mediate between religious factions in Ulster in the aftermath. After investigation, it is established that the Lockerbie bomb was hidden in a radio-cassette player and, in a new development, an ‘animal rights’ bomb is set off by extremists. Frank Bruno lost out to Mike Tyson but gave him a run for his money. Diplomatic differences continue in dialog with the Iranians as Salman Rushdie is still threatened and Roger Cooper remains jailed. Islamic fundamentalists put a bounty of £3 million on the head of Salman Rushdie who had written the book ‘the Satanic Verses’ and Britain and the EEC are recalling their diplomats from Iran ‘over Ayatollah Khomeini’s incitement to kill Salman Rushdie’ after he had issued a Fatwa calling for the death of British author ‘who cannot be forgiven, despite his apology’. Iran then retaliate against the European 17 who have reduced diplomatic representation. The Soviet Union offers to mediate between Britain and Iran. The last Soviet troops leave Afghanistan as there is a state of emergency and a civil war seems likely leading to the evacuation of the British Embassy in Karbul.

Jailed South African nationalists start a hunger strike, and Winnie Mandela has agreed to disband her ‘bodyguards’ who are suspected of the factional murder of political opponents and then the ‘Mandela Bodyguards’ have been charged with murder. More checks are proposed for Boeing airliners after another Boeing crashes, this time into a mountain over the Azores, killing 1- 200 people. The spate of  recent aircraft accidents prompt US aircraft companies to call for a massive programme of repairs and modifications to older planes. A freighter sank in the mid-Atlantic with the loss of 17 crew today being out of the reach of rescue helicopters.