Helping Daniel and Debbie with their homework
Helping Daniel and Debbie with their homework

Releasing the doves from their cage and spending the day on family matters but failing to plan a visit to Freda before supervising Daniel and Debbie’s homework as nuclear disarmament and miners arrests top the news

A fine sunny day with a slight ground frost due to the clearness of the night sky. We had slept well and woken on time. A nice cup of tea as I read Pepys and, rising for an urgent toilet call, I collected The Financial Times from the front door myself and took it up to read. Breakfast of toast, honey and apple juice, and then a quick wash and dress and out to the doves. I had decided, with the rise of the barometer, that today would be the day and so I prepared the doves water and seed supplies and took out the ladder. First I cleared out most of the droppings with the sand spade and then lifted up the cage and eased it out over and backwards so that it fell to the ground behind me. The doves fluttered up to the top of the dovecote and I used the spade to clean up the edges of the feeding tray, then put out their water and food and retired to watch from a distance. The pairs were mixed up, but gradually sorted themselves out, and I went to feed and let the ducks out then settled, after a cup of coffee, in the office to work.

By nearly lunchtime David Fear had called into Gordon Road to deliver an infra-red cooker and, as the Gardener helped him in with it, he told me that one of the doves was on next doors window seal. A quick flourish with my 14foot fishing road and the dove flew back. I spent some time scanning the Viewdata database this morning, checking for air flights to the South West and finding none, looking at the city news. Then I phoned my Dad and asked how they were doing to decide whether or not to try taking them down with me. Dad is getting over a bad cold, Mum is achy and news of Freda is that she has still not recovered. A little despondent, back to the house for lunch and I hear the TV news headlines and scan the teletext. Diana arrives and presents a lunch of rolls and fillings which I eat and then after, I make off to the office, but stop on the way to find one dove missing and three on the roof. Back with the fishing rod and the roof doves return to their cote, but the Blue cock is missing and, despite a walk through the neighbourhood, remains missing all day. The doves seem restless, so I bring the ladder and give them more food which settles them down for the rest of the day. Letters this afternoon to the Bank of Scotland justifying our £70,000 overdraft request, and to Spencer Baptiste MP trying to progress arrangements for a meeting. As dark falls, I feed and secure the ducks and watch the doves safely roosting (the 5 of them) on the dovecote. I finish some more work and then home to tea of sausages and ice cream to follow. Afterwards three long stories for Deborah and a close check on Daniel’s homework, which is exhausting through the state of his handwriting. Time to update my journal, periodically checking the doves roost by torchlight until time for the 9 o’clock news. The headlines tonight are of the court appearance of 11 miners after an assault case, and another attack yesterday on a working miner. More violent scenes of burnt lorries, but the return to work is less in England now that the incentives are ending. In Scotland, the numbers are increased, as they enter their last week of Hogmanay work qualification. The TGWU, Britain’s largest Union, is fined £200K for contempt of court over the BL strike, which was without the ballot required by the new union legislation. The TUC policy is still to refuse cooperation with the new law. Thatcher condemns “the enemy within” of minorities who want their way by “defining democracy and the law” and condemned Labour and the Alliance as being “incapable of defending democracy.” The Labour leaders, Kinnock and Healey, get assurances from the Russian leaders that they will remove and destroy missiles aimed at Britain if Labour go ahead with unilateral disarmament. To bed on a quiet night without any troublesome interludes on this Monday evening.