Charles with his family five years earlier
Charles with his family five years earlier

A working morning and then televised rugby after a Happy eater lunch when Daniel brought Gary back from school for the weekend and then a party evening for Charles Jackson snr at The Three Horseshoes in Maddingly as Syria invade Beirut at the dissenting government’s request, Amine Gemayle being out of the country

Slept well after laying awake for a little while, but there was no way that I could catch up on all the sleep that I had lost yesterday. Stayed at home this morning, after breakfast and finished off the Paxton Park section in terms of printout out the results. Di took the children to the shops and they returned to pick me up to take them all to the Happy Eater for lunch. A bit of a struggle to get out with them, because of the need to store my diskettes safely and lock and alarm the house. I drove them down the A1 to the Happy Eater at Sandy for a change. This afternoon, I watched the international rugby union on TV. England just lost an exciting match to France. A disappointment to lose, but at least the team played a lot better than against Ireland the other week. Gary arrived for the weekend this morning and he and Daniel talked about nothing but boats all day!

The baby doves still seem to be surviving. No tea and so worked on until it was time to wash my hair, shower and shave, ready for our evening out. Set off in our new Daimler, which was fitting for our task ahead. We had invited all of Diana’s family to a meal to celebrate Charles Jackson’s (her father) 70th birthday. We collected Di’s parents and took them to the Three Horse Shoes at Madingly. Di’s brother Charlie, his wife Chrisula and Di’s sister, Sue, followed behind in another car. A long evening that only ended after midnight at the restaurant. A splendid fare, which we all enjoyed, but it was disappointing to see that Chrisula would not eat her vegetarian mushroom pancakes, after we had arranged them to be available especially for her – she is impossible to satisfy! Di and I had venison and enjoyed it thoroughly. Di’s consomme had a pie crust baked over it, to keep it warm and my h’dourves were nice, fresh and tasty. Exciting sweets to follow as well. Home, tired and slept soundly. Not much chance to monitor the news, but Syrian commandos are invading Lebanon, Beirut, in strength, to try to put an end to the fighting and anarchy in the city. The rest of Lebanese government invited the Syrians in as a dissenting leader, Amine Gemayle, was visiting and touring Europe.