Visits to Bedford and St Ives antiques auctions on a cool and showery day before and after a lovely time at the Holywell fete and Well-Dressing as The US hostages in Beirut are moved to avoid rescue and UK customs seize £14m-worth of heroin
A poor night’s sleep and awake early, it not getting dark until after 10.00pm and being light by 4.30am the next day. My morning tea and paper before a breakfast of cereal and milk. Back to bed to finish my reading and then a rush to get ready by 8.30am. Out to the ducks (10 eggs) and to feed the doves that are now incubating well, the indigo cock and grizzle hen taking it in turns. There are probably two eggs there by now. We load up the car quickly, lock up the house, and set off for Bedford and the Peacock auction. Diana dropped Daniel and I off and went to park the car so that we could have a quick look, but I had miscalculated and there was, in fact, plenty of time until 11.00am. Nevertheless, we looked at the small items and saw some computer diskettes worth bidding for and televisions as well. Diana had agreed that Daniel could have a full sized one for his room, to release the portable for her new ironing room. There was no furniture or other goods of interest to me and so, after some snacks at the refreshment room, we put in some written bids and, collecting the car, drove off to St Ives. On arrival, we parked in the old Cattle Market car park and looked in on the Ekins general auction.
It was nearly finished, but a look at the goods already sold showed that I hadn’t missed much. On to B R Knight’s antique shop, but Mrs Knight is at home in bed ill and so I didn’t get a chance to talk about curtain poles. A further look around the other antique shop and flea market, before a rendezvous with Diana and the girls at the Kentuckian for lunch. We bought cheeseburgers and chips and sat on the Victoria Memorial Statue seats to eat them, as the town traffic turned round and dropped people off. Diana went to her favourite shop after for an hour, as I looked after the children. Back to the car for 1.00pm and all off to Holywell for the Well Dressing and Vicarage fete. The well was as beautiful as ever with twin scenes in flowers depicting Joseph and Mary in one and a basket of bread in the other; both flanked by images of leaves and grasses, which was beautiful. The surrounds of the well itself had been improved and the undergrowth cleared. The spring fed a small pool, lined with bricks, before the water overflowed into a small stream. I put a £ into the collection box and another appreciative visitor did the same as the children walked round the pool with the bricks as stepping stones. On to the vicarage lawn before 2.00pm, where the stall holders were rather late setting things up, leaving things until the last moment because of the threatening clouds. We sat in the refreshment area and saw things being prepared and, fortunately, the sun came out for the opening. An American service officer made a speech to begin proceedings, which, as Daniel remarked, was a bit incongruous for an old English village fete! But it is the mark of their present dominance of East Anglia that the chief entertainment was also a group of US officer’s wives, calling themselves the Skylarks, and singing songs. Lots of interesting stalls, but the showers came and went to ward off too many visitors, which was a pity. We spent more to make up for it before I took Debbie up to the bell tower of Holywell church. We could not go up and out to the balcony as a high wind was also blowing, making the prospect dangerous. The long drive back to St Neots and a visit to Priory antiques, where I looked at the two other folding chairs they had. I bought one, an old deck/steamer chair, for £10 and we set off for Bedford and Peacocks once more. I had checked by phone and found we had succeeded in bidding for 4 boxes each of 10 diskettes; but, while we were there, we found ‘our’ television unsold and so paid its reserve of £60 to buy it. We loaded up and returned home very thirsty for tea and pleased to eat stilton cheese and biscuits, which Debbie also enjoyed. Afterwards, to remove the old upholstery from my latest chair and treat it for woodworm. The back panel of thin carpet was certainly original, but the seat of old stair carpet, supported by unseemly straps, was the result of a poor repair. I feed the doves and ducks and then come in at 8.30pm to write my journal and watch the television. It seems that the American hostages held in Beirut have been moved to new hideouts, against the background of rumours of planned US military action. Reagan repeats his only line – that he will not deal with terrorists. UK customs officers seize £14 million worth of heroin and help break up a massive drug operation in Montreal at the same time. Thatcher has conducted a rear-guard defence of her policies at the Welsh Conservative Conference, continuing her promises of tax cuts. Today was cool, windy and showery and tomorrow promises to be the same.