A full and tiring day after an unsettled night, levelling the new ‘games’ lawn with Pete rotavating and moving earth and me setting the remainder of the levelling pegs before taking Debbie horse-riding with Di at her new ‘keep-fit’ class. The UK government lose the latest ‘Spy-catcher’ case in Australia and with it the argument for supressing a book already being widely read, another ship sinks in the Gulf after hitting a mine with four crew dead and a record British Trade deficit and rumours of a higher interest rate sends the stock exchange plummeting
A night of intermittent sleep, as I kept thinking about my progress on the riverside lawn and wanting to cool down and so to the toilet as well! Asleep, however, when my morning tea arrived and then managed to get showered and dressed for breakfast. Joined Della in Debbie's bedroom to wave goodbye to the children and then went out to make an early start on the lawn bed. Pete spent the day rotavating and using the fork, rake and wheelbarrow to move the earth on to the lower levels. I made and placed the remainder of the levelling pegs, which took me all day.
This morning, I saw Della off to playschool and, though she cried a little when Di left her, she soon settled down. Di went out again this morning and, after our salad lunch, her mother Norma came over to look after Daniella, whilst Di went to her first ‘keep fit’ lesson this term. She weighed 10st 1lb this morning and hopes to be below 10 stone for her Bedford shopping trip tomorrow. Late this afternoon I took Debbie horse riding. She had Tango and made a fair job of riding her and will now come an hour later next week to ride with the older children. A snack tea, once we had got home, and then the children did their homework, as I finished my lawn levelling pegs and then updated my journal. Quite tired at the end of another hard day’s work, but I hope to have the lawn levelled soon and the turf laid to transform it into a true games lawn. News of a setback for the British Government, as they lose a Spy Catcher appeal in the New South Wales Court. They now appeal to Australia’s High Court, as a last resort, but are up against it, as the Spy Catcher book has already been published in the US and copies are flooding the world. A ship has hit one of the Gulf mines and sunk with 4 men dead as a result. America appeals to the Russians for an Iran arms embargo and Russia to the Americans for a combined UN naval force in the Gulf. August saw a record British trade deficit at £1529 million. Even after an estimated £600m of invisible banking/shipping trade etc, the deficit on current account was still put at £929m. As a result, the stock exchange went into a spin and wiped £7 billion off of share values, as worries about higher interest rates abounded. The teaching unions have decided against any further school disruption, despite not having their negotiating rights restored. They will campaign for a political change. Fine weather is forecast for the next few days and I will do a number of outside jobs as a result.