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No journal entry for today, sorry….
Obviously a day of jobs and relaxation…
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To Hunstman’s of Saville Row to be measured for my new suite before dropping the family off at the train station and continuing on to Bressenden Place for the the DTI meeting about LAN standards with Dr Chris Shelton
Up early and Diana and I get ready with the children. A breakfast of melon and toast, which marks the start of a more slimming day. The children safely off to school and a few phone calls made, we set off to drop Diana’s car at St Neots Station and drive on in to London stopping for petrol on the way. Eventually to park at a jammed meter outside Huntsman’s of Saville Row where we go in to select materials and order my first Saville Row suit. I am to use it for special occasions and, even with a 10% cash pre-payment discount, it will cost £880. We choose from a surfeit of materials and I am measured by the separate trouser and jacket tailors attended by the sales assistant. There will be several fittings, the first of which will be in about a month’s time. We leave the car and walk on to a department store to eat a salad lunch and try to buy Daniella a bonnet. Both Di and Della are still full of cold, which is a worry. Then to High and Mighty to buy a smart new raincoat and two shirts, being unhappy with the fit of the trousers off the peg. I weighed about 13st 10lbs this morning and I would really like to be about 13st, where weight and leg length would be easier and movement better. Time passing, I dropped off Diana by car to Kings Cross Station only a few minutes to spare for her 14.06 train and then drove on in torrential rain to Victoria Station for my 3.30pm Department of Trade and Industry meeting at Bressenden Place.
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The Dentist and time with the family on Daniel’s Maths and Debbie’s bike training despite our illness on a rainy day with a journey to Cambridge to start my family Trusts before planning a new kitchen as the Beirut US embassy car bomb kills more than 20 and the TGWU blocks coal movements to power stations
A poor night with alternative periods of feeling hot and cold and an early awakening. Last night, Diana and Daniella had both been very ill with cold and I had helped to pacify them and joined in the worry. This morning, a brief visit to the office to find not a single item of post or incoming phone call had been received all yesterday, which is a surprise. Still no receipt of the computer journals which is a major irritation. An early visit to Mr Osborne, my dentist, at 9.00am and upset to find that he feels my teeth are not well enough cleaned and also that I need a filling. He gets to do this on the spot and I eventually wriggle free at 10.00am for a walk around the busy town centre on this Thursday market day, with the rain pouring down. I withdraw a hundred pounds of cash and then make my way home for a cup of morning coffee. An hour or two in the office during which time I phoned Freda and then Dad to enquire after their health and suggest a family gathering in London in early November. Freda is recovering very slowly from her operation and this could be the easiest and least demanding means for all parties to meet together after so long apart. The idea seems well received, but all to reflect on it. I take Diana and the baby to St Neots where we undertake the weekly shopping and then to the Little Chef for lunch. After, I drive to Cambridge to meet a solicitor from Vintners who specialises in family trusts and capital transfer tax. He hears my tale of legal incompetence on the part of my previous solicitor and advises me on a course of action.
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Addressing the Council of ECIF, the components trade association, and then meeting the top brass of OFTEL and persuading them of our BMMG case for their intervention to advise against Norman Tebbit approving the IBM/BT license application
Up early, and a toast breakfast before catching the 8.02am train to Kings Cross. I contribute to another passenger’s annoyance as I first park my Jaguar too close to close her in and then notice that she is too late for a cheap day return and has to move it. A quiet run in to London, catching up en-route with my journal for these last two days. I am pledged to try to find the entrepreneur’s magazine, Your Business, today to see the photographs and coverage that Tom Fitzpatrick reported to me yesterday. On arrival, I take a cup of tea at the station café and jot a few notes for a speech later today. Then on by tube to Olympia for the Personal Computer World microcomputer show. I spent an hour or two there meeting journalists, exhibitors and other visitors. In particular I spent time with Guy Kewney of Computing and also the Acorn Executives talking about MSX. Off by taxi at lunchtime to Saville Row and there to address the council members of the ECIF – a components trade association. I was made welcome, they enjoyed my remarks and entertained me to lunch at the Piccadilly Hotel. After by taxi again to Holborn Viaduct and the offices of OFTEL – The Office of Telecommunications. There to meet the Deputy Director General, Bill Wigglesworth, and the Head of Department for BT, Alistair Catto, with Nigel Smith, the BMMG Chairman.