A productive day after a restless night before the asphalt contractors arrived and tarmacked our drives which took most of the afternoon as I worked with gardener Pete to prepare the riverside gardens for the JCB driver tomorrow and then read to Debbie and checked Daniel’s schoolwork. The Reykjavik talks break up within an ace of agreement due to their hastily arranged timescale and lack of preparation, the NCB close two Welsh pits with the loss of 1,500 jobs and the San Salvador earthquake toll is now above 900 dead and 10,000 injured with one third of the capital’s people homeless!
A restless night, struggling to get the temperature right and dreaming of writing an autobiography and being concerned at forgetting the facts! I’m sure they would be recalled if ever needed. Awoke from an eventually sound sleep and rather reluctant to awake. The normal routine (wheat flakes for breakfast today) and then out to brief Pete on the arrangements to make for the visit of the JCB later this week. I then settled into my office for some phone calls and paperwork. Arranged a number of things satisfactorily, but was soon distracted by the arrival of the asphalt contractors, who soon got down to their task.
They had laid down the 1/2” carpet onto a tarred surface by 2.00pm and then rolled and tended the result until 5.30 in the evening, before handing over a black, smooth result. We must keep cars off for a week and it will successively harden and cure over the next month. I put up a barrier to keep people off and a sign to divert deliveries and callers to the front door. Earlier, I went out and helped Pete to carry some of the heavy logs out of the way, and took down the trellis supporting the espalier fruit trees. Lunch of more salad and I am down to 13stone 9lbs now, although Di has been cheating and has been less successful with her diet. Later today, I got back to my office and typed out a couple of urgent letters, but there is much more to do before I can get up to date. Later this evening, Debbie came by and I read her another Country Companion, before putting her to bed. Also checked Daniel’s schoolwork, but not his prep later, through lack of time. Settled down to my journal and then the TV news and weather forecast. The news is full of the aftermath of the Reykjavik talks. Both leaders are putting a brave face on the outcome and it is clear that they were within an ace of agreement. There seems to be common ground that the talks were ill-prepared and arranged too hastily in the wake of the Daniloff affair. Reagan is to make a key speech on US TV later tonight, where he will have to explain to a critical audience why there was no steps agreed. Europeans will want to know why there was no agreement on medium-range missiles, when they could have been eliminated entirely. The US are briefing the NATO countries military ministers in Europe and the USSR’s chief arms control regulator is seeing Thatcher tomorrow and the others in turn. The murdered Brighton schoolgirls may have known their attacker, according to detectives leading the murder hunt. The British Coal Board are closing two pits in Wales, with the loss of 1500 jobs. The death toll in San Salvador is now over 900 and more than 10,000 have been found injured; now the tragedy is three days old. One third of the capitals population is homeless. The Queen ends her first day of public engagements in China, arriving in Peking in a bright red had and coat, and honoured with a 21 gun salute and highest status of reception for the official state welcome. After today’s warm and sunny weather, tomorrow is forecast misty and damp, but later in the week the dryness will prevail for my land levelling