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Most of our practical work restricted on a frightful rainy and stormy day which rose the water level in the new swimming pool by an inch in half an hour but the boiler increased its temperature to 70degC and so I swam with Daniel after school before he was joined by his friends. This as thousands of job losses are planned for BREL in readiness for a sell-off, 3,200 further police are being recruited to quell civil unrest and Britain’s Commonwealth colleagues are unhappy with our tolerance of South African apartheid
Awake to my morning tea after a fitful night’s sleep for both Diana and I. Showered and dressed for breakfast of three croissants and some apple juice. I get my Ekins catalogue to hand and elected not to go to St Ives today, but to stay at home and work and liaise with the pool men. In the event, it was a most frightful day of rain and storm and I could not get very much done. I started to work on Bill’s shed, but the rain poured down and I was limited to the internal water connections and the start of the electricity installation. By the end of the day, I had only connected the water and returned the sink unit to its original position. Pete was also thwarted and spent the morning cleaning up and servicing the mowers. Still, at least my new water butt had filled up by the end of the day.
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Some early trouble with the kids not tidying their rooms and then my contractors were being disorganised but a better day for working outside and so I painted the shed windows, dug the soakaway and then finished the plumbing before we enjoyed tea outside by the pool, which had dropped to 60degC due to boiler problems. This as South Africa strikes at three neighbouring countries, claiming it was against ANC camps, with Thatcher a lone supporter, Ian Botham is dropped from England for drug-taking and 80,000 power workers start an overtime ban
Another wakeful start to the day, but still only just made breakfast on time. The children had not tidied their rooms before breakfast and then did not do so afterwards, even after being pulled up and so I had to smack them both. This poor start to the day continued as the landscapers did not bring the gate and clear up properly and the pool men did not come this morning to turn the heating on. Still, a gloriously warm and sunny morning and, whilst Di did some shopping, I painted the window frames and eaves of the sheds to protect the wood and putty and dug and commissioned the soak-away for the overflow from the new water butt. My parents phoned this morning and announced their decision to visit this afternoon for the rest of the day.
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Working on my workshop roof as the swimming pool slowly fills and was nearly ready by the evening as Daniel and friends bring their new girlfriends round for a boat trip to provide chick deck eye candy and then brave our freezing cold swimming pool as the dove chicks grow big enough to be ringed as a ferry scare delays the Prince of Wales, a big anti-nuclear demo in Germany ends in violence and Ian Botham admits drugs use.
Awake on a cloudy morning to see the swimming pool continue to fill. The bottom is well covered and the water level creeps up the side – the large hose is certainly an improvement on the garden hose first used. Di has a lay in and all the family are ready for breakfast and insist that its preparation takes priority over her shower. A nice fried breakfast for me and then out to start work on the workshop roof. As there was not enough overhang to allow the water to drip away from the sides, I had to remove the felt battens and replace them after folding the felt further out.
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Morning trip to St Ives for an auction viewing by way of a rest after recent efforts and then a family lunch at The Happy Eater and home to do the deal on acquiring the last river plot to form our Hayling View gardens and to carry on filling our new swimming pool and assembling the barbeque as My old buddy Kenneth Baker fights for more spending on health and education but Thatcher firmly resists investment and also moves to replace her. The Stonehenge hippies are ejected and shipbuilding unions favour striking to protect their jobs.
Awoke very stiff after the last few days exertions. It was really tough working in confined spaces below floor level. I come down undressed and get Di to cut my hair whilst I updated yesterday’s journal. The paper arrives and I see Kode shares are up a further 2p to 170p, which is getting close to the level at which I will be willing to sell the family’s holdings. All this at a time when the FT index has dropped 40.8 in the week to end at 1289.5. Dressed and out to feed the ducks and doves a little early and so only 7 eggs today. Off to St Ives by car, leaving the inner garage and pool room bypassed and unlocked for the swimming pool men to start filling the pool. At St Ives we had a coffee together before I looked round the Ekins general and antique auctions, whilst Di did some shopping. Quite a few things that I liked, but we shall have to see what prices they fetch on the day. To St Neots to collect Daniel, then off to the Happy Eater for lunch. A nice meal, but the weather had turned very wet by now and the girls could not play outside on the elephant slide afterwards. Home and Bob Lane soon arrived and I showed him and his wife around The Hayling View before we exchanged solicitors details, so that I could buy his plot for £8,000 to complete our combined property.