Planning my investments and working on my archives on a wet and windy day that turned stormy. A further IRA bomb, four times as big, that had again been planted at a remembrance venue did not explode was found 18 miles from Inneskillen, was disarmed and the Boys and Girls Brigades prayed for their lucky deliverance. BA takes over BCal and takes their international routes but the domestic ones are handed back to BAA for re-allocation and Reagan tries for a third time to get a Supreme Court nomination approved. The C of E Synod says that practising homosexual behaviour ‘falls short of the ideals expected’ in the priesthood
A fair night’s sleep, but I was the one that woke up first, as Diana’s alarm clock seemed not to be working. Was therefore well awake by the time I had to shower etc and so was on time for breakfast as a change. Got onto the children, who are too liable to leave their rooms messy and then had a poor breakfast of wheat flakes again. Di got the children off to school and I settled into my office and read the morning paper. Then set to working out some investment statistics and concluded that I hold about 20% of our wealth in Equities, which is just about right at the moment. Spoke to my Stockbroker on the telephone and he felt it was still an overall bear market, even if we are in the middle of a rally.
Today the FT100 index rose about 60 pts and I hope it is fairly stable now, though I think the market is still nervous. Worked all the rest of the day on my album of photographs, indexing and fixing them in with suitable captions. Bread for lunch and tea on a day that started fine, but gradually got more windy and wet, until it ended quite stormy. The trees are shedding the majority of their leaves. Phone calls to arrange my Solicitor/Accountant meeting for next week, Debbie’s horse riding for tomorrow and a further visit to Mr Smith to discuss local postcards again. Before tea, I sat and watched the second half of the England vs Yugoslavia eliminator for the European football cup final qualifications. We won 4-1 and dominated this match in Belgrade. Had tea on my lap whilst watching it and then checked Daniel’s homework. Debbie worked all evening again, but I had to check her maths and get her to correct her division. Quite late to bed. The news today is of a second, even larger, IRA bomb being found. It was also due to be detonated on Poppy Day, but failed to go off. At Tullyhommon, 18 miles from Enniskillen, it was also at a remembrance assembly point, which showed the IRA’s true motives. The British Army disarmed it. Boys and Girls Brigade youngsters said prayers at this evenings meetings to thank God for their deliverance. 6 more funerals from the 1st bomb were held today, on a wet and sombre day with high winds. 208 kilos (£51 million-worth) of cocaine was seized in the most successful ever drugs raid from Southampton to Holland, via Le Havre, Bremen, before the container was collected at Rotterdam. 5 men were arrested and investigations continue. A Manchester couple, having already lost 3 babies to a mystery virus, have had an unborn baby (due to be born in December) made a Ward of Court, so that it will be removed from the parents at birth and denied access to them. The government has allowed the British Airways takeover of British Caledonian to proceed, but with B Cal handing back all domestic and 3 European routes to the British Airport Authority for other British airlines to take up. A new bid can now be made. Much bad feeling in the House of Commons today, as first Labour talked out a docks scheme bill and then Conservatives kept talking beyond 2.30 today, and so a Labour business and Scottish day was lost also. Reagan has named a 3rd Supreme Court Judge to try to get Congress approval. A bomb at Beirut Airport killed several people. The General Synod of the Church of England rejected a call today to bar practising homosexuals from the priesthood, but they did decide that such behaviour, ‘fell short of the ideals expected’.