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Hectic day of building work as they work on the kitchen & dining room of No7 and I screw down the floorboards in completed rooms whilst Diana suffers from the cold with a fractious Della but loses 5lbs in the slimming club
A reasonable night in view of the circumstances and then, after morning tea, I had a quick slice of toast and fruit juice, before getting quickly washed and dressed to be ready for the builders. The plumber fixed up the new sitting room radiators so that the carpet layers could lay our new carpet and it was very much up to our best expectations. Brittain’s are a good firm and their operators take a pride in doing the job well. Back in our own house it was a mad scramble to vacate the kitchen and dining room so that the builders could start there. They lost no time in removing the doors and demolishing the wall between the two rooms, raising a large amount of debris in the process. Upstairs we had just started to make up Daniel’s bedroom and restore it to normal when the electrician needed to get all of the floorboards up to reorganise the kitchen electrics and so we had to empty it in a hurry. For the first time I lost my temper at this lack of planning and it showed as I snapped for Mr Cheeseborough to keep the doors shut as he swept up!
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A good day of progress for carpenters, decorators and the glazier and then lights despite deteriorating weather and preparations for our traditional bonfire party and managed a long fireworks display as a big US battlefield communications contract is lost to France despite Thatcher’s intervention and a three year British Rail investment plan is announced but no progress is reported on US/USSR arms limitation talks
Rain and wind overnight, which will dampen a few of the nation’s bonfires tonight! Up early, showered, dressed and out to next door to light the fire and replace the plastic sheeting protecting the second bedroom. Back to have breakfast to find that the family had slept well last night. Daniel and Debbie off to school at last and so no problem in letting the builders start. They arrived with white dust cloths and I helped them to cover all that was left in both bedrooms. They were surprised and pleased to see that the wardrobes were already down and only had to carry the sections downstairs and out of the way. The carpenter finished the playroom doors before starting on the new dividing stud partition, and the decorators worked on and finished the new sitting room and undercoats for the two new bedrooms. The glazier came today at last and did the guest room balcony windows so that they can keep the weather out for the final decoration and carpeting this week.
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Domestic upheaval as Della and Debbie have work done to their bedrooms as I get some fireworks from St Neots before building a large bonfire and supervising Daniel’s English prep and then stripping the children’s bedrooms and storing their excess belongings in the loft. This as HM The Queen tours the West Indies, Charles and Diana go to a rock concert in Australia and a brave South African newspaper publishes an interview with the banned ANC leader, Oliver Tambo
Awake to my morning tea and a little time reading my paper – The Financial Times has less substance and detail on Monday and so I was soon through. Down to my customary breakfast of toast and fruit juice and then washed, dressed and out to the birds. The weather still fine, but becoming breezy and the barometer is falling quickly. Rather cold today as well. The new doves are settling in now, but two of them still need ushering into the nest holes every night. The arrangement for constraining them is working out quite well, though I have to change their water and seed daily as it becomes quite fouled. The decorators make a delayed start today and the Anglian Interiors fitter arrived earlier and made a start on fitting Della’s old cupboards into Debbie’s new room, causing a little conflict with the decorators and a lot of consternation on Diana’s part. This morning she and Joan had to move out all of her clothes and things from our bedroom wardrobes, as it was planned to be their turn in the afternoon. We first popped into St Neots and bought a few things from each supermarket so as to get some large boxes for her packing. Then to get some more fireworks – rockets and large sparklers, plus one more large set – so as to add a bit more attraction to the display tomorrow night.
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Morning tea and Birthday present opening in bed and then a fried breakfast before late out to the ducks and doves in a frosty day and to sort out some logs with Daniel and his friend Steve before a video chat with Helen’s father as I sorted out my TV frame adjustment and we heard news of the Soviets cutting off electricity to the Afghanistan US embassy that is sheltering a defecting Russian soldier, The South African regime is criticised by the US and two French agents plead guilty to the Greepeace boat sinking
My birthday today and reached the age of 39. Awake to my morning tea, but Di was a little slow to realise the date before eventually ushering all the children in to wish me many happy returns of the day. Then to open my presents; a ballpoint pen from Debbie to replace the one she lost for me last week, a box of fudge from Della, which the children were dying to eat, a pair of handkerchiefs from Daniel and a new cardigan and couple of pairs of socks from Di. Down to a fine breakfast of fried egg, bread, mushrooms and then I sat upstairs and read the Sunday Times, relaxing on my birthday. I was thus engaged for a long time and only got out to the birds at 10.30am. Two duck eggs this morning and both groups of doves seem to have prospered through the night. There had been a severe frost of 5-6DegC and the rhyme was a complete layer on the ground. The day soon warmed up and it proved to be another fine, still and sunny day. I cleared out the ducks and then got Daniel and Steve to help me to move some logs before we all went inside and put a whole host of boxes up in the loft.