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Working and playing croquet outside at the start of a brighter spell before and after welcoming BOTB/DTI executives visiting to discuss German export prospects for British computers and taking them to lunch at The Anchor in Tempsford as 4,000 jobs are axed at the BR Swindon workshops and US police burn in Philadelphia delivery burn 12 members of a black armed cult
A sound night’s sleep for me, but Diana had trouble breathing and spent the night downstairs. Awake to my morning tea and eventually persuaded Debbie to bring my paper to me. Breakfast of toast and honey and, after completing the paper, up, washed and dressed in old clothes. Out to the doves and pleased to see the chick with even more white feathers and both parents feeding it as usual. 13 eggs from the ducks and I clean out the duck house and give them fresh straw for the first time in a long while. Then to the car and I hose it down with the brush attachment and shake out the mats. Time to clear up the garden and carry some rubbish over to the old plot for burning, before back to the car to leather and wipe it dry. To the office by 10.00am and to clear it up; putting the radio control kit away and carrying the heron upstairs. I clear my desk and sort out some BMMG brochures and information for my visitors. Back to the house to get changed, then off by car to the station to collect Chris Bradshaw of the BOTB/DTI, and the Chief Executive of the British office in Stuttgart, Wilf Seidler. Back to the office, coffee, and the chance to exchange views and information on the export prospects for British microcomputer manufacturers to Germany. Off to a lunch at the Anchor in Tempsford. I drop off my guests at St Neots market square to catch their taxi for Cambridge and their next visit. Home and time in the office reading the mail and returning a couple of phone calls. Home then to collect Debbie from school and play with her and then croquet with Daniel and her when he got home.
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More time on The Lady on a milder but very wet day which threatened my baby dove chick and led to me spending time at St Ives antique auction and inside whilst Daniel got his act together, Francis Pym bravely speaks out against Thatcherism at the Oxford Union and Tamil guerrillas kill 100 Buddhists in Anuradhapura
Awake rather wearily to my morning tea and then I roll over and go back to sleep before sitting up to read the paper. Breakfast of boiled egg and then washed, dressed and out to the birds. 12 eggs today and the white baby dove feathering out nicely. Off then by Diana’s estate car to Ekins antique auction at St Ives and to arrive in time for a half hour of viewing before the auction started. Then to bid a range of lots and ended up with some old photos and prints of the Great Ouse for a rather expensive £110, the stripped pine window seat for £65, a Persian rug for The Lady’s saloon for £25, a Victorian bergere baby chair in need of attention for £45 and a brass pocket compass for £5. I also got my stuffed heron for £55 after a little competition! A long day punctuated by several cups of tea and snacks and a lunch of Kentucky burger and apple pie. Time also for a visit to L H Jones and to find a pair of sectional oars to replace those I lost in the dinghy accident, which is good.
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A mild and showery day of domestic, investment, bird-husbandry and financial progress and some time wiring Lady Martina before tangling with Daniel over his ongoing homework priorities as Thatcher suffers a Lords reverse over ILEA abolition and Pym forms his Tory opposition group
Awake after a small lay in and my morning tea and soon the paper to accompany it. Down to breakfast of toast and honey and then to finish off the paper before 8.30am. Washed, dressed and out to the birds before 9.00am and only 11 eggs to show for it. Up to the dovecote and the baby dove is growing and putting on weight. The formative feathers seem to be white and I have high hopes that it might be a hen like its mother. To the office and to clear my desk first of papers and catch up on my reading of received journals. Then to make a couple of calls to Owles Hall and to find John Lamb, but could not do the latter. Diana came across with a gas fitter who managed to find two leaks in our cooker at 39 Gordon Road and so she was right to suspect a gas leak by smelling gas. Time then to reconcile my two bank accounts and find the Bank of Scotland in balance, but Barclays needing some funds. Off to St Neots after coffee and take Diana in to Barclays to become a joint account holder. The building society and then fish and chips from Eaton Socon to take home for lunch.
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Successfully showing Debbie the dove chick, buying old books at Buckden, attending to The Lady’s electrics as Daniel and Paul take a school trip to Alton Towers and the Bradford fire death toll rises to 52 due to fire doors being locked and trapping them in a corridor
Awake early at 6.15am with my morning tea, but the rest of the family had been awake even earlier and the boys had got ready for their Alton Towers outing. I looked after Daniella as Diana took them to catch the coach at Kimbolton and then read more of the Economist and, when it arrived, The Sunday Times. Di brought me breakfast in bed of fried egg, bacon, sausage and bread and I really enjoyed it. A long lay in reading until 10.30am and then washed, dressed and out to the birds. I took Debbie out and up the ladder so that she could see the dove chick – which she has named ‘Dixie’. 13 eggs from the ducks. Morning coffee and out to Buckden on my own to see the small antiques faire. The stallholders are beginning to know me now, which is a pity. I found most interest in the old books and bought a 100 year old one, ‘Daddy Darwin’s Dovecote’, as well as a mint copy of Aesop’s Fables, a chess book and an old London Bartholomew’s Street Map, all for £7.50. Home for a coffee and sit down before taking the girls out for lunch at the Riverside Park. A spicy tomato soup and bread, steak and kidney for me and blackberry and apple pie and cream to follow. I let Debbie play on the climbing frame. The weather cold and very windy, which meant that the riverside park was virtually empty. Everyone now agrees that the warmer weather must come soon. A drive around St Neots sightseeing and we note that the ‘Daniel Tree’ outside Comart is sprouting, even with the dry spring.