Another dry day spent between monitoring the children, with their meals and homework, and then the builders who have demolished my garden wall for re-building whilst I was still stripping the paint from windows and doors and re-painting them. This as Norma arrived for lunch, the East-West arms agreement should limit Greenham Common missiles and eliminate the need for Molesworth at all but the SDP/Alliance parties are at odds over the outcome. Bad industrial news as Thatcher’s stooge, Graham Day, sacks Rover Group’s long term Chairman Harold Musgrove and the pound falls to a new low and trade figures are terrible
Slept OK and awoke on time to my morning tea. Showered, shaved and dressed and still time to check out the children’s rooms before breakfast. Croissants for the children, but they were not available to me because of our diet. I made do with another bowl of wheat flakes. Out to the doves and the weather continues fine still. At 8.30am sharp the builders arrived and were soon followed by a large delivery of bricks. Then a skip and soon the lads were demolishing the wall, brick-by-brick.
I tried to concentrate on resuming my decorating, but this was difficult with all of the activity. In the first instance, Pete and I used the unused capacity of the skip to get rid of a large quantity of metallic rubbish from the garden. Then, I formed weather boards for the inner garage door and the office French windows, by which time Norma, Diana’s mother, had arrived and a salad lunch awaited us. Felt rather tired this morning, which I think is a reaction from the amount of physical work I have been doing, combined with my diet. This afternoon I sat in front of the TV for a while, hearing the news, but then went out to strip off two more windows, sand them down and got a coat of paint on before dark. Our entire garden wall had been demolished and carted away today and then foundations expended for the new section and larger piers. Della enjoyed her Grandmas company today, whilst Di resumed her course by going to ‘keep fit’. I found time to check Daniel’s homework and then we watched TV together and I also caught up on my journal. News today is of Whitehall confirmation that an East-West agreement is being discussed that would reduce the stationing of UK cruise missiles. If it goes ahead, only a few missiles will be housed at Greenham Common and nearby Molesworth would not be commissioned at all. The SDP/Liberal Alliance was strained even further today, as the Liberal Conference voted for the phasing out of nuclear power. The SDP energy policy supports more nuclear stations, after a pause for safety checks. The two Davids meet in London and try to calm the recent excitable atmosphere. There has been European security meetings on terrorism that have ended in mutual measures to counteract it and will meet again in a month’s time. Thatcher’s appointee, Graham Day, has sacked the Rover Group’s car division Chairman, Harold Musgrove, after 40 year’s service and more management changes are threatened. In the City today, the pound fell to its lowest level yet, losing a cent and a half against the dollar, and after yesterday’s terrible trade figures, shares and gilts are also well down. Statistics on animal cruelty are well up by 20% this year, as yet another manifestation of violence in our society. The forecast remains dry in the South East of England and cloudy, with rain, in the North and it is strange to see how the weather has stabilised, almost as if to let me finish the painting.