Mum Grace Broad recovering in Papworth and Debbie suffering nervous problems whilst I obtain and prepare my calendars for computer industry notables and a declaration by India at the behest of the Chief of Police staves off a riot in the cricket test against England
Awake in the night with Deborah unfortunately wetting her bed. She seems to have had some toilet trouble lately and we are not sure of the emotional or physical cause. Snow on the ground brings the children out before breakfast, but it is only a light layer. Normal breakfast of boiled egg and brown toast and then back to bed to finish The Financial Times. Dad again tended the birds, found the doves water frozen and retrieved four duck eggs as they are truly back to lay again. Leaving Dad to stop in Lt Paxton, and after I had washed, shaved and dressed, we set off to the shops.
Di fed a hungry Daniella in the back as Daniel and I first posted my calendar/card gifts to industry notables and then set off to park at St Neots Co-op. I collected my bank statement, bought prawns and cockles for tea, forget to collect my repaired shoes, but managed to find another sixteen suitable calendars for computer press contacts and the other notables I had forgotten. Back to the Co-op and to help Diana with her weeks food shopping and a fair scrum of bodies to cope with. All back to the house to collect Dad and then together to the Sandy Happy Eater for a lunch of soup and various choices. The children were rather difficult and we must improve their manners. After, back to the home to unload shopping and the family and then Dad and I set off for Papworth to see Mum. She has just come out of intensive care and is placed in a small side ward on the top floor. Festooned with tubes and mouth and nose covered in an oxygen mask, she is not really with it and won’t be, according to the nurses, for a few days. This is quite natural and she is doing fine evidently. She has had three arteries grafted on to bypass the blocked coronary arteries with material taken from the left leg, which is swathed in bandages. Also a mitral valve replacement. We spend a little time with her as she asks for water to drink and manages a cup of tea, but we soon have to let her rest and be cared for by the nurses, who seem satisfied by her condition. We arrive home and stop at the Croxton service station for £32 worth of four star petrol to fill our Jaguar’s two fuel tanks. Once home Dad feeds the ducks and puts them away, whilst I light the log fire and pile it high. It is bitterly cold and the comfort of the fire is a big improvement on last night. Then to the office where I prepare and address my calendars. I have been inserting a business card into cut corner slots, adding best wishes for 1985 to an inserted complement slip and pasting another compliment slip on the outside to indicate who it is from and secure the personal attention of the recipient. Then called to our sea food tea and I share the cockles and prawns with Dad, who enjoys them. After, we play Debbie’s new board game with Beatrix Potter characters seeking the party places at the centre of the board and then Daniel’s board game, Detective, where players, as detectives, roam London by bus, train and underground to seek Mr X, whose moves are anonymous. Then to read The Economist in the warmth of the fire and so to bed. News tonight of the end of the Jewish flights of Ethiopian Jews to Israel because of the resultant publicity and political sensitivity of the exodus. Snow is covering the South East of the country, with Kent the worst. The English rugby team beat Romania in a lacklustre goal-kicking contest and the third England/India test in Calcutta ends with crowd unrest as Indian Captain, Gavaskar, refuses to declare. It is said that it was the Chief of Police who eventually persuaded him, as it was the only way to prevent a riot.