We watch contractors today filling in the well on a much cooler and cloudier day and we start a huge bonfire and meet the Levy safe supply man before Charles and Norma arrive to babysit this afternoon whilst we went shopping but could not tell me much about their family Coat of Arms. News arrived that the BMMG Lan meeting had faltered through lack of interest such that they want my help and Gorbachev’s ‘Peace initiative’ has the Americans on the run but is a welcome relief to Europe and 3.35 million are unemployed in Britain, 75 of the population which prompts Labour to plan a minimum wage law!
A good sleep, but my back ache was still troubling me and as difficult as ever. I went down to shower in the hope that the warm water might ease the pain and whilst I was there I heard the cement lorry arrive and the labourers start to pile the concrete into the foundations, barrow by barrow. Up, dressed and to the doves. A very windy day today and dull, but the airstream was still quite warm. The doves braved the wind and came down to the table and fed fairly well. I then spent a while lighting and tending a bonfire on Bill’s plot. The recess had been more than filled with the excavated soil and it was beginning to cover the old foliage. Also the wind would help the harder stumps to burn and so it was a good time for the bonfire, even though it meant smoking out the neighbours! Diana was unhappy about it, but fortunately nobody complained. Then back to feed and let the ducks out and on to the office to do some work. I had barely started when I realised that I had a 10.30 appointment with the Levy safe salesman and so I doubled back to the house, changed and drank coffee.
In the interim, my architect arrived and I met him and the builder to discuss the erection of the weathervane (the new chimney is to be widened to take it), the demolition of the kitchen wall to take the new Smallbone kitchen by the 10th of November, and the leaving of the front path until we had discussed the type of paving stones to use. Back to my Safe man and a short discussion on my needs. I opt for a two draw fireproof filing cabinet, a fireproof cupboard, a security safe and diskette store. Then back to the house for lunch and we have the company of Mr & Mrs Jackson, who are here to babysit for Diana this afternoon. A nice lunch of pork pie, cheese and salad followed by hot apple pie and ice cream and then to show them our painted garden plan and also my coat of arms patent, with which they were duly impressed. I ask Charles about his coat of arms patent and he tells me that his father left them when he was young and was never heard of since. I wonder whether he is truly armorigenus but he seems to be the eldest son, but I leave the subject alone as it is obviously a sensitive issue. Later today, talking to Diana she becomes intrigued about the lack of information on her grandfather and is determined to pursue it with him after a lifetime of being put off. To the office after lunch and more messages from Chris Shelton and Bill Barrett of the BMMG. It seems that the LAN meeting was a bit of a failure and they want me to phone round all 30 members and drum up support! At last I managed to do my bank and building society account reconciliations and then had to rush off to St Neots by car to do the necessary cash transfers. Whilst there I bought a reel of picture wire for my Hayling View plan (which fell off of the wall yesterday when the string broke) and a couple of herrings for tea. Home, more work, and then to eat my tea of herrings and go out to feed and put away the ducks. Still windy after a couple of heavy showers today. The rain did not prevent the builders filling up the foundations with the concrete and building the first few layers of brickwork for the connecting walls. In to help Daniel with his homework, which was hard going, until 8 o’clock and then to my journal and my plan’s picture wire before the 9pm TV news. Main story is of the Russians taking the initiative in the arms talks by promising 50% reductions in nuclear long range missiles, SS20 withdrawal from Europe and separate talks with the UK and France regardless of the US negotiations. The Gorbachev ‘Peace Offensive’ seems to have the Americans on the run and could certainly appeal to Europeans, who feel equally threatened by both Cruise and SS20s. Unemployment has reached a record high with 3,346,198 people claiming benefit – one in seven of the population. It is at its worse (1 in 4) in Middlesbrough, with one estate where only 5 people having jobs in a block of 90 families. The Labour Conference condemns the news and then takes decisions to set up a minimum wage law, a National Investment Bank and the reintroduction of exchange control. In Mexico city, rescuers are very close to a 9 year old boy who has been two weeks in his masonry grave. They are hoping to save him soon. French vessels are harassing Greenpeace II in the South Pacific and the military are preventing media coverage. Ian MacGregor’s successor has been announced at the NCB as Sir Robert Haslam in an obvious move to pass power as soon as possible into more moderate hands. Government reverses today on local authority financial controls (where Bradford win an appeal case) and prison policy (where prison officers at Lincoln reject plans for a high security unit as being unsafe). Another windy day forecast for tomorrow, with much cooler, cloudy and showery weather setting in for the weekend.