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The Lady off for winter repairs as the Hong Kong sovereignty agreement, which were initialled today by Britain and China in the Peoples Great Hall in Peking
Another clear day, so we decide to take The Lady along to Buckden Marina for the winter repairs. Yesterday we found time to drop in and chat with the manager who promises the renovation will be completed by next April. First this morning to the office where, busy with my Executel telephone terminal for the first hour or two, reprogramming the memory for automatic phone calls and understanding the archive techniques. Then to update my journal on what has turned out to be a very fine and sunny day. Coffee in late morning with Diana, lunch, and then to prepare a full list of instructions for the boatyard for The Lady and type them out in triplicate so that there is no misunderstandings about the need to have all the work completed by Easter 1985. After lunch I set off in The Lady and cruise downstream to Offord lock in fine sunshine and little wind. The lock is set against me but I lock through as Diana arrives by car and make to set off for the short cruise round to the boatyard moorings – Disaster! The engine fails to restart and I have to boat hook my way to the boatyard river moorings and leave it in the care of the resident engineer.
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Some school worries for Debbie before shopping in Bedford before a fish tea as NACODs seems set to strike and bring the pits to a halt
A quiet day without appointments and I rise normally to be in my office by 9.15am. Deborah has agreed to take school cooked dinners instead of sandwiches for the rest of the week. The school Headmaster had yesterday worried and upset Diana by discontinuing Deborah’s permission to take packed lunches due to other parental pressure and so we hope that Debbie will be happy to continue these new arrangements. An hours work typing and printing correspondence and then out with Diana to Bedford for a few hours shopping. We start with coffee at Debenhams and look at all manner of clothes and shoes for Diana and Debbie. I pick up brochures on garden furniture and bathroom fittings from Albert and we will certainly be buying both eventually. From another store shop, we make our main purchases – two pairs of shoes for Diana. Back by 3.00pm for Di to collect Debbie and a couple of friends from school and take them all to ballet.
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Office and family day organising important meetings and playing computer games with Daniel and Gary as the Yorkshire Miners fight on and Republicans resume their hunger strike on a cold, wet and breezy day
Up on time and, after reading today’s Financial Times, down to a slimming breakfast of a single slice of toast and fruit juice. Then a swift bath, hair wash and shave and dressed in time for a timely start at the office. A busy morning initiating and receiving calls on a range of subjects. Telephone press interviews with Computing (twice) and Computer Weekly and meetings arranged with the British Stockholm Trade Representative, Mike East of MEPR, and the Founder and Chief Executive of ACT Computers. I decide to reinvest my £210K cash on a month fixed interest treasury deposit to maximise interest at 10 3/10 % and send off the application forms for a £40K business expansion scheme investment in a month’s time. Nice slimming lunch of salad and pears and then back to the office to start my typing. I seem to have a wide range of necessary correspondence and only manage a fraction of the whole before Daniel arrives home with his friend Gary for tea. A pleasant evening as the Space Captain of their Elite game, trading successfully between a rich agricultural and medium industrial economy, swapping food and raw materials for computers and machinery.
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Relaxing Sunday with the ducks, the family and the TV as the Bishops call for Miners boss McGregor to conciliate and the latest Spanish stabbing of British Holidaymakers
A fair lay in reading The Sunday Times, rising briefly to have a subdued but fried breakfast. Eventually I get up, washed and dressed after 11.20am. I let the ducks out in the sunshine but, as I cleared out the duck hutch, the sky clouded over and it started to rain throughout the afternoon. Not able to wash the car, I happily spent the rest of the day with Daniel and his friends playing Elite. Elite is a BBC micro game of a new generation, allowing the players to play the role of a trader/fighter, travelling between planets and fighting off pirates, whilst actively trading in good merchandise and bad. Later this evening, Diana and I watched a tearful television film called ‘The Champ’ and after, the news of today’s events. More controversy over the Bishop of Durham’s call for Ian McGregor as he is supported by many other clerics, but criticised by a few. A huge fuss as a Libyan Diplomat kills a sheep outside his suburban London home. The saddest news of another British tourist stabbed to death by bag-snatching robbers in Spain; the third this month. The Greenham Common women celebrate three years of protest with continental support, and a baby Pilot Whale refuses to leave Bournemouth harbour.