It was a full month training for my new German Shorthaired Pointer, Sam, who developed physically, and settled into much better family behaviour
It was a full month training for my new German Shorthaired Pointer, Sam, who developed physically, and settled into much better family behaviour

Another busy month with lots of time spent with my growing dog Sam and the girls. A cold, windy and stormy month in the main with floods to match but it turned mild for the last few days. I was spending as much time in Norfolk as I was at home; first with the family and then on week spells by myself, overcoming the unfortunate setback of having my car broken into and tools stolen on New Years Day.

Della had to go through a stage of being nervous at school, missing lessons and this manifested itself by her plucking her eyelashes and eyebrows out, which was scary. Diana and I talked late into the night, worried about this tendency as it was inexplicable and very disfiguring. I spent lots of time with her as she started going for walks with me and Sam on a regular basis to get her Saturday sweets from the shop and to help try to find muntjac deer in the pits.

Debbie had better news as she was given the go-ahead to remove her braces during day-time at school as she improved all of her grades on assessment and she was always hosting friends at The Hayling View. he dentist ordained a filling for Daniel who was far from happy with this, but he otherwise had a good month and we saw quite a bit of him. Poor Angela had to have a hospital check-up in Manchester about her nausea and stomach problems, but it was diagnosed as nerves. Diana got on well with her slimming at Weight-Watchers and keep fit sessions and got her belated Christmas present when I bought her membership of the A.A. with a car-based emergency telephone to go with it. We also booked an expensive fortnight's holiday in California to please her.

Despite my building work in Horning, I still spent quite a bit of time with the family with trips out swimming and to the cinema which always culminated in meals out. My mother was fine in body if weak in voice and beat the girls at "Cluedo. My own month started slowly as, in common with Diana, I had great trouble getting down to work again after the seasonal celebrations and then suffered from a kidney infection later. I was just about finishing off the odds and ends in Harnser and trying to lessen the planning restrictions. Apart from a little help, I had moved on from helping the Liberal Democrats and was shooting wildfowl and cooking game and relaxing with TV sport and restful baths after hard work.

It was a full month training for my new German Shorthaired Pointer, Sam, who developed physically, settled into much better family behaviour and learnt a great deal about taking commands and starting to retrieve and work. Elsewhere, the tragic grounding of a tanker off the Scottish coast on the south-west shore of the Shetland Islands with a complete loss of all the oil in its tanks which could yet be Britain’s worst ever environmental disaster, Prince Charles was under scrutiny after his privacy was breached and John Major was taking on national newspapers with a libel suite concerning an alleged affair.

The West were still furious over regime in Iraq as Saddam Hussein’s men ventured into Kuwait to recover equipment and the \US took to bombing mobile missiles and command centres. All hell broke out in the former Yugoslavia as the Croats resumed fighting and the peace talks went out of the window. Israel is now fretting at the prospect of United Nations condemnation and sanctions about their repression of the Palestinians.

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A cold, windy and stormy month in the main with floods to match but it turned mild for the last few days. There was frost, icy roads, and freezing fog with flurries of snow, then gales and howling wind, virtually at hurricane force, making my new Harnser building shudder from the gusts. The heavy rain and coastal conditions flooded neighbouring gardens much higher than I had expected and then the weather paused to become milder in spells. Arthur Edmund's man started work on building up Doris Vincent's garden, which had been nine inches under.

I was spending as much time in Norfolk as I was at home; first with the family and then on week spells by myself. The month and year started badly as I had a car break-in on New Year's day in Norwich as I took Della to the cinema to watch the film "Sister Act" in the Norwich Odeon. I lost quite a few things; binoculars, boots, two electric drills and a jigsaw. Della was quite grown up when just with me; and was helping by washing and drying up and packing her things to go home. Evidently, Della had been comforted overnight by my snoring. She was more of a problem later in the month, having something of a tantrum about going to school.

She had become nervous of school and school dinners again, claiming nausea at the Prep, missing some of her lessons by staying in the Kimbolton sanatorium, and so Diana and I spent some time with her that evening. Della's tantrum thwarts a family Cambridge trip, but I then forced her to go to school, even though we had to stay at home in case of being called in to collect her. She eventually stayed and came home happily and got over it and then went off to school successfully. During a family visit to the dentists Della learned that she would have to have an X-Ray and get extensive treatment for prominent front and uneven lower teeth, starting in a year's time. She started going for walks with me and Sam on a regular basis to get her Saturday sweets from the shop and to help try to find muntjac deer in the pits and she was intrigued by a fox hole and the muntjac deer tracks which had often freshened overnight.

Debbie joined us on occasion to Mill Meadow and we used the dummy launcher for Sam to retrieve for the first time. There was a worrying development with Della still plucking out her eyelashes and eyebrows because of some sort of neurosis. I spent time with Della, letting her play on my computer but was still worried about her eyelash plucking removing most of the lashes from those remaining on her left eye-lid. Diana and I talked late into the night, worried about this tendency as it was inexplicable and very disfiguring.

Debbie had better news as she was given the go-ahead to remove her braces during day-time at school as she improved all of her grades on assessment. The pity was that her school policy insisted that she reduce her subjects to study with the onset of GCSE. She had friends Jo, Tabatha and Zoe to stay and excelled at cooking some nice delicacies and making colourful candles. Both Della and Debbie had fun in the new roller skating rink off Vulcan Road and Di took Debbie and her friend Tabatha ice skating and Della chilled out when Debbie's friend Tabby was visiting, and they all played well together as we all part in a grand challenge game of "Cluedo" that took until lunch on a day I spent at home for once.

When I took Diana into town to do some chores Della had friends Cary and Susanne visiting and Debbie acted as games leader and kept them all busy. I collected Debbie from Zoe Bee’s house before taking the family to St James Church for the church service. The dentist ordained a filling for Daniel who was far from happy with this, but he otherwise had a good month and we saw quite a bit of him. Poor Angela had to have a hospital check-up in Manchester about her nausea and stomach problems, but it was diagnosed as nerves.

Diana got on well with her slimming at Weight-Watchers and keep fit sessions and got her belated Christmas present when I bought her membership of the A.A. with a car-based emergency telephone to go with it. We also booked an expensive fortnight's holiday in California to please her. Despite my building work in Horning, I still spent quite a bit of time with the family with trips out swimming at The Beford Oasis Wave Pool and to the cinema to see the film "Death Becomes Her", with Diana to watch the latest Kevin Costner film, "Bodyguard". Also the new Richard Attenborough film, "Charlie Chaplin", which was a good, if sad, dramatic portrayal of his life and times filmed in the epic tradition.

There were shopping trips with Diana to St Neots, Bedford, the Cambridge Grafton Centre and Peterborough and we often treated them all to several meals and arranged to see Di’s parents in Eadon Lilley’s before lunch at The Arts Theatre Restaurant. I had phoned my mother to arrange a visit to Stanton on our way back to Norfolk and when we visited, she was fine in body if weak in voice and actually beat the girls at "Cluedo"! On another occasion when Della and I visited, I took Sam and Della to the playing field for a break to stretch their legs and she remembered sadly that this was the last place that she saw my dad

My month started slowly as, in common with Diana, I had great trouble getting down to work again after the seasonal celebrations and then suffered from a kidney infection later in the month. I approached the work steadily, gradually recovering from my infection, and eventually got going, lost a few pounds from round my waist to get under 14 stones and spent as much time in Horning as in Paxton, just about finishing off the odds and ends in Harnser such as fitting the door bell and letter box, smoke and heat alarms and alarm circuits. I ordered a telephone connection and raised spare timber on pallets. There was more work fitting the internal doors and furnishings. fitting the larder, airing and stairs cupboard doors. There arose a worry over the detail of the planning for Harnser and I would need to formulate plans to appeal to get North Norfolk District Council to see the light and lessen Harnser’s restrictive planning constraints.

I replaced the tools stolen in my car break-in, was cooking and eating pigeons, the continued victims of my hunting air rifle, and made a nice roast and then soup out of my Horning goose; though did not have an opportunity of another one. I also cooked a lunch of roast beef which was not easy and often a relaxing bath on arrival there, undertaking more housekeeping jobs to keep the place tidy. My firearms certificate was issued and came through and so I also did quite a bit of reading on stalking and rifle shooting ready to put it into practise and contacted all manner of gundog organisations. All of the time, I was summarising and archiving my journal and concentrating on my financial affairs. Also catching up with administration for Glisson Printers My efforts often ended up with me watching TV sport and relaxing with a nice bath later in the evening before bed. I had a telephone call from Sally Guinee one evening seeking help on the Paxton delivery information and, after some little time on the necessary paperwork I collected Sally and her two girls and she worked with me on Paxton delivery planning as her girls played nicely with mine!

My new German Shorthaired Pointer, Sam, developed greatly during the month. Firstly in physical terms by growing more than two pounds per week; but also in behaviour as he ended the month under much better control and with a lot more experience of people, other dogs and things he has to get used to. I had combined constant training sessions with research into gundog and breed clubs and pointer/retriever dog handling by reading up all of the books and magazines I could find. At the behavioural level, he started the month whining and causing trouble when left but was much more biddable later, joining me in the car for journeys and fitting with my activities. With Della, and occasionally Debbie, I took him on long walks around Crabbetts Marsh in Horning and across St Neots Common and the Little Paxton gravel Pits in all weathers which kept me fit as well! I was steadying him to livestock and being 18 weeks of age; comes to heel, sits and stays to command, signal and whistle; and waits before being waved on at the feed bowl and dummy retrieve. He now walks on the lead, travels obediently in boat or car and, though always excitable, is becoming more settled in the presence of others. He was still a big puppy and, in his excitement, misbehaves by jumping up and nipping people, but was getting far better

Elsewhere, the main domestic events of the month were the tragic grounding of a tanker off the Scottish coast on the south-west shore of the Shetland Islands with a complete loss of all the oil in its tanks which could yet be Britain’s worst ever environmental disaster The behaviour of the popular press by first publishing a transcription of a private telephone conversation of Prince Charles in the latest outrageous breech of privacy and then printing a story about the Prime Minister that was known to be untrue has led to moves for control. In doing so, they have sealed their fate and will surely now be subject to more controls. The Queen and the Prince of Wales are now both missing engagements but their "gastroenteritis" is seen as being a genuine. At home, an all-party Parliamentary Committee has come out in favour of subsidising coal production and so keeping open 21 of the 31 pits threatened. The government reduced interest rates by a full percentage point, panicking about the high level of unemployment and the way the economy was stuck in recession. John Major was taking on three newspapers with a libel suite concerning false rumours of him having an affair with the head of a catering firm.

The major international event was the resumption of Western attacks on Iraq; lead by the United States and supported by Britain and, at first, France and the former Gulf War Allies. In a last flurry of activity during George Bush's Presidency before Bill Clinton took over, the attacks at first responded to Iraq's indiscretions, but then went over the top so that the U.S. was isolated and had to cease as the Arab states asked why there was no action against Israel for expelling Palestinians from the Occupied Territories against the provisions of the Geneva Convention. Britain, France and the U.S. gave another ultimatum to Iraq, which could lead to another Gulf War. The U.S. and Iraq stepped back from armed confrontation despite this ultimatum and so Saddam Hussein lived to fight another day.

An incensed U.S. called a meeting of the U.N. Security Council as Sadam Hussein was testing out the western powers again as his men first cross into Kuwait to steal back military equipment lost in the Gulf War and then returned to start disassembling the warehouses as well Outgoing U.S. President George Bush chose the lesser of several options and just bombed Iraqi missile position, retaining international support for his restraint. In Iraq, the Allied raids were some 50% successful in knocking out mobile missiles and command centres but the whole idea of "exclusion zones" was not covered by direct U.N. mandate anyway. Russia then called a meeting of the U.N. Security Council, critical of the U.S. action as being disproportionate and the Arab States complained that Israel's flagrant breach of U.N. resolutions went on unopposed. Bill Clinton then took over from George Bush and, as United States President, he and Iraq announced an unconditional cease-fire with hopes for a better relationship with the new man. A turn of events then saw the first air attack take place on Iraq since Bill Clinton has become US President.

 All hell broke out in the former Yugoslavia as the Croats resumed fighting and the peace talks go out of the window. Israel is now fretting at the prospect of United Nations condemnation and sanctions about their repression of the Palestinians.