Another busy time on a fine and warm day completing financial transactions, phone interviews and visiting Cambridge shops and antiques dealers before back to read Aesop’s Fables to Debbie and Dan as Kinnock weighs in to David Owen and inflation rises to 6.9% and the tube strike is on for Monday
Awake early and some time to wait until the tea and paper arrive. News stories of the decline of profits at Micro Focus and most hi-tech and electrical shares suffer as a result, in a further loss of confidence by the City in my industry. Breakfast of cereal and back to finish off my reading. Washed, dressed, ready and outside on another beautiful day. 11 eggs today. To the office for a while and to reconcile my Barclays bank account and work out how to use my new Abbey National cheque-save account, as the cheque book arrived today. After talking to the Huntingdon Manager, I decide to keep a minimum £10,000 in the cheque-save account, £40,000 in the 90 day high interest account and I will now get the 7 day account cancelled and arrange for the 90 day interest to be paid into the cheque-save account instead. Get it? Well I can understand why! At this stage of bank/building society de-regulation, all this hocus pocus is necessary to maximise interest. In a year or two I predict a single interest bearing and chequing account. With Diana fretting, out quickly to the car and off together by car to Cambridge, parking at the Round Church car park. Coffee together at Belinda’s, then to scan Buckies opposite for new antique silver items and buy an ‘Encyclopaedia of Antiques’ by Arthur Negus from Heffers.
Together to Sayles, where we chose the two curtaining materials for The Lady – just under £100 for 12 metres of one (48 inches wide) and 10 metres of the other. We then split up and I took a taxi (£1.20 + tip) to Wellington Street and the viewing day for the closing down auction of theatrical services at the Festival Theatre. A few items of useful or by-gone interest, but not much. A brisk walk back by the Grafton Centre and 15 mins only at the antique fair. No suitable silver, but I buy 5 old 1918/28 1 inch ordnance survey maps for £11. I meet Diana at The Old Copper Kettle for our normal lunch of roast beef and we then take the car back to St Neots. As Diana took Daniella to the doctors for a development test, I did my financial transactions, but had no time for shopping. Home to spend a couple of hours in the office and took calls from Electronics Weekly and the DTI. Also conversations with Nicholas de Zoete about selling some of Diana’s Kode shares and several transactions on Homelink to balance my Bank of Scotland account. Home then for tea of meat and two veg, with strawberries to follow. Out to feed the doves and ducks and bed them down for the night. I scaled the ladder to see Dixie Dove again and found it well feathered and growing fast. In to spend a lot of time with Daniel and his classwork and then read two Aesop’s Fables to Debbie and Dan. This evening looking at my new maps, reading the Ladbrokes annual report and catching up on my journal as the TV news begins. News of Neil Kinnock’s personal and virulent attacks on Dr David Owen, which is quite excessive and unprovoked. Also of the inflation rate rising to 6.9% and so the governments only progress on economics seems threatened. The Bradford football fire inquest opens and is adjourned, whilst the outcome of the inquiry is awaited. The London tube train strike is set to go ahead on Monday, in spite of a High Court injunction ordering it not to take place. The NUR executive will now be threatened by legal sanctions. Another fine and warm day in prospect for tomorrow.