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The joy of our new Christmas lights illuminating the balcony this morning and the silver being used for lunch before and after a morning working on my latest manuscript draft and then the drive to Coton to collect Daniel from Gary’s place and on to Stanton to my parent’s mobile home for a visit. We found Mum rather troubled with rheumatism in this cold and damp weather and Dad also having some thrombosis and needing to rest his leg but then we also heard news of my sister Freda’s bad leg not leading to her need to retire early from her nursing job and then of Stacey having to have her appendix out. The children enjoyed playing with their grandparents anyway and I gleaned some more family history before I drove my family home. The Paris Student riots are escalating, the British troops have crossed the Irish border again and MI5 continues to be under the spotlight despite being defended by Tebbit and now is accused of undermining former Prime Minister Harold Wilson whilst in office
A little lay in and morning tea, after the time switch had turned on the balcony Christmas lights. Shaved, showered and down for my Sunday fried breakfast. No Daniel of course, but the rest of us enjoyed it. A bit more time in my office after, reading the papers and then updating my computer text for a number of corrections and expansions that came out of reading the manuscript. Out to feed the ducks and doves, some coffee, and then to complete the task before lunch. Then got the family silver out of the safe and laid up the table for lunch, helping Di into the kitchen with the waiter trolley as well. Della was awake and joined us for a nice lunch of chicken, preceded by tomato soup, which we all enjoyed. Debbie spoilt it a little by spilling some soup on her new dress, but I wiped it off. A while washing up and restoring everything to their proper storage places and then the job of getting the children ready to go out. Then I fed and put away the ducks and secured the house with locks and alarms so that we could go. A reasonable drive to Coton to pick up Daniel and then on to Stanton and the mobile home of my parents.
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A brighter but colder and frosty morning working on my manuscript before joining the family for lunch and hearing from Daniel that he had been 2nd in Maths but bottom in English Literature in his recent exams and then Di took him to Coton to spend the weekend with Gary as I returned to The Hayling View to put up Christmas lights on all four balconies and then used my compute to edit by text all evening as Di wrote Christmas Cards and watched a Western film on TV. Reagan admits mistakes over the Iranian Arms deal, The British Gas issue favours small investors and the UK tenure of EEC leadership ends with no progress on tackling the EEC budget crisis, or common agricultural policy surpluses
A better night, but still tired this morning when it was time to get up. A colder day, with a clear sky, frost on the ground and condensation on the inside of the windows. Showered and shaved, listening to the radio and then down to my normal fare of wheat flakes and milk for breakfast. The newspaper was late coming this morning and so was the mail and so I settled down in the office, reading through my recent manuscript and referring to other sources to update its contents. Soon Di left with the girls to do some shopping in St Neots and then the mail did arrived and so I went through it and read the paper as well. At 11.00am, I went out to feed the ducks and doves and then, after some more reading, set off in the Range Rover to join the others in town. Collected Daniel from his school bus. He had done quite well in maths, 2nd, but had only 50% in English language and was bottom in English literature, with 40%.
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More Little Paxton Manorial history research in Bedford after an uninspiring dark morning in November and then home for tea to see the Christmas Tree being decorated and pleased at Daniel’s success in his Biology exam as Thatcher denies Rothschild was a spy and urges support in Europe for the embattled Ronald Reagan, whose Defense Secretary is speaking out against Neil Kinnock’s disarmament proposals and shocking facts emerge about Oxford University drug taking where Olivia Channon died in the company of brewing heir Sebastian Guinness
An energetic start to the night, but slept well enough until the early hours, when I lay awake and restless. Reluctant to awake to order and turned over for a further snooze, before eventually up and showered and shaved. The mornings are still so dark these days, that there is little encouragement. Down to breakfast and still the children do not tidy their rooms sufficiently in the morning. Settled down with the paper and then the morning post, but did not have all of the time that I needed to finish them before it was time to move on. Di was taking the girls to a preview opening of St Neots new indoor swimming pool and so I went to Bedford on my own to do some more studying of Little Paxton Manorial history. Stopped on the way at Peacocks auction rooms and looked around, first the antique viewing and then the general viewing, before concluding that there was little in either to interest me. Walked on to the Bedford Reference Library and copied out all mentions of Little Paxton in the Feet of Fine transcripts, which took me the rest of the morning.
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A slow start after a poor night and a tiring day yesterday but then a drive along the historic coaching route through Papworth to St Ives where the curator of The Norris was ready with more information on Little Paxton including a good display of the research of Inskip Ladds. He had surveyed the memorials of St James Church and Churchyard and it was notable that Elizabeth Hedding claimed ancestral rights to Little Paxton Manor for 450-odd years. Then home to get the Christmas Decorations down from the loft with Daniel’s help and to learn of Thatcher backing down on the rights of Neil Kinnock to be briefed on security matters and of a teacher’s rally in Edinburgh and a one-day strike throughout Scotland
A rather poor night. It was milder than of late and also Daniella woke up in the middle of it, as lively as she could be, and then came to us crying for some reason. Was awoken on time, but did not really recover with my morning tea, as I was sporting a headache from yesterday’s energetic work and the buffeting from the wind. Breakfast with the family and it was then Daniel deciding to be awkward. Eventually the children went off to school and I settled down with the morning paper, waiting for the post. Not much of interest when it did arrive, but a letter from Peter Smith of Kode wanting my signature on another document that they have just discovered. By 9.00am, I was ready to go out and, with Diana setting off to St Neots Market, I drove towards St Ives, taking a route via the A45 towards Cambridge and then turning off north on the old coaching road through Papworth. Parked in the market car park, then had a coffee, before walking along to the Norris Museum and Library to arrive after 10.00am.