- Details
The day in Cambridge after waving goodbye to Dan and Debbie for school and then time with Charles and Norma with Della being naughty, Purchase of a large bag of ‘Toplawn’ and a spreading machine, some text books for Daniel and a travel kettle for California before lunch at the Copper Kettle. More garden supplies from Waresley on the way home and then Daniel has an unauthorised visit from Louise and Paul this evening. The British train manufacturer, BRE, already decimated, is to lose 3,000 more jobs, semi-automatic weapons are banned in the UK and Iran and the US clash in the UN debate over the Gulf attacks
A warm and humid night, but we had our balcony doors open and were pleased to have their use. Awoke after a sound night’s sleep to find Diana away getting our morning drink. Soon I had this refreshment and went off to see Debbie in bed. She is quite sweet when she wakes up in the morning. Daniel wakes up all grumpy as a contrast. Off to get my shower and hair wash, but no time left to dress before 7.40am. Breakfast of cereal and the goodbye routine after, with Della leading the race to Debbie’s bedroom to wave goodbye to the other two. We got ready quite quickly and then took off in the Range Rover for Cambridge. I did just stop and talk to Pete and brief him on today’s tasks – mowing the lawn and then doing some more rotavating.
- Details
Briefing Pete in the use of the rotavator as I carried on undercoating the balcony rails and Di took Della to another little girl’s party and Daniel spent time with Louise and I then surveyed the results of Pete’s efforts later on with my new line-level before working on my Little Paxton press cuttings this evening. Now a British oil tanker has been attacked in the Gulf, as the US calls on Iran to obey UN resolutions or get sanctions imposed. The miner’s overtime ban starts without much initial effect, the National Front leader addresses a Tory Party fringe meeting and David Owen’s supporters clash with SDP Chair Shirley Williams as they resist merger.
A pleasant start to the night as Di and I tumbled together with mutual enjoyment and then a sound night’s sleep after, with one toilet call in the early hours. The earlier morning routine again this morning and only just made it to breakfast before all of the others left the table. It is now served at 7.40am to facilitate the children catching the school bus on time. After, I went straight out at 8.00am to brief Pete on the use of the rotavator and on what I wanted him to do. He then spent the morning rotavating all of the remaining untouched areas, having first moved all of the wood, scaffold poles and pipes from a pile. After he had then cultivated the soil the other way all over, we were left with quite an attractive result. Meanwhile, I applied the second of two white undercoats to the railings and only have a gloss coat to do when the weather is more settled. It was warm, dry and humid today, but also quite breezy. Di prepared me a salad lunch and then left for Caxton to take Daniella to another little girl’s birthday party.
- Details
More rotavating today after a late start before and after changing to join Di’s relatives who had gathered together in Bedford as a huge drugs raid arrests 11 men and seizes £4million-worth of cannabis across Europe, a Leicester rapist is arrested after over 4,000 men were genetically-tested and the Arab League grapples with the problem of ending the Iran/Iraq war
Stayed up very late to see the end of the old war film, ‘A Bridge Too Far’, but was allowed to lay in for quite a time this Sunday morning. Most of us came down to breakfast in our pyjamas and enjoyed a nice fried breakfast. Soon dressed after and I put on my old clothes and did some more rotavating on the drier and new patches of earth. In late morning we all had a drink together and then got ready for a trip to a social gathering of Diana’s relatives in Bedford. We put on some best clothes and drove there in the Range Rover. Daniel and I had hoovered it out and washed it this morning and it was a more practical choice than the Daimler. We needed the air conditioning by this time, as the sun had broken through the morning mist & low cloud and was now quite warm in the humid atmosphere. These events are always a bit dry – so many obscure relatives, many of which are scarcely known to us – but there was an agreeable buffet lunch to savour.
- Details
A serious attempt at rotavating the area for my planned games lawn during the drier spells on a day of rainy intervals which made it a wet and muddy task with the girls ‘helping’ by picking up stones. Daniel was off with Paul by shuttle bus to see Louise and Di was at the unfortunate ‘Scouts Jamboree’ that was rained off.
Awoken fairly early again, but stirred a bit more enthusiastically this morning and just about made breakfast with the others. Fine rain first thing that soon cleared up and so I went out and used the rotavator to do some more on the games lawn. I managed to extend the cultivated area up to the slipway and cross-rotavate it as well to undermine the previously turfed area. Later, Debbie and her friend Amy came to pick up stones and earned 20p each. Little Della was not to be left out and had the largest bucket from her sandpit to do the same thing. Quite tired by midday when it was time to give up and prepare to collect Daniel on the way to lunch.