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London trip on another cold day to meet old friend and contact Martin Isherwood and then on to Hail Weston to edit the BMMG/LAN report with Nigel Smith before seeing Debbie as an angel in her school play and getting warm in bed with Diana; as the government interferes with the court process against the miners and South Africa arrests anti-apartheid campaigners on supposed grounds of sedition and treason
Awake from a very sound sleep on a cold morning and a welcome cup of tea. Down to a breakfast of toast and the first of some new natural honey combe before washed, dressed and out to feed the birds. Then dressed for business and to the office to check the mail. Still no cheque returning the British Telecom funds from de Zoete, but I did get refunds from British Telecom for the two applications on behalf of myself and Diana - £24,600 each from our original application deposits of £25,000. Out to St Neots and to turn Diana’s cheque into a form payable to my bank account by paying it into the Abbey National and withdrawing savings almost equivalent to me from the Abbey and Gateway. What complicated rules these higher interest building society accounts have. You get the higher interest by ‘nominally’ giving 90 days’ notice of withdrawal, or the same period’s loss of interest. But above a resulting balance of £10,000 this doesn’t apply and money can be instantly withdrawn. This is up to £20,000 a day (from Gateway) and provided that a working week has passed (7 banking days from Gateway) since the un-cleared cheque was deposited. Then £500 has to remain in the account excluding un-cleared effects. For all this you get about 8 ½ % (net of 30% tax which is about 12% gross). Eventually I achieve the result of using these received funds to offset a more expensive Barclays Bank overdraft by calling to pay them in. Off then by car down the A1 to Stevenage, but, arriving late and not wishing to run past the ticket collector again, I drove on to London and took the tube to Piccadilly, parking at Burnt Oak station to avoid the Jubilee/Metropolitan lines, still blocked from yesterday’s tube accident.
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Recovery day with the family after yesterday’s mad exertions and news that NEDO wants me to chair a Micro microcomputer NEDO committee, a great honour, and then time with Daniel schooling him on Chemistry and to see Debbie’s ballet lesson this afternoon as the first of this season’s fogs causes a great M25 motorway pile up, killing 10 and also kills a novice train driver
I am sound asleep this morning and go back to sleep after getting my morning tea. Eventually to stir and try the paper and, tired, down to breakfast as the last arrival. A meal of fruit juice and honey toast before up to actually read The Financial Times. After the birds to spend an hour at the office. Still no word from de Zoete on the return of my £125,000, nor from the printer on my stationery, and I phone Selwyn and remonstrate with a less than helpful production controller. I wrap things up and accompany Diana to Bedford for some window shopping. A tiring tour due to my late night and a few things brought in Marks and Spencer, and inspected in Boots and Debenhams. A very unfortunate accident in the Debenhams restaurant as I tip a pot of scalding tea all down Diana’s front, scalding her badly. We recovered to enjoy a nice meal of soup and turkey roast. Home wearily and, for me, back to the office. There was Oxford vs Cambridge Varsity rugby being televised and I only intended to collect mail and messages, but it developed into a session. Selwyn left a message and, when I called, undertook to ready my stationery next week. I reconnected Nigel Smith, apologised for yesterday’s bizarre PITCOM arrangements, and arranged to meet tomorrow afternoon at his house to progress the BMMG LAN arrangements.
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BMMG preparation at Owls Hall, Buntingford, and then a rush to The Houses of Parliament, Committee Room 10, for a PITCOM meeting and chance to meet with the Minister and other key Industry and Government officials with which to advocate my IT Policy proposal as the government funds the NUM sequestrators and Famous jockey, Brian Taylor, dies after a Hong Kong accident
A cold night and troubled with thoughts of today’s activities and unknown dreams. Awake groggily to the paper and my breakfast of the last of the honey combe, toast and fruit juice. Out to feed the ducks and doves – I had not managed to get the ducks in after yesterday’s late return home - to see how hungry the doves were; flying from roof to roof and circling. Besides the early meal yesterday, the cold weather at night is making them burn a lot of energy keeping warm. To the office for a while and to finish my reading of magazines and start to read the BMMG LAN report in preparation for this afternoon. Back to the house for a lunch of wholemeal rolls, ham/pickle and tomato/lettuce salad and after, I feed the pigeons and doves as I will not be at home this evening. I call Owls Hall to check that the meeting is still on and then check with John Lamb to see if he is still coming and needs a lift to Buntingford. John is tied up and so he prepares a letter to the Parliamentary Information Technology Committee Meeting for me to take his dinner place this evening, and I take his apologies to the BMMG/LAN meeting. A drive across to Buntingford, arriving fifteen minutes late because Nigel Smith had miraculously arrived on time at 3.00pm and John Marshall ten minutes early. We proceeded to business, reviewed the report and agreed the scope for alterations, the arrangements for its circulation and also the process of events for the LAN seminar in January. All satisfied (and with the secretariat due to minute the action items outstanding) we left for London. Normally, we always rush down in Nigel’s car and are late and frustrated by the traffic congestion, but this time I persuade him to take the train. I lead a charge over by car to Stevenage, and we have to run fast to catch the train, which is about to leave the station. We run past a protesting collector without tickets and just make it, collapsing, coughing into two first class seats. I offer Nigel a tea only to find the train has no buffet, due to some problem with staff, and we pay the ticket collector for excess fare tickets. I feel obliged to stop for ten minutes to allow Nigel a refreshing drink, but when we come to take the Victoria line train to Westminster, it comes straight back to Kings Cross and makes us late. Eventually we realise that the big fire a few weeks ago at Oxford Station is still keeping it closed and the tube trains are only shuttling. We take a taxi after a while and arrive at Committee Room 10, House of Commons, ten minutes late for the 6.00pm meeting.
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Trip down ‘memory lane’ to Tottenham, where I lived until the age of 10 as Iranian soldiers end the plane hijack disguised as cleaners and Union Carbide make a hopelessly-inadequate compensation offer for the Bhopal victims
Awake, still miserable from cold and a little time to read The Sunday Times before called down to a breakfast of toast and honey. Up again for a brief chance to scan the headlines and then to get washed, shaved and dressed and out to release the ducks and feed the pigeons. We load up the car and set off for London and Diana’s brother’s house in South Tottenham. A bright, sunny day, with the low sun slanting in through the car, which is rather uncomfortable. It soon melts the frost, which was only slight anyway. We drive into Bruce Grove, Tottenham, and I show the family Bruce Grove School in Sperling Road where I was for my first school years to the age of 10. My maths and form teacher, Mr Brooks, left me in a good state of ability before I slipped backwards in Essex. Then via Loy’s Road, where the old pre-fabs used to be, up Steele Hill to Napier Road. I told Daniel how I used to attach two roller skates to a plank and scooted down the hill like a toboggan. We passed the Napier Road shops, the old oil shop still selling household goods, the bakery where the Aldriches used to be (still making bread).