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Shopping and relaxing in Brighton and mini-golf with Daniel at Rottingdean as Polish agents kill Solidarity priest and the NUM attempt legal action to regain their assets
A poor night with a rather noisy radiator in a strange bed. Diana also suffers from a painful breast which still troubles her by morning. She has to lay in sleep and miss breakfast. A good meal for the rest of us; fried eggs, bacon, sausage, toast and tomato for me, scrambled egg and cereal for Daniel and cereal and toast for Deborah. Diana still resting, I take the children by car out to Rottingdean and Daniel and I play mini-golf in the shadow of the windmill. Debbie acts as caddie and scorer. Back to the hotel to find Diana up and a bit better, so we go shopping along Western Avenue. Morning coffee and drinks at a café then time in Debenhams High and Mighty before we go to Wimpys for lunchtime hamburgers and chips. Then to the new shopping centre and the nursing mothers facilities, a visit to Mothercare, Currys, Rumbelows and any other radio shop before we decide to get Daniel’s radio at Debenhams and he ends up pleased with the choice. I also buy a small folding tripod for my video and use it later on. Then all back to the sea front to give the children another chance to ride the amusements by Palace Pier before home to the hotel to rest after a full days walking.
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Nostalgic return to Brighton for the weekend and the site of the Grand Hotel bomb damage overshadows the familiar sights as starvation in Ethiopia and the sequestration of NUM assets are items in the news
A slow start considering our planned departure for Brighton as I lay in bed reading The Financial Times. Breakfast of apple juice and toast and then to bathe, dress and wash my hair. Off to let the ducks out, leaving them a full trough of food to last them a day or two and then off to the office to find a good measure of post to read. Back home to find the family ready and we then load up the car and lock up the house. I choose the route to London through the city and then down the A23 and we find less traffic than we expected until, of course, the city itself. We last out for refreshment until well past London and find a Happy Eater for lunch just before the start of the M23. A good lunch and quickly to Brighton by 2.30pm. The sea front is congested as they have closed the road outside the recently bombed Grand Hotel, but soon to the Hotel Alexandria and safe in our family room on the 4th floor. A walk together along the promenade seeing Sillwood Road, the old WMCA building and Palace Pier as we take the following family video of the visit...
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Difficult day struggling with a cold as the boys help finish off lifting my dovecote onto its pole as the industrial unrest deepens and spreads
I awake today rather poorly. I have a temperature and a husky chest which I think is some type of mild bronchitis, but strangely no other symptoms of severe throat or cough. I rise to breakfast of melon and toast but return to bed to read The Financial Times and rest for most of the morning. Eventually, feeling better, I get up and dressed, let out the ducks and marshal the boys to help me place the dovecote onto the mounting post. It is extremely heavy and difficult to place as they stand precociously on a wobbly table. Eventually with a large heave we succeed and are shattered by the effort. Despite strong wind and a heavy and high centre of gravity it seemed to survive the afternoon intact. I returned to the office later on to read the mail, answer phone messages and conduct some correspondence. Phone calls to the BMMG Chairman, Nigel Smith and Secretariat Helen Gibbons to review our activity and meeting schedule and agree action accordingly.
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Busy day of financial planning but I find time to teach Debbie some more writing as the Pit Deputies strike is called off as miners’ talks progress and French president Mitterrand addresses both houses of Parliament
A sound sleep then awake to morning tea and The Financial Times. Breakfast of melon and toast before across to my office. Only one item of mail from the Prestel Building Society/Banking Service Homelink which fitted in to my morning plans. £210,000 was coming back from treasury deposit today and I calculated the advantages of putting sections of it into higher interest rate building society deposit accounts. I phoned Barclays, the Abbey National and Gateway and found a very large differential of 2/3%. Interest rates on the money markets are falling so we put this money on overnight deposit and set off for St Neots to put £5,000 each into the latest 29th issue of savings certificates and £25,000 each into new joint deposit accounts with the Abbey and Gateway.