Working on my journal, my Jaguar plans and then watching my Stock Exchange shares rising weakly using my Prestel terminal (and selling Jaguar shares) before working with gardener Pete on the final lawn preparations and Colin Howard on my photograph copies. England captain Mike Gatting is instructed to provide a written apology to the Pakistani umpire he criticised and The Kimberley child abuse enquiry report guidelines are published
After the late night, another uneasy experience as I had trouble sleeping with a ‘full’ stomach. The night finished all too soon and I struggled up feeling quite tired again. Shaved and dressed for breakfast, to find poor Daniel still struggling with his cold congestion, which appears to have developed into sinus trouble. Once the children were off to school, I gave Diana my chores and she went off with Della to do some shopping in Bedford. Joan arrived with Pete, as the weather was milder today and the garden more capable of work than in recent days. I turned to my office once more, caught up on yesterday’s journal, and then conducted a number of phone conversations to inform the local Jaguar dealers of my intentions. Next the chore of reading today’s Financial Times and I checked a few times on the Prestel terminal to monitor the state of the stock exchange, which was rising weakly.
Then the local newspapers, to get the local press cuttings for my scrapbook. By this time, I had to make my lunch and watched the lunchtime TV news at the same time. The Test and County Cricket Board at Lords instructed England cricket Captain, Mike Gatting, to present his written apology to the Pakistani Umpire, even though it was not to be reciprocated. Then the England team agreed a statement in public support of their Captain and in defiance of Lords. This afternoon I went out to guide Pete a little on the final lawn preparations, then finished my local papers. Colin Howard came round with his photograph copies (or some of them) and I also phoned and arranged an interim riding lesson for Debbie on Tuesday. Then, as Jaguar shares were up a bit, I decided to sell the company’s shares to which my emotional attachment had been too strong in the prior and falling market. Soon the children were home for tea, which was a bit too fattening for my taste. This evening, I stuck in the press cuttings and then sorted out the Howard copy photos and indexed/stored the negatives. Not a very productive day, but I got many of the chores out of the way. The news reports were of the conditions of the ‘Kimberley’ child abuse enquiry, which recommended even more stringent legislation and powers for Social Workers and blamed one Social Worker for incompetence. This was harsh on this man (who has since resigned) as he was trying to do three jobs at the same time, due to shortages of staff. British aviation authorities have supported the fact of BCal’s merger with SAS as not affecting the validity of British Caledonian’s licenses and status as a British Airline. By this evening, there was forming a strong belief that the TCCB were wrong not to back their Captain in Pakistan. The Chairman and Chief Executive of the TCCB are flying out to meet the team and answer their criticism, and Gatting is said to be considering his future captaincy of the team, due to his disillusionment.