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Very cold day after overnight temperatures down to -15degC with the dove’s water continually freezing all day but Debbie still braved the Baptist Church service and later we tried playing Jackson family videos but gave up to avoid damaging them. More work writing about 1835 Little Paxton and the wartime fires before news of the army recovering the nuclear arms lorry with more than 6ins of snow in Kent and Northern Europe all experiencing record low temperatures and a missing Scottish solicitor is found dead in the Lake District after a massive search by 30 colleagues
A very cold night, with temperatures down to -15degC in some places nearby. Woken by Di and laid in bed a while, listening to the radio, before I had to get up and showered in time for breakfast. A nice fried breakfast for me, but the children were disappointed that they could not have a fried egg each, as Di did not seem to want to cook them any. Settled down in my office and read the Sunday paper cover to cover, as the sun occasionally peeped through the clouds. Out to feed the ducks and doves. Although I had just replaced the dove’s water, by the time I had finished with the ducks, it had refrozen again! It stayed below freezing all day, but, although there were a few snow flurries, there was not much to settle. Debbie went with the Laws to St Neots Baptist Church and found it crowded with hardly a place to sit, Daniel first played a word game with Debbie and then on his computer, occasionally helping a little with Della. I had a coffee with Di and then spent an hour in my office, typing in updates for 1835 Little Paxton on the Anchor site and church restoration.
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We collect Daniel from Kimbolton on the coldest day of the winter so far after his school boating holiday and then a quiet evening watching a video film ‘Educating Rita’ with it being a break from my Local History research for once. The Scottish prison occupation ends, with a promise of an inquiry over conditions, a constable dies in an Ulster bombing, 3,500 people turn up for David Penhaligon’s memorial service at Westminster Cathedral, Labour are predicted to win the Greenwich by-election and a military vehicle overturns carrying nuclear warheads.
Was the first to wake this morning and was impatient for Di to come up with the morning tea. She brought the paper as well and I sat reading it for a while, before it was time to get showered, shaved and dressed for breakfast. I had wheat flakes again with the girls and then settled down in the playroom to read the rest of the paper. A tough time keeping the girls in one room, which I was heating, until it was time for coffee with Di. Out to feed the doves, who were more than ready for a meal. The night had been as cold as any we have had this winter and they say that there is even more to come. Put the alarms on and then off we went in the Range Rover to Kimbolton to collect Dan from his school holiday. Arrived early and so treated the girls to a drink in a new tea room that had opened in the village there. The girls just about behaved themselves and Della has been difficult lately. All across to the castle and still had to wait a while until the minibus arrived and Daniel arrived back. He thoroughly enjoyed his trip and had obviously thrown himself into it in the right spirit.
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A trip to Bedford in the Range Rover with ‘DIF-LOCK’ engaged as a protection from the frosty roads and then time researching in the Bedford library and its Reference Room and then to finish copying Les Forscutt’s cuttings and Mrs Davis’s photo before returning home to find my weather vane having fallen to the ground. This evening, finishing the bulk of my Norman Chapter and listening to the news where Ken Baker is trying to take the school curriculum’s away from schools and under his central control. Ernest Saunders of Guinness is in disgrace over takeover transgressions, Reagan is out of hospital but straight back into Iran arms sales controversy and a bomb explodes in a Johannesburg department store
Another comfortable and warm night within our electrically heated bed. Still sound asleep when Di woke me to my morning tea and had to sit in bed writing up yesterday’s journal, which took a long time. Not yet washed or dressed, therefore, when I went down to breakfast and had to hurry to get ready after. It was time then to get the Range Rover out and the family ready for our trip to Bedford. Another heavy frost, but little breeze and so the cold was not too penetrating. Put the car into 4-wheel drive ‘DIF-LOCK,’ to be safe on the frosty roads and it still handled normally. Parked at Lurke Street car park and walked to Debenhams for morning coffee. Di spotted a notice in the window of our old coffee house and it said, to her disgust, that planning permission is being sought to turn it into a ‘Pizza Hut’. Ughh! After a nice break, I left Di to go shopping in the Early Learning Centre sale and I went to Bedford Library. First I compared the Huntingdon VCH manorial history for Little Paxton with The Calendar of Hunts Feet of Fines and found out that the entries post 1603 are not covered and I probably have that information already.
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A cold and frosty day for Debbie to go back to school whilst I was looking after Della and then a visit to Les Forscutt of St Neots, a former Little Paxton resident, whose thatched cottage was burnt down in the war before home to host a visit from Nigel who had sorted out Elm Leisure and is soon off skiing after a bust Christmas of hospitality. This before enjoying a log fire on a cold and frosty evening and then retiring after hearing of troubles on the currency exchanges with France wanting a re-alignment of the Franc against the dollar and 100 cars were involved in a M6/M1 junction motorway collision in the fog
Another comfortable night with our electric blanket, although the temperature outside dropped well below zero and the pool pump was running by means of its automatic frost protection. Up, showered, shaved and dressed for breakfast and was allowed one croissant and a little wheat flakes. Daniella has been a bit strange these last few days. She is sleeping in in the morning, waking up and roaming the house in the evening and, with the independence of a two year old, insisting on doing everything herself. Di is now waking her up in the morning so that she is tired enough to go to bed on time and we are all suffering the consequences of her tetchiness. All except Daniel, who is still on his school boating holiday and is yet to send a card. The first day back to school for Debbie today and Di is struggling to get her ready on time; us all being used to a lay in during the Christmas and New Year holiday. In the end Di goes off and leaves Della with me and I keep her happy by reading to her until she returns. The frost persists all day today, out of the sunshine, but at least the daylight hours are getting longer.