Overcoming a family crisis with Daniel’s toe injury and then to St Ives for coffee and the general auction passing a hunt in full regalia before dropping Daniel off for a weekend with the Tomblins to spend time with David and returning for Debbie to play on her new bike and then an evening watching a recorded film and football match. This as Tory MP Harvey proctor mows down 10 students and Roy Jenkins was elected Chancellor of Oxford University, beating two right wingers to do it. President Reagan of the USA has admitted that he was wrong, for the first time, in selling arms to Iran and that his advisers that opposed it, George Shultz and Caspar Weinberger, were right
Slept well enough, after going to bed with Diana and we both started the night in a relaxed mood. Awoke a little early, but, eventually, Di brought up my tea, the girls having got up and delayed her somewhat on the way. Showered and shaved but, before I could get going, a right kerfuffle. Daniel had stubbed his toe again and was in agony and the girls were crying. It took me a while to get over that and try to help and then he partially recovered and I was the last one down to breakfast. I decided that we would give Dan a lift to school, to save his walking to the bus in St Neots. It meant that Di and the girls had to scramble to be ready and I fed the doves and then went through the long process of securing the house and setting the alarm.
Dropped Daniel off outside the school gate, as he did not want to be embarrassed by too close attention on our part, then drove across country to the A604 and Huntingdon and on to St Ives. Parked the Range Rover and had morning coffee in Tooks, then had a look around St Ives general auction and antique auction viewings. Nothing there that I could not live without. Left at 11.30am to drive back to collect Daniel again, by the same cross-country route, which was picturesque on a sunny & still, if cold day. Drove south down the A1, stopping for lunch at the Happy Eater, and we then lost our way somewhat on our way past Hatfield to Sandridge. We encountered a hunt in full regalia and pack of hounds, but it was the new tunnel on the A1 that caused our loss of way. A pleasant time with the Tomblins, chatting over tea, biscuits and snacks. We were taking Daniel there to stay for the weekend, after a period of little contact between our families and we had a lot of information and news to exchange. Left him there in late afternoon and drove back in time to let Debbie play in Willow Close on her new bike. We chatted to Clare opposite, who is appearing on TV tonight in a ‘Jim’ll Fix It’ story, to improve the style of Longsands school uniforms. I tended the birds and then lit the fire, so that we could have tea in the lounge. The event was spoiled by a tempestuous tantrum from Daniella, who seems quite inconsolable when she gets in these moods. Tonight, Di played a film videoed last Christmas, which was a quaint British film about an American oil magnate, falling in love with a Scottish fishing village boy. A nice film, which I enjoyed to the accompaniment of campari and soda from my drinks cupboard. After Di had gone to bed, I wrote up today’s diary and watched Watford beat Arsenal 2:1, to get into the semi-finals of the FA Cup. The biggest news story today was the arrest and questioning of right wing Tory MP, Harvey Proctor, after his car ran over 10 students, demonstrating against his speech at Oxford University yesterday. Today, Roy Jenkins was elected Chancellor of Oxford University and beat two right wingers to do it. The Tories are in a 9 percent lead over Labour in the opinion polls, according to the latest MORI poll, but there assessments have varied between extremes lately and the questions can be loaded. President Reagan of the USA has admitted that he was wrong, for the first time, in selling arms to Iran and that his advisers that opposed it, George Shultz and Caspar Weinberger, were right