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Another day of spent on the water rounding up ducks for Marilyn before taking a grumpy Diana shopping and then working in the garden as my Sales Director shares his tale of marital woe with me
Another full day at home. I was not up by the time the decorator had arrived to paint the last room and had taken the opportunity again to lay in and read the papers etc. after letting the ducks out, and seeing that the weather had brightened with gentle sunshine, I mounted the outboard motor on the dinghy and took to the river. It was still a cold day with a chilly easterly breeze but I found great content in examining the margins of the Ouse for nesting activity. I had spotted a pair of Mallards checking out the old gnarled willow opposite for a nesting place and my books confirm that Mallards will nest in trees in regions subject to flood. As I cruised towards the lock I see my neighbour’s wife, Marilyn, trying forlornly to tempt her three white Aylesbury ducks from the lock island.
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Day off taking Diana and Debbie to Westminster for a boat trip on The Thames and under the raised Tower Bridge to see and learn much local history before home to play with Daniel upon his return from school as Thatcher is accused of inflexibility in EEC Budget talks and the Nottingham Miners break Scargill’s Strike
A day off from Comart today and after despatching Daniel to school and eating breakfast; we let the decorator in and set off by car for Stevenage train station. Debbie appreciates the train ride to London, and this one in particular as it stops at almost every station. Eventually to Kings Cross and on by two changes of underground trains to Westminster. After a take-away lunch of rolls, coffee donuts and biscuit we hurry down to Westminster Wharf and catch a river boat to Greenwich, eating our food and drink on the way. It is a cold day but fine, and the boat is covered and slight sunshine keeps us reasonably warm. At the dock we see the Cutty Sark and I learn of its history and the story behind its name.
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Enjoying our new views after the building work on Boat Race Day, fathering an initially troublesome but subsequently happy son before visiting my Mum and Dad in Stanton to find her much better after her hip operation whilst not forgetting my secretary June’s birthday!
I awoke to my morning tea and, through drawn curtains, see the riverside lands and river very clearly now that the French windows are installed and we are back in our own bedroom. The only part of the house alterations now incomplete is the balcony beyond which, though fully constructed of wood and drainage, is without its covering of felt and patio tiles and surround of balustrade. Such a wealth of birdlife comes to feed in these gardens; them being reasonably well timbered and at the margins of the houses, fields and river. I put up a ‘swallows’ nesting cup under the balcony eaves but no nesting by House Martins has yet begun in the other three boxes.
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Some family time and catching up with the news and economy as Thatcher defends her business links and Dominic McGlinchey, the head of the INLA, is captured in a gunfight after two years on the run
Awake very early and unable to sleep again. Glad to find that I am warm and comfortable having recovered during the night. Deborah persuades me to read her a long story – Snow White which I can do because the Times arrives late. Then to a breakfast of toast and back to bed to lay long reading the paper, Economist and other trade journals and other information from my briefcase. Up at 10.00am and to wash and dress to the radio 4 news of the papers and week in Parliament. Still rows in the House of Commons this week about the personal attacks on Mrs Thatcher about family involvement in the Cementation Construction contract; and mixed news on the budget.