Some morning reading history books before some share and forestry investment decisions and transactions and then a mission to bring my missing ducks back through the paper Mill Lock and home as a massive car bomb kills 60 people in Christian Beirut and an opinion poll puts Thatcher’s Tories into third place for the first time!
Awake first and I went downstairs to get the drinks myself – a coffee for Diana and tea for me. I sat in bed for a while reading my current history magazine – articles on the Russian view of the end of World War II and also on the 300th anniversary of the English Invasion by French Huguenots in the original sanctity that gave rise to the word ‘Refugee’. Down to breakfast of boiled duck egg, which the children also enjoyed as well. Then back to read The Financial Times, finishing it at 8.30am in time to wash and shower whilst listening to ‘Yesterday in Parliament’ on Radio 4. More conflict for Thatcher and her ministerial team in the Commons and the government are being given much more of a run for their money this parliamentary session. Quickly dressed and out to the birds. The five ducks I managed to bring in last night each laid an egg. To the office and a morning using my cheque save account to pay a number of large bills that had been waiting a while. Also to type up authorisation for a specialist accountant to help me on my forestry affairs and a £6000 claim for 6 months Kode consultancy fees. I also dug out Diana’s Kode share certificate and sent it off with the Talisman stock transfer.
A break for lunch of ham roll and stilton cheese and biscuits to follow as well as ice cream. After, to finish off my bills and correspondence and to talk to Roger Brittain and Bill Barrett on a few matters. Finished by 3.00pm and off with Di and the baby to collect Debbie from school and take them on to Shaw’s auction room. Nothing of interest in the sales rooms and so, there being no time to go to St Ives, on to Buckden Marina to buy a bailer and electrical cable for the boat. Home and to bail out the dinghy, lower it from the davits and mix some outboard fuel and fill the motor. Off upstream in search of the missing ducks and through the lock, where I found them. Some time herding them, and fending off some fascinated and critical bystanders (!), until safely with them in the lock. With the help of the skipper of an Anglian Authority work boat, I worked the lock and brought the miscreants home at last. Back to a delayed sausage tea and then out to clear up. I put the duck that was poorly into one section of the duck house, closed off and with a contained run, so as to give it a chance to recover. In at dark to help Daniel and check his classwork and to read two more of Aesop’s Fables to Deborah at her bedside. Then to the TV and to relax. News tonight of a massive car bomb killing 60 people in a Beirut Christian High Street. More than 400lb of explosive was devastated in a rush hour, the front of an apartment block collapsed and many were injured and trapped. An 18 month old baby, left on a balcony, could not be found anywhere. The latest MARPLAN opinion poll has put the Conservatives a poor third, 6% behind Labour and the Alliance. But at today’s Conservative Women’s Conference, Thatcher, at her lowest popularity since the Falklands War, refused to change course and will fight on with the range of controversial issues. Neil Kinnock heads off a Labour Party move to change the constitution and Ian McGregor, talking to the Commons Employment Committee, is also determined to stick to his plans for pit closures and redundancies. The Bradford football funerals continue to remind us of the tragedy and the four schoolboys who died off the cliffs at Land’s End were remembered in a memorial service and reminded us of another (their bodies were never found). Warmer weather forecast for the next few days.