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Productive but Icy and chilly day working on my alarm system and procuring tools and materials, a busy lunch with Daniel and his friends but then a poor end to the day as Diana wanted to go to bed and not celebrate the New Year. Thatcher rewards her cronies in the honours list and ignores Tom Geldorf and myself which we consider an honour in itself for speaking out against her policies
Wakeful until relieved and then a sound night and long lay in. morning tea and the FT at 8.00am and allowed ample time to read it before a late breakfast at 9.00am. Kode shares are up another 7p to 120p now, which is a big improvement on the 65p at their low. I shall see how they move before my tax deadline and might well cash in some of them as a contribution towards it. Breakfast and ablutions as normal. My black eye is beginning to fade very slowly. Dressed and in a quandary what to start first – my alarm items ordered yesterday have arrived – but I have to go shopping in St Neots with Di and Debbie for a while. Joan just arrives in time so that Daniel, not now needed to look after Debbie, can go across to the water meadow opposite with Jonathan Bloom and Steve Hicks to slide on the ice puddles. A good session shopping, as I manage to get Fishers to agree to deliver a 4 metre ladder today.
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More relaxing start to this blustery day with Della and then moving my office before another long session on my alarm cables and accessories; taking time to order more components. This as Winnie Mandela is arrested again for travelling to Soweto, more British soldiers being posted to Ulster, and Israel being constrained as it is confirmed that the PLO did not set the recent bombs
A much better night and in a more relaxed frame of mind, when I was woken at 8.00am with my morning tea and newspaper. I manage to read the paper almost completely before a latish breakfast at 9.00am. Then to get showered, shaved and dressed by 10.00am. Time to go out and feed the ducks and doves and then I make the morning coffee again to keep Della happy. She seems to regard it as a regular event now. A much brighter day, but still very cold and I am in a quandary about what to do today. The river has gone down dramatically, but the boats seem to be safe. After a lot of dithering and some lunch with the boys of hamburgers, I get them to help me move my office from the old baby’s room to the old lounge.
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Full day managing and keeping the family happy, tending the ducks and doves, laying alarm cables and then catching up with news of a Fleet Street battle between Murdock and the Print Unions, South African unrest and oil disputes between Iran and Iraq
Slept reasonably well and awake after a lay in and before my morning tea at 8.00am. Down to breakfast of fried egg, bacon, mushrooms and tomato and then up again to write my journal for these past two days. A fair task it was too and I resolve yet again not to get so behind again. Up after, washed, shaved and showered and dressed so as to help with Della in the kitchen. I calm her and do the morning drinks at the same time, as Diana is always distracted and tense on Sunday mornings. She wants to get on, but is held back by the preparation for Sunday lunch and the children. Out to the birds then – both ducks and doves equally hungry. The wind had dropped, the sun was shining on a much better day, but the river had come up a bit on yesterday and was frozen in puddles.
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17th Wedding Anniversary – A troubled cold and breezy day of equipment and personal failures with more progress later and then an evening family cinema trip to see ‘Back to the Future’ with extra friends of Daniel as Martin McGuiness is arrested with 17 others
Not a brilliant night again. This time the heating relays and boilers were resonating and beating to keep me awake. The electricians had only done a temporary job and will return to sort them out soon. Morning tea and then breakfast and I apologise to Di for not getting her a card (often she forgets). My Mum and Dad’s present was an egg stand/ornament, which I think is fun, but hardly practical as you keep eggs in the fridge these days. Di hates ornaments, but is gradually collecting them as she hates facing up to disappointed donors even more! Di goes out shopping after breakfast, while I struggle on with my alarm circuits and look after the children to boot. To cap that, Della does a dirty nappy and I have to change it and then Debbie falls off a chair and hits my eye with her head as I try to console her, giving me a black eye. Diana back later, coffee, and then we all go out to lunch at the Little Chef as our normal Saturday treat.