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Della was ill today and this upset Diana on a very cold and frosty day but she joined me for a trip to St Neots to choose many house furnishings as her parents came and baby-sitted as a Columbian volcano erupts and, together with meltwater to form a ‘Lahar’, engulfs the village of Amero killing tens of thousands of people
Awake to my morning tea, but could hardly drink it as Diana was flustering over problems with the heating. It seemed that the upstairs radiators were on, but downstairs were off and, when I went out in the morning frost to the temporary boiler position, the heating control had not come on at all. It was only the hot water circuit before. Back to a reasonably calm atmosphere and then able to take morning breakfast and orange juice without further panic. I also looked at FT, but saw little news of fundamental interest. The prices of electrical and computer stocks had fallen again. Washed and dressed quickly, expecting an onslaught of builders, but they came quite late and in small numbers. I toured the building, unlocking doors and windows, on a morning that was cold and very frosty, but not as bad as yesterday. The Smallbone fitter arrived and I had to keep him chatting for a while. He was happy with our proportions and advised Mr Cheeseborough, when he arrived, on a number of outstanding queries. Poor Daniella was ill this morning, suffering from the after effects of her measles injection, and Di was so upset that she phoned the doctor and then cried, but all was well later on.
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Full day of managing my Hayling View conversion project with the garden frost freezing the dove’s water and me running The Lady’s heating to keep her warm but the link building is progressed, the kitchen door is moved and the Smallbone installation delayed until next week as Terry Waite sets off to try and get the release of the Western hostages in The Lebanon, the racist headmaster Honeyford’s sacking is deemed lawful and four men are questioned about the Chelsea barracks bombs
Slept well despite the disorder and dust around us and awake for once without my cold drying my throat. My drink and then down to breakfast in the lounge, waiting whilst Di got washed and dressed. Then my turn and I showered first and enjoyed the relief of the warm water cascading over my body on a cold morning. Up quickly to shave and dress and ready by 8.00am when a range of building trades started to arrive. I let them in and then undid the security bolts on the new kitchen/breakfast room windows. Some time chatting to Mr Cheeseborough and then back to the house to call David Stokes about the new work and Anglia Interiors to try to get the bedside tables interchanged in the new guest room. Out to the doves and ducks, finding the birds hungry and their drinking water frozen. It took some time to get them fed and watered and, once inside again, I got ready and took Diana off to St Neots. As she attended the slimming clinic (and lost 3 lbs over the last week to 9st 9lb) I bought some chub security locks and some more wood screws for the floor boards. Then, together to the Cross Keys coffee bar to celebrate the progress before going together to the lighting shop to choose some outside lights and then on to Brittains to start choosing carpets and curtains for the new dining room and Daniel’s bedroom.
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An early start on a cold day to allow the builders access and a discussion over the kitchen door position before off to the Physio about my back and then Smallbone arrive with the new kitchen components as the USSR/USA arms talks with no immediate guarantee of success, the Chancellor only raises expenditure on housing a little and two bombs are planted outside Chelsea Barracks
A sound night, but Diana was slow to awake, so I put the radio on for the news at 7.00am, which did the trick. Impatient with waiting after a quarter of an hour and so down at 7.15am for my morning tea to find all the rest of the family there already. Another wait whilst Di washed and dressed and then breakfast before finding a vacant slot for the bathroom between the children’s turns. Ready by 8.00am to let the builders in and then out to talk to the gardener and try to kill another mole. Our mole smokes only seam to deter them, rather than eradicate them and they keep coming back, regardless. The gardener is clearing away the heavy fall of leaves now daily and is abandoning the electrical rake to revert to the old trusty hand rake, which is more effective. A fair frost this morning and very cold, which freezes the water tap in Bill’s shed, but does not seem to have adversely affected the house’s exposed plumbing. Mr Cheesborough calls me over and I raise the question of the door positioning with him and the alternative options of dealing with the problem. It turns out that he has also been worrying about it as well and is quite prepared to move it over if necessary. Then to feed the doves and ducks and to watch as the builders put up my weather vane.
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Some time with Della this morning after an uncomfortable and clammy night and then to lay a square of old carpet in my office and fit a door lock to give us some privacy and normality before calling the BMMG and only offering to advise and declining to help them for Compec and then clearing out the garage for Smallbone’s kitchen units to be delivered tomorrow. This as teachers are blamed for the drowning of schoolchildren washed off a cliff at Land End and eight IRA men are charged with the Brighton Bombings
Difficulty in getting off to sleep and I found my bedclothes very heavy and oppressive. Perhaps Diana has been adding more blankets without me knowing. A little lay in listening to the radio news and current affairs before summoned to my breakfast of toast and fruit juice with the family. A little more reading of the morning paper and post before time to hurry to get ready before the arrival of the builders. Washed and shaved in the bathroom today with Debbie for company as she handed me things from the shelves and then crawled under the basin as I shaved. I got dressed as Debbie packed her school bag, read some books and played until it was time to go. Then the builders came and I let them in to both houses and got them to open up the kitchen door so that they did not have to walk through our front door. Diana then waited to set off for town in a hurry, but I persuaded her to stay for a coffee and to allow Della to stay home. I walked Della to help me feed the ducks and doves on a sunny and calm day, if very cold. Della to bed and then across to my office where I laid the old square of carpet in the box room as an office and vacuumed it reasonably clean. The builders completed the cross-house ducting today; the carpenter put in the kitchen to hall door frame and patched up the holes where the wall had been demolished and moved along; the electricians finished off most of the wiring (all of the kitchen and most of the hall and utility room); and the Scottish plasterer rendered the kitchen ready for the finishing coat of plaster tomorrow.