More work on my Little Paxton history but Rosa Young’s manorial history contradicts that of Inskip Ladds and I take delivery of my new Daimler and drive Martin Hamblin back to Cambridge in it! I arrange a delivery of flowers and an invitation for Di to The Bridge Hotel Clayhill tomorrow night and make good progress supervising the children’s’ homework. The relief supplies for the Bourj el-Barajneh, West Beirut, Palestinian refugee camp do not get through and an Iranian envoy is shot dead and the family of imprisoned Jewish dissident Iosif Begun protesting in Moscow have again been attacked
Slept reasonably well and then woke up to find Di was elsewhere, letting the rest of the family have a lay in. Went in search of a cup of tea and then was ready in good time to have breakfast with the family, after washing, shaving and dressing. To my office and the start of a day’s work on the Little Paxton history. A large mail this morning, the remainder of this week’s computer magazines and a large parcel of papers from dear Mrs Rosa Young, who has obviously spent a lot of time and trouble typing up and presenting background information for Little Paxton history. The problem is that her perception of the manorial history is at variance with Inskip Ladds and there will be a big task to analyse all available information and present a considered view. Spoke to Marshalls of Cambridge this morning and arranged to collect the Daimler this afternoon.
Di had gone to Bedford and by late lunchtime I was very hungry, but had completed the update of Riversfield & Paper Mills. Jack Ramply telephoned and was available this afternoon but, as this was not convenient, he suggests a delay of a week that suits me down to the ground. At last Di arrived and I ate a salad lunch, whilst we exchanged news of the morning. I had also phoned the flower shop in St Neots, given them my credit card number, and arranged the delivery of a bouquet and card inviting Di to dinner at the Bridge Hotel, Clayhill, tomorrow night. The messenger arrived whilst Di was there and she was quite astonished by the double treat in honour of Valentine’s Day! A couple of hours working this afternoon, then Martin Hamblin of Marshalls arrived, made his normal big thing of going thoroughly over the new Daimler’s features and I drove him back to Cambridge, whilst he continued the introduction. Back for a late tea and Di had already taken Daniel to the doctors. He does not think the toe is broken, but it is badly bruised and will be painful for a few weeks. Time with both Daniel and Debbie this evening, at length, but at least Dan has produced a good piece of English for a change. That should earn the appreciation of his master. Debbie’s maths is also coming along and she wrote a nice poem at the behest of her school mistress. Late to bed, after trying to get some more work done. The tragic news today is the failure of a relief convoy to get through to the stricken Palestinian refugee camps. Food lorries and ambulances were subjected to a burst of gunfire and an Iranian envoy, trying to aid it through, was shot dead to the head. The camp was Bourj el-Barajneh in West Beirut. In what seems to be a response to a public clamour for tougher sentencing of rapists, a woman Judge, Nina Lowry, jailed a phoney preacher (aged 54) for 16 years at the Old Bailey. He had been convicted of drugging and then raping two young girls. In Moscow, another Jewish dissident protest has been broken up, with injuries, as the Begun family continue to embark on their crusade. Ignoring this setback, Secretary Gorbachev speaks publicly at length about the need for a more open society.