A nice family fried breakfast after time in bed with Diana this morning and then an hour in my office after tending the ducks and doves besides a high river and then back to work on my Little Paxton history and other correspondence after watching Colditz. The Seafield Colliery fire has closed at least one of the two coal faces, opposition parties are revolting against segregation and censorship in South Africa and the papers released 30 years ago about the Suez Crisis show Tory ministers misled the Commons and this news eclipses the Chancellor Lawson’s announcement for his wider share ownership plans
A long lay in this morning, with no deadlines to meet and Di was still at my side when I woke up and then underneath me for a while before getting up to make the morning drinks. A freezing cold start to the night, which then turned mild during the middle of it. Down in my pyjamas to read the Sunday papers and ate a nice fried breakfast, with the girls also having fried eggs and dipping their toast into the yolk. Then, out to the ducks and doves. The river still high, but by no means flooding and all our gardens and out-buildings are safe. The rain was falling again, but the doves still come down to feed and the mother in the pole-cote still seems to be incubating. Then to my office, belatedly, for an hour, updating the remainder of the Little Paxton photo list for the Norris Museum and printing it out before lunch.
Di and I lazily opted to have lunch with the girls in the kitchen and, although we enjoyed it well enough, the girls did not behave to well. They have got used to being able to jump up and down from the table to the Lego display at the Happy Eater and are difficult to control for a formal meal. We insisted that Della did not have any food away from the table in the afternoon and hope that these additional tantrums will ensure that she eats enough food at mealtime. Watched a little TV in the afternoon – a war/escape film about prisoners at Colditz – and then settled back in my office for the late afternoon and evening. I typed a new Contents list and then printed out multiple copies of this and the Preface to send out with letters to David Barford, Samuel Jones Paper Mill, about title-deeds, then the Norris Museum about photocopies and then to another ‘old time’ Little Paxton resident now living in East Street, St Neots. This made me quite late to bed, but Diana had yet to settle down, as Della had been up late and roaming the house until then. The news today is that the spontaneous combustion fire at Seafield Colliery appears to have been sealed off at one of the two faces and a study will be made tomorrow to see if a second face can be opened and the jobs of the workforce maintained. The Guinness Company, under siege from DTI inspectors and investigative journalism, is now threatening legal action against the press. The opposition parties are in revolt in S. Africa – first the white ones declare that they will not observe censorship during the forthcoming election campaign and then the coloured party leaders finish off a conference by a much publicised bathing expedition to the adjacent ‘whites only’ beach. The New Year has seen the release, under the 30 year rule, of papers for the Suez crisis and, now that there has been a few days to study them, the Tories are being pressed over allegations that their ministers misled the House of Commons in 1956. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lawson, has called for a relaxation of share holders rights in a newspaper interview, to allow the pre-emption rights of existing shareholders to be bypassed. He still believes in the phenomena of wider share ownership and is also playing down public hopes for the next budget, but actually planning to announce tax cuts for short-term electoral advantage.