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Collecting Daniel after school and disappointed with our Happy Eater meal after which the children brought friends home to play and then an evening at the poorly-attended Little Paxton School Association Barn Dance which we enjoyed nevertheless. The end of a traumatic week in the Houses of Parliament. In the Commons, guerrilla warfare over parliamentary procedural use detracted from any serious discussion of events and got the government off the hook as the recriminations over the Enniskillen dead is in full flow and I am keeping a close eye on the ebbs and flows on the Stock Exchange
After the late night, we did not get enough sleep and turned wearily to the task of getting Daniel off to school and Debbie to play with her neighbourhood friend, Amy. We stayed in this morning, on a calmer day, which was a little cooler than of late. I read the Saturday Financial Times, which is always a good source of considered investment advice, then wrote up yesterday’s journal. Worked a little at my desk this morning, but it was soon time to collect Daniel from the bus stop. I had previously fed the ducks and doves, getting two more duck eggs and noting that the baby dove was still alive and growing. Daniel’s bus was late and then we had the revelation that he had lost his new coat yesterday and neither he nor Diana had thought to report its loss this morning when they knew!
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Reviewing my shareholdings as Di visits Bedford and the Stock Exchange falls again as predicted and then working on my Little Paxton history project, making appointments and transcribing tapes before also working on our own video tapes of the recent Disneyland visit. The Tamils in Sri Lanka suffer a curfew and 500 ‘rebels’ are arrested, another Ethiopian drought threatens thousands and Reagan has yet to agree his budget with Congress and finds his Nicaraguan intervention even less justified
Slept well enough after last night’s late retirement, but the night was not long enough. It was a struggle to get down to breakfast, but was just in time to save my single croissant from the children after an introductory dish of melon. Soon the children were off to school and Di was off to Bedford with Della. It was the day to get our new gear cover fitted free under warranty. I used my Prestel set to scan City developments. I had already read the FT, and soon the share prices were sliding again. Poor inflation and production figures had been released and the US talks on the budget deficit seem on course to be spun out until the deadline for the end of next week. Tried to get back into my local history work this morning, but first several phone calls could not reach their intended recipients. Made some arrangements, though, and am now back into the job of transcribing the last Hall interview tape.
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After checking with my stockbroker about shares rising, I had a visit from Mr Smith, the post card collector, and bought copies of old Paxton cards and later visited Cliff & Diana Robert’s house at the mill – Mill House- for a long evening chat about its historical connections to the Paper Mill. A further Sikh has died from injuries sustained in last Wednesday’s gun attack in Southall and Labour are trying to control the influence of left-wingers, and stop a Sinn Fein lecture
Laid tired in bed for a while and only then got up and showered, deciding to shampoo my hair before breakfast. Was late to the table again, though still had a chance to chat with the family. Read today’s paper, then called my Stockbroker. The Stock Exchange was recovering sharply this morning and rose all day, but I am advised that it is still a bear market and there will be other buying opportunities. It ended at about 1700 and had been as low as 1550 a little while ago. Had a visit this morning from Mr Trevor Smith, the post card collector. I gave him copies of his 13/14 cards that I had previously borrowed and then loaned his remaining 25 to get copies of afresh. This will cost a further £100 (£2.50 for the 1st and £1.50 for the second copies).
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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.