With Della and Debbie still suffering, I was at home with them printing out and then writing Christmas Cards all day until late evening. The financial news is stark with unemployment rising by 60k to 1.75m with Sterling at the bottom of its ERM range as John Major is off to his first EEC summit to argue in vein for his hard ECU idea. Preparations for conflict in the Gulf are proceeding with planes bringing home Westerners and over half of the US armoured divisions from Europe on the way there.
A calmer and better day today weather-wise but I was not to see a great deal of it. Della was still at home recovering from her illness and Debbie had managed to go to her party yesterday and stay overnight but she, too, was unwell and had to be brought home. I therefore stayed in whilst Di went out to do her shopping. It was my chance to print out the remaining Christmas Cards and then spend the rest of the entire day writing them ready for delivery by hand and by post which was an enormous undertaking. I finished in late evening with a tummy-ache for having been sitting still for so long and I was glad afterwards to lay out in the lounge and relax. Since the children have been home, the family do not have to get up so early for breakfast and this lets me stay up later.
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The news today was of unemployment going up by 60,000 to one-and-three-quarter million and this was even more evidence of the harsh depth of the recession. There is also little prospect of interest-rate reductions as Sterling is bumping along the bottom of its range in the Exchange Rate Mechanism. I think they should reduce both the exchange rate and the interest rate as well and give our export industry a chance. John Major is off to his first EEC Summit and looking very conciliatory and not too sure as to what he is trying to achieve. I do not think his idea of the hard ECU will even get modest consideration. The planes continue to bring the rest of the Westerners back from the Gulf as the US arms build-up goes on. Over half of the US armoured divisions from Europe are on their way there to arrive before the mid-January deadline.