Recovery day buying and sorting silver for my collection and some time this evening on family matters as now the Miners negotiate for pay, Israel withdraw from the Lebanon as reprisals are rife and Albania and the Sudan get new leaders
A sound and deep night’s sleep and woken by Diana with my morning tea. Soon the morning paper and then the mail to read as well. Quickly through them and down to a breakfast of boiled egg, which made a welcome change from the recent diet of toast. After a little further reading, up to wash my hair, wash, shave and dress before going into the lounge and tackling an horrific pile of private reading of local and national newspapers, which took most of the morning. A phone call from Nickolas de Zoete over selling some Kode shares and we opt for trying to place about £125,000 worth, rather than sell an initial tranche of £50/60,000 for the house purchase and then have to sell more later into a nervous market. It seems that trade in Kode shares is thin and prices fade with the size of contract. Out to the birds and 11 eggs from the ducks and the doves rather put off feeding by the torrential rain and strong winds. Lunch then of tomato soup and rolls with apple pie and cream to follow and then off with the girls to St Neots for some shopping. A dash to the building society to pay in our Barclays Share Dividend and withdraw sufficient to balance the bank account again. A trip to an antique shop in New Street where I found an 1857 tea spoon and purchased it for £6. Then on to the fish shop for some prawns and to the market where I find a nice trout for tea. A half hour in the library looking up silver makers marks and I find a few in the time, but much more left to do.
A useful multiple magnifying glass from the market square optician, then to the rendezvous for a coffee with the family. To the car in the cold wind and a drive through Eynesbury where we find Peter John Antiques. In to find a range of spoons and eventually buy 3 London 1857 tea spoons for £8 each, an 1854 George Adams serving spoon for £28 and two 1853 serving spoons from London for £20 each. Home to tea of prawns and then to polish up our silver and sort into sets of spoon shapes – oval and pointed. A phone call from Freda tonight over the loan details and to talk about mum’s planned visit later this month, which is exciting. Some poetry reading for Debbie and then my journal. News tonight of a hopeful outcome on a pay deal with the miners that represents over 10 ½ % for two years, but there is still questions open on the working of a pit closure review procedure. Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon is still taking place against a background of reprisal raids and threats to the local population. The pound sterling has risen above $1.25c for the first time in a long while. The leader of Albania, Enver Hoxha, died today aged 66 as the longest serving leader of a communist country. The new governing council of the Sudan has been sworn in after last week’s military coup. The weather forecast brighter for tomorrow morning and then the rain will return with gale force winds, but from the sounds outside as we go up to bed it seems that the gales have already arrived.