Some time instructing new gardener Mark in the use of my Atco Club mower for cutting the games lawn grass when Hilary Knightley arrived for advice and collected some of my FOCUS newsletters for delivery. After Di and I had collated the rest, I personally delivered to the outlying properties in my ward and dropped off batches for other helpers to do the same. This evening watching TV whilst sorting through local papers for my news cuttings.
The US was trying unsuccessfully to force Israel and the PLO to resume conciliation talks, John Major was trying to dilute the UK commitment to the EMS but a more serious worry for us all are reductions in the Ozone layer are accelerating year by year
I followed my normal routine on a day that started fine. I insisted that Debbie walk to her bus stop as she is getting lazier and lazier these days by insisting on being driven there. I worked in the conservatory until Mark arrived and then showed him how to mow the games lawn and use the multi-bladed ATCO Club mower. I was trying to repair the strimmer when Hilary Knightley arrived and sought my advice on a variety of personal and career problems, and we went inside and chatted for well over an hour. At least I think that I was of some help and then she took away two batches of FOCUS's - one for her and the other for Helen Young to deliver, which saved me that time at least. I then carried on collating and folding the rest of the FOCUS's and, after lunch, Diana helped me to finish them off.
** "Read More" BELOW for the complete story **
The weather had not yet changed and so I could then drive out to deliver batches of leaflets to Kim Holman, Shirley White (of Southoe) and then I spent the rest of the afternoon delivering the outliers to Southoe, Paxton, Meagre and then to all of the village of Diddington. I had to stop and chat to a few of these people but still got the task done and returned for tea. This evening, I made one or two telephone calls and then settled down to update my journal before watching the key Scottish World Cup football match on TV. At least I also started to sort through the backlog of a few months' local papers for cuttings as I did so, which was a long-overdue task. It took me a couple of hours to deal with three weeks' papers.
The news today is that the United States is playing tough with both the PLO and Israel over their lack of conciliation in Middle East talks. They had criticised Israel for their pre-conditions; now they have broken off talks with the PLO because they had failed to condemn a cross-border raid into Israel that happened last week. Chancellor John Major is trying to distract the European debate on the EMS by advancing a new idea that involves the use of the ECU as a cross-border currency but it is not clear whether Sterling would be tied to it. The reductions in the Ozone layer are accelerating year by year according to the latest survey and this is a serious worry for us all.