To Bedford with Diana on a cold and frosty morning but nothing of interest at Peacocks Auction and so home to the warmth of my office and to welcome Rosa Young to help with my researches but time was short for her and so the outcome frustrating. The more so, as my photocopier had failed to arrive but this meant that I spent more time with Daniel and Debbie on their homework. It now seems that Terry Waite has been added to the ranks of the westerners kidnapped in The Lebanon. Four IRA bombs are set off in Belfast and an English language European satellite TV programme, got going today and is being financed by ITV, Virgin and Granada.
Because of my more relaxed end to yesterday evening, I seemed to sleep a lot better and it was soon morning and time for a wake-up call by Diana. Reluctantly through my showering, shaving and dressing routine and so was late down and angry with the children for not clearing up their rooms before the meal. Was ready to go to Bedford shopping with Diana this morning, but first I had to pay Joan & Pete and then the milkman as well. A cold and frosty morning. The sky was clear and the temperature dropped accordingly, but at least the sun was shining. A fair trip to Bedford and morning coffee in Debenhams as usual. I then left the girls to go window shopping (mainly in the Early Learning Centre) and I went to Peacocks to have a look round. A poor selection of lots in the general auction, spaces everywhere and the auction rooms freezing cold and so I did not stay long, but went back to buy some cassettes and batteries for my dictation recorder and some more A4 card indexes from A to Z.
Then the library for a very short while, before back to Debenhams to meet Di for lunch. Had to have salad sandwiches, as not much general salad choice out at this time of year; then back to the Range Rover and home to our warm house. I lit a fire to welcome my visitor, used the indexes to order my papers and Mrs Rosa Young was soon with me for our meeting. An active and aware lady, in spite of her years, and a complete local history addict. Full of information – she could have written quite a summary of Little Paxton from her notes – but was really concentrating on Southoe and much of her knowledge was a bit dated. She is also a bit too dogmatic on certain aspects and could be a little inclined to rely on assumptions and inference – but couldn’t we all! A rather frustrating meeting, as she spent all of the time ploughing through detailed notes and then shot off without leaving much time for discussion! Still, she is kindly typing up a host of reference material for me and will also translate some more Latin sources on manorial history of Little Paxton. Additionally frustrated after, when finding my photocopying machine had failed to arrive and I will not now get it until Monday. Di had driven off to Kimbolton to collect Daniel from school and buy him a host of new (and larger!) school uniform items from the school shop. Once they got back we had tea and then, after feeding the ducks, I worked with both Dan and Debbie on their school work, before finishing my error correction and classification of the Ramply scrap book. I can now put away the source information and start the process this weekend of sorting the disk files for each topic and updating the chapters. The main news this evening is of Terry Waite being added to the list of kidnapped westerners, but this has yet to be confirmed. A spate of IRA bombs in Belfast injured 4 policemen, after a Loyalist protest over the Anglo-Irish pact. Dr Denis Worrall, South Africa’s Ambassador to Britain, has resigned his London post and it is thought he will seek election in his country to oppose the government’s policies. This overshadowed the opening of the South African ‘parliament’. The takeover panel has decided that Guinness may well have broken the law in the Distillers takeover and there are also claims that the other side were threatened and warned not to oppose the takeover. ‘Super Channel’, an English language European satellite TV programme, got going today and is being financed by ITV, Virgin and Granada.