Looking after my birds and family and then visiting Molesworth to see the anti-nuclear demonstrations for myself as Thatcher’s Tories are level pegging with Labour in the polls and Mandela holds out for his principles in South Africa
Awake during the night with Diana; and then to settle Debbie who had woken with her cold and difficulty in breathing. We awake later again on a very cold morning, with frost on the inside of the glass as well as the outside. It has evidently been as cold as -7degC overnight and far less with the wind chill effect. I read The Sunday Times before a breakfast of fried egg, bacon, mushrooms and bread; and then back to bed to finish it off. A quick wash and, with several layers of clothes, out to the birds. The Blonde Qualmond is recovering and, when I take it out of the garage, it flies back to its Blue mate and they welcome one another with a fair amount of billing and cooing! The water is thawed out and a good quantity of mixed seed and grit left for them – I will resume my bird table training when the cold weather is over. Then to the ducks and another record of 9 eggs today. A morning reading from my British Battlefield book as Daniel plays his Elite microcomputer battle game with his friend Paul. I light the fire before lunch and bring in a fair pile of wood to last the day. Lunch of pork and a fight with the children to get it eaten with good manners. After, I dress up and take off on my own by car to fill up with above £30 of petrol at Croxton and on by road to Cambridge and back to Huntingdon; the side roads are blocked with the high wind drifting the snow. I hear the emergency services on the radio and of the troubles at Molesworth and so make my way further along the A604 past Huntingdon.
The roads are cordoned off and, those that are not, are blocked by drifting snow. The poor CND demonstrators walked far in the freezing weather to make their protest – the children cold and many walk in families. Old ladies walked the distance too, festooned in badges in stout, not to say, stoic defiance. They will have their day. Home swiftly with the drifts increasing and the police transports standing down. Home in time to put the ducks safely away and see the doves roosting. The older Indigo cock is ruling the roost and not letting the Blue/Blonde pair use a nesting hole and so I hope that they will safely last the chill night forecast. In to a tea of muffins and cake to follow, then television and my journal in front of the fire. At 8.00pm, Daniel persuades us to play detective, with me as Mr X in flight from Diana and Daniel as detectives. I escape their pursuit again. Word tonight that the cold weather will continue, with temperatures of -7degC tonight and still -3degC tomorrow. Today’s opinion polls by MORI put the Labour Party level pegging with the Conservative Government at 37% each, with the Alliance at 24%. A majority are unhappy with Thatcher’s handling of the miner’s strike and the economy as a whole. In an M6 pile-up, nine die and 8 are injured and the weather in Derbyshire saw a five year old boy die in a frozen rain barrel and a teenager hit by a car whilst walking in the road. Scargill today said that he is still prepared for more talks and would accept the modified colliery review procedure if the NCB did not insist on prior conditions – but his offer was in vain. In South Africa, Nelson Mandela has turned down a conditional release and maintained his principles whilst other black people are persecuted.