Some time with Debbie playing old gramophone records after a poor night of variable heating until off to Bedford with the girls and then back via St Neots for more shopping before completing my new workshop electrics and loading the storage shelves. The Liberals trounce Thatcher’s Tories in the local elections and national by-elections Elizabeth Shields wins Ryedale and so Thatcher skulks at Chequers as Chernobyl gets international supervision and teachers negotiate a wage increase
A very poor night. The central heating had left my room temperature at nearly 70degF at the start and, having stripped off the bed and opened the windows, I awoke feeling cold in the early morning! Showered, hair washed and down to a breakfast of boiled duck egg with the others. Dressed in my sports jacket and trousers, I settled into my office to do some paperwork. Lacking in resolution, I soon was distracted by Debbie and I played her some classics on the old gramophone – Blue Danube, Sugar Plum Fairy etc., until the carpenter arrived and I get him putting on the weather boards for all of the outside doors.
Off with Di and Della as the rain started into a heavy drizzle and it was to alternate between periods of dryness and rain all day. The temperature was pleasantly mild, which made a change. We parked in Lurke Street car park and walked in more rain to the coffee house and enjoyed a drink and rest before going our separate ways. Nothing for me at Peacocks and so I loitered at Gibbs and Dandy Gales and chose a range of small tools and accessories. Lunch at Debenhams with Di and Della and then a little shopping together to get some table lamps and a washing basket for our bedroom. Home via St Neots to do some building society transactions and to buy some pork for Sunday’s lunch. This afternoon I installed a contact breaker in the gardening shed for outside electrical safety and the brought all of the remaining boxes from the garage, sorted them out, and stacked them all on the workshop shelving units. More rain at dusk as I tended the doves and ducks before coming in to watch the TV news etc. The news today was of the local election results and national by-elections, where the Liberals won one seat from the Tories and narrowly missed winning the other. Both the Alliance and Labour also did well in the local elections and the Tories had a very bad sequence of results. Elizabeth Shields won Ryedale from the Tories for the Liberals and Thatcher is sulking at Chequers this weekend, under pressure for policy and style changes from her own party. After 2 weeks, the Chernobyl power station site has been declared to have had its graphite fire extinguished by international nuclear experts. The temperature of the core remains high, however, and emergency workers are striving to enclose the site above and below in concrete. Teachers and employers have discussed a 5 ½% pay increase in negotiations today, but they have yet to be formally accepted. More changeable weather forecast for tomorrow.