A struggle to get to Cambridge for the exchange of contracts for 39 Gordon Road and to feed the family as we were all sick with colds etc and then to sit roasting chestnuts with Debbie at the end of the day. The long-distance Challenger experimental plane completes its world circumnavigation on a single tank of fuel, Sakharov is free and mobbed by journalists in Moscow, Thatcher’s Ulster visit is marred by demonstrations and the Balance of Payments plunges into the red with Christmas imports
Stayed up until the early hours finishing off the lettering on my map and came to bed late. Di was awake anyway, as Daniella was coughing badly with her cold. Remade the hot water bottles for warmth on another cold night and was soon asleep. Awoken to my morning tea by a Diana who was very sick with diarrhoea. Debbie and Daniel also feel sick, Della is still ill and my cold is accompanied by a splitting headache – what a start to the day! Daniel gets breakfast, as I shower and then he brings me up the post, which includes his school report. He is trying harder than before and has obtained some favourable comments, but the marks are only satisfactory. Di and I have to go to Cambridge to sign our sale contracts on 39 Gordon Road and so we struggle out with Daniella, leaving Dan & Deb with Joan, the cleaner, for company. Not a bad visit to the city. Most shoppers were leaving for lunch by that time, but there was a chilly cold wind. Parked in Lion Yard, did our deed, and then drove home quickly, stopping on the way to buy some fresh vegetables from the Coton farm shop.
I went out again to get some money from the Abbey National and some take-away food for lunch; fish and chips for me, sausage for Debbie and pizza for Dan. Di was in bed this afternoon and could not manage anything. Finished my map completely later and my headache improved a bit. Ended up lighting the fire and roasting chestnuts for me and Debbie and then relaxing for the evening. Vinters phoned to confirm that contracts have been exchanged on No39, for a completion in mid-January. Another cold & frosty night forecast. News today is of the end of the ‘Challenger’ long-distance experimental plane’s flight, as they circumnavigate the world on one tank of fuel in 9 days. The pilots are very dishevelled and fuel was short, but they made it and avoided the worst of the weather. Dr Andrei Sakharov now free from Soviet exile, calls for all other dissidents to be released as well and is mobbed by journalists and cameramen in Moscow. Mrs Thatcher visited Ulster this morning on a flying visit to see soldiers on tour, but she is now too unpopular for a ‘walk-about’, even in staunchly Protestant areas. Details of her visit leaked out and there were some work stoppages as a protest. The Balance of Payment figures have plunged in to the red, with record inports before Christmas. In Newcastle, an incendiary fire bomb was discovered in a furniture store and it is suspected that the Animal Liberation Front was responsible. In an exemplary trial three drug smugglers, convicted of importing £millions-worth of cocaine, were sentenced to terms of up to 20 years in Clwyd, Wales.