German re-unification ceremony at the Brandenburg Gate
German re-unification ceremony at the Brandenburg Gate

A generally mild month with some days approaching near record temperatures for October. The family were generally happy and well as Di celebrated her 42nd birthday with a new car, Daniel settled into university and we all enjoyed a trip to London and its attractions.

I had been successfully dividing my time between gardening, playing my part in local politics and making periodic working trips to Heronshaw where I seemed to be making progress. Di and I were just about keeping up domestically, without our former staff Pete and Joan to help us. In local affairs, the Liberal Democrats, bolstered by our recent national by-election success in Eastbourne, were making progress on the local council and I was now concentrating efforts to get neighbouring branches to put up candidates and mount effective campaigns of their own.

I remained quite the local personality and was making a difference for the Little Paxton Village Hall and on the Parish and District Councils. Elsewhere. John Major’s City honeymoon with the ERM came to an abrupt end and the FT100 index had already fallen back. Former Prime Minister, Ted Heath, seemed to have secured the release of the elderly and infirm British hostages from Iraq.

In a ceremony at the Brandenburg Gate in its restored capital, Berlin, the unification of Germany was celebrated after sovereignty was returned by the War Powers; USA, USSR, France and Britain having held their last meeting. Poorer news as stock exchanges were sliding again with the news that the US President and Congress could not agree on a way to reduce the budget deficit. Worse still, rumours are of advanced plans for a U.S. invasion in mid-November.

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The weather continued to be quite reasonable for the time of year with plenty of opportunity to get out and do things. There had bed been no frosts to speak of and even the gales that were feared proved to be mere puffs. On one very warm and blustery day, for the second day running, there were near record temperatures for October before a chillier night lead to heavy dews. A windy and fine day was followed by a day of occasional showers. The family had been in good health, although Di was still very over-weight and I am heavier than I ought to be. The family had forgotten cards for her 42nd birthday but I made amends by ordering her a new Ford Fiesta car and then drove us down to Swiss Cottage for the start of our London weekend. I bought a portable chess computer for Debbie in Hamley’s before making a visit for Della to London Zoo and a trip to the London Water Centre on a much cooler day The girls had the odd cold, after Diana’s earlier in the month, but it did not seem to worry them. Debbie's first parents' evening at Kimbolton Main School was good, but she still took the resulting suggestions to heart. Debbie saw the doctor with poor hearing but it transpired that she had a wax build up after swimming. Dan and Debbie had been studying hard. Daniel settled in to his university and has made plenty of friends. It seems that the honeymoon period there is over, and he was having to get down to some serious work. I had not heard from the Butterfields; they had not made any interest payments on the very large loan, but Mum was all right and planned to come to see Dad's grave on his birthday. We had a visit from the new owner of The Lady, a Mrs Diana Hoult, the German wife of a British serviceman, who has renamed it ‘The Pied Piper’ and used the boat well this summer.

The month of October ends with a spread of activity typical for the month. I have been successfully dividing my time between undertaking the gardening, playing my part in local politics and making periodic working trips to Heronshaw and I seem to be making progress. We also managed to get the outside decoration finished at The Hayling View and, with garden now looking at its best since Pete left and the conservatory tidy and usable, the house is looking pretty good. Di still wanted to get the central hall section re-modelled as soon as possible, but we cannot do everything at once. She had also started to do some decorating inside and chose Daniel's old room as being the first for the treatment. At Heronshaw, I was gradually completing the task of renovating and raising the shed but had yet to finalise the plans for rebuilding. I was much fitter as a consequence of all the gardening and Di and I were just about keeping up domestically, without our former staff Pete and Joan to help us. We held a very successful Norma's 60th party, with Di’s mother duly feted and 20-odd guests well looked after with drinks and food, enjoying and appreciating the splendid venue of The Hayling View, conservatory and gardens. I was attending Kimbolton School for KSS meetings, and  I helped with the AGM by acting as returning office for the committee elections. Di and I sat next to the headmaster, who also had a child off to university for the first time

In local affairs, the Liberal Democrats, bolstered by our recent by-election success in Eastbourne, were making progress on the council and I was now concentrating efforts to get neighbouring branches to put up candidates and effective campaigns of their own. I remained quite the local personality and was making a difference. It was nothing unusual for me to make a Little Paxton History talk to the local Guides, I had to chair the Little Paxton Village Hall Management Committee and then completely turned around the policy of the Little Paxton Parish Council Meeting by encouraging them to retain and increase borrowings at favourable rates to grow community facilities and even secured a further £1,000 for the Village Hall. I was collected by furnisher Jim Brittain for lunch to address the St Neots Rotary on the topic of "Representing the Community" and had an early meeting with other HDC political leaders to discuss much more representation on the committees and working parties of the council. A orchestrated a good HDC Policy Committee meeting one evening with Labour’s Jim Lomax and I, followed by many Tory back benchers, hammered the Tory leadership for lack of preparation and capital cutbacks to pay for the Poll Tax I chaired my first full board meeting for my new company, ONSITE training, and was disappointed to find the trading and financial situation worse than I feared. In truth, all industry was finding the economy very hard going at the time and a full recession has started and will dominate the next year or two.

Elsewhere. John Major’s City honeymoon with the ERM came to an abrupt end and the FT100 index had already fallen back. Former Prime Minister, Ted Heath, seemed to have secured the release of the elderly and infirm British hostages from Iraq The IRA were using  'Human Bombs" to blow up security crossing points, killing 5/6 members of the security forces after coercing them to drive there. The Anglo-Irish talks founder as Dublin faced domestic issues but Channel Tunnel excavators from Britain and France meet up under the channel. The service tunnel, the most advanced of the three being dug, was  now linked by a two-inch diameter probe.

A different type of unification, this time of Germany, was now all set to go ahead the next day after the four wartime powers - USA, USSR, France and Britain - held their last meeting and returned sovereignty to the Germans, the unification of Germany then taking place at midnight. The ceremony at the Brandenburg gate in its restored capital, Berlin, was a very emotional and nationalistic occasion and all Germans were celebrating. Germany is now a country of 79 million people in 16 Länder or states, comprising 23% of the EEC population and 28% of its GNP. Poorer news as stock exchanges were sliding again with the news that the US President and Congress could not agree on a way to reduce the budget deficit. Israel killed 22 Palestinians in the occupied territories in a use of force that was in excess of that needed and the West now have to be seen to be fair handed when such troubles occur,  Worse still, rumours are of advanced plans for a U.S. invasion in mid-November.