A morning call to Derek Weatherby to brief him on developments reveals the poorer side to colleagues reactions and confirms my wise decision to sell Comart before a better day with the family and evening walk for reflection
Another day of intermittent bright sunshine and cold wind which has been a feature of this spring and gives credence to the old folk saying “ne’er cast a clout ‘til May be out.” A different routine to normal as I planned to speak to Derek Weatherby at 11.00 and so a slow start, breakfast and session in bed reading the papers. Both The Times and Economist featured details of the miner’s dispute, Thatcher’s policies and the problems of policing the present situation as strikes and pickets become more and more militant. Eventually up and to let out the ducks at 10.40am – 12 eggs and one of them warm which proves that we can lose eggs by earlier release, and our normal time of 10.00am is certainly not too early.
On the dot of 11.00am I phone Derek and give him chapter and verse of the situation. He is impatient for the facts but hears out the preliminaries with some interruption. He sees the logic of the moves, wrongly assumes that I have long planned the outcome for the money, and proceeds to stake his claim for a high review in view of ‘his present gross underpayment which he has tolerated’ and the difficult time he has had for lack of resource and facility. He regards this as a repayment of his trust and loyalty and wants to know, “what I am now going to do for him?” Life is full of fascinating features of human behaviour and I am offended again, but should understand his motivations I suppose. He also tells me of the Southampton meetings last week with himself, Geoff Lynch and Peter King all down at the same time, and a barbeque on the roof of the Totten premises.
It seems that Geoff was convinced that I have been trying to get rid of him and has been seeking legal advice on his contract and shareholdings and Peter that I am going to sell the Byte Shop off to Brammer! Both are in a resentful and rebellious frame of mind, questioning my action in calling them up to St Neots together on Monday night and would be difficult if there was no good reason. The call had taken an hour and a half and I ended somewhat annoyed and further convinced that my decision was right. I would have thought that they could all have afforded me more trust and understanding than that when in truth I am the one being driven out! Anyway, they will have to survive on their own now.
Off to The Happy Eater with Debbie, collecting Daniel in St Neots on the way. I ended a week of bad moods of Debbie by stopping the car and smacking her on the way – and she was as good as gold for the meal and the rest of the day! School this week had been a tense and demanding experience and she had been rebelling at home to make up for it. On this afternoon to Cambridge, parking in Lion Yard car park and spending most of the afternoon visiting the market, Cambridge Computer Store, Robert Sayle, Heffers where I found an excellent book (Information Technology and Industrial Policy, by Jill Hills) then, with Diana, Marks and Spencer and Mothercare. Exhausted we return home by car and I drink two large mugs of tea before recovering to light the barbeque. The new back garden wall now shelters the patio from the easterly wind and is a late afternoon sun trap. Nevertheless, the breeze was still nearly too much for us. An evening’s walk around Little Paxton for two hours and then home to bed.