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Working on my riverside land, cleaning the ducks out and pruning trees etc after a heavy frost followed the flooding and in slight snow later and then in to a merry romp with my children and to note the 40th anniversary of the liberation of the few thousand Auschwitz Concentration Camp survivors after four million Jews were murdered there. This harsh weather has killed climbers on both Mount Snowdon and Ben Nevis and the NCB sets out its harsh settlement terms for pit closures as Opec meets to review oil prices
A fair lay in, but Diana had set Debbie’s alarm clock for a morning children’s TV programme and she ran around waking us all up to watch it! Up to a fine breakfast as my normal Sunday treat, then up again to bed to finish reading The Sunday Times. Eventually up at 11.00am and a quick wash and shave before dressed in old clothes and out to the birds. By then the heavy frost had thawed somewhat, but it was still cold enough to chill exposed hands quickly. The dove’s water had frozen solid and after I thawed it and refilled and washed food vessel, they ate a fair quantity of seed. Two eggs from the ducks and their hutch in a fair mess and so I decide to stay out and muck it out, replacing the old straw with a quantity from our new bale. Then I empty out the old dinghy, drain the inside and stack it upside down at the top of the slipway for the rest of the winter. The river was just about landing stage depth and ideal for clearing it of mud deposited from the recent floods and so this I did as well.
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Reading investment publications and then reading fine stories of fen drainage in Heathcote’s Fen and Mere and other Broads and Cambridgeshire villages before playing with the girls and supervising Daniel, watching a war film and retiring to bed on a frosty night as Kinnock berates Thatcher for ‘evil malice’ at a GCHQ rally
Awake fairly early as Daniel was due at school today and to my morning tea. I fill in time reading this week’s Investor’s Chronicle and Economist until The Financial Times arrived. Before and after a breakfast of toast and marmalade, I finish the paper and note that, with the sole exception of our Kode shares, all of our other 17-odd investments have appreciated well since purchase. Up, dressed and washed and then out to tend the birds. Both doves and ducks fed well, but only one duck egg today and the hutch filthy. The postman walks across to give me a letter on which 23 pence is payable for lack of stamp, and I collect the rest of the mail to read whilst having a morning coffee.
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Family day of heavy rain with Diana taking Debbie to the doctors and Daniel being reprimanded whilst I firstly attend to my investments and then take Diana to the Copper Kettle in Cambridge for a fine lunch, after which I buy some antiquarian history books and herrings for tea which I eat after playing with Debbie and supervising Daniel’s schoolwork. Talks about talks for the coal dispute but Thatcher is dead set against making any concessions to the miners as imported fuel to break the strike costs £2.7billion but we do see the first signs of compromise from Botha in South Africa
A good night’s sleep and then awake to my morning tea. After half an hour I read some of Pepys early 1666 and then The Financial Times, when it came. Down to a breakfast of boiled duck egg and buttered toast fingers, which was delicious as usual and then up to finish the FT as all degrees of mayhem ruled below. Daniel was being bad and only just left in time to catch the St Neots bus after his cycle ride. Di then left to take Debbie off to the Doctors and then on to school. Poor Debbie has been anxious and slightly wetting herself, but there is no known infection. Up and to get washed, dressed and out to feed the doves. They are quite hungry, but the two active cocks still vie for territory on the feeding tray. No frost this morning and the weather mild. Down to the ducks and them hungry too and now fully in the habit of feeding morning as well as night. Three eggs again today – one large. The river has receded after the thaw and rain run-off and leaves a thick slimy mud deposit as usual on the slipway, which is a hazard when changing their drinking water bowl.
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To The City of London for a BOTB seminar and a day for other Computer Industry discussions with government cuts and reorganisations on the agenda before home to be with the children as Thatcher fends off strike criticisms in the Commons and loses a key vote in the House of Lords.
Awake early and across to Diana to keep warm on a cold morning. I listen to the farming programme on the radio as Diana gets the tea and hear of the tightening up of anti-pollution measures to eliminate discharges from farming land into the water system. My morning tea and then up for breakfast of toast and honey before into the bathroom before the children’s rush. Washed, dressed and out to the doves as the sun rises. It’s dry, with a fair frost, and they are very hungry and so I leave them a fair quantity of seed to finish at their leisure. In to get quickly changed and then off to the St Neots station. I buy a first class return ticket to Kings Cross with my premier card and the ticket attendants rib me, “for £17, what time would you like the train to come….. and which platform?” quipped the older of them. A good journey and time to read my Financial Times before arrival, a browse in the newspaper stall before, by tube, to the Monument and to walk along Eastcheap to the City Conference Centre in Mark Lane. I meet the other BMMG representative and, after coffee, we join the BOTB Seminar. Interesting sessions on the Defence Sales Organisation; the need for language skills in business and commerce; and then a forum on the BOTB cutbacks. More government strictures have led to three year plans for zero expenditure growth in money terms. Therefore the budgets have to be effectively reduced both by inflation and by the unfavourable foreign exchange variation.