A busy time preparing the children for school and managing the ducks and doves on a wild and changeable day before the gas fitters make a mess of repairing the central heating as a bombs explodes in two locations in Paris with 29 dead and wild winds in the West Country capsize a trawler with six fishermen dead
Slept well and woke to my morning tea on a chilly morning. High winds from the south west made the bedroom most uncomfortable. Down to breakfast of toast and fruit juice and then a fight to make Daniel and Debbie get ready for school, without fighting with each other. Di had arranged many commitments for today. Shopping, Deb’s disco, and then taking Daniel to the doctors. Poor Dan has had a chronic sinus infection and we only find this out now – previously assuming it was catarrh. Good news really, as a course of antibiotics should clear it up and give him an improved way of life. I spent much of this morning reading the mail, clearing up my tools, and progressing a few matters.
Also tending the ducks and doves and the ducks got their first house clean since I was ill. Also found out that a pair of doves (the Indigo and Qualmond) had laid an egg in the wall-cote and were incubating. Spoke to Pete for a while, who was doing some general gardening at last – having made an earth ramp for the new workshop position. We noticed that both daffodils and crocuses were coming up in some places of the lawn as well as the flower beds and this was due to the alterations last summer and the bulbs being left behind. I managed to catch up with my correspondence this afternoon, for which I was grateful and relieved, as it will solve a lot of problems. This was after lunch with Di and her Mother of a rather poor egg pie and some peas. The Gas Board came this morning, after I had chased them by phone and the fitter swapped over the gas burners and ancillaries between the two burners. This seemed to work fine, but he went away and undertook to come back after lunch to check their operation. The technician then called and, not knowing the fitter had already done it, then swapped them back, before I pointed out his error! They had been working at cross purposes. By the end of the day I had to relight the southern boiler 3 times and so it was proved as not being the gas assemblies. This is a pity because it points again to the siting and installation. The plumber virtually finished the fitting of the basins, bidet and urinal; the tiler did all of the tiling except a few accessories; and the decorator was back to hang a fair amount of the wallpaper to the landing and stairs. Later on I took some time sorting out my office (and still left tons of filing) before a poor tea of tomato soup. Then to Daniel with his schoolwork, but it is close to the end of term and so no homework. Didn’t manage to read to Debbie tonight. News today of Jacque Chirac naming his new French Cabinet, but a bomb exploded in the Champs Elysees and killed and injured 29. A second was defused at Chatelet metro station, the biggest rail terminus in Paris. The GLC has lost an appeal court decision on its plans to spend £16M of resources on assisted organisations prior to its abolition. The wild winds and weather have caused problems in the South and West Country and six fishermen died when their trawler capsized and sank in heavy seas off the Isle of Man. Sarah Ferguson was still the centre of media attention today, as she went back to ‘normal’ and her work at a London graphics company. Wild and changeable weather today, with nearly an inch of rain in the Isle of Sky. Tomorrow should be a better day, dry in this area, with temp’s in the 50’sdegF.