As the painter completed his work in the conservatory, I sat in the lounge nearby with the children extracting newspaper cuttings and playing with them before Della and her friend Holly helped me clear up the conservatory, where the fish and heating controls were a fascination for us all. Though settling some accounts, I could not get deep into my paper work either then or later this evening. So-called ‘animal rights extremists’ firebombed stores in London and Cardiff today, the Law Lords ruled that the ‘Shoot-to-Kill’ inquest was unlawful, and Vickers won the UK Challenger tank project despite a pro-American lobby
I slept very soundly last night and awoke with my headache completely gone and I was feeling most rested. Soon the painter came and spent his last day here applying the second coat of microporous varnish to the conservatory rafters. I spent this morning sitting in the lounge with the children, reading a three-week backlog of local newspapers and extracting the Little Paxton cuttings. As I did this, I also supervised them and played some games as well and it is getting their Christmas. We had lunch and then I spent the afternoon clearing out the conservatory now that the painter had vacated it. I set everything out again and fed the fish. Della and her friend Holly loved to help me do this but had to keep warning them not to fall in the Koi carp pond!
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This evening, I paid some accounts but failed to get deeply and effectively into my work, spending too much time looking at my fish and over-viewing my underfloor heating system. The latter is difficult to control at artificially low temperatures and might be better once I can use it within its proper operating range. The news tonight is all about a series of fire bombs placed at stores in London and Cardiff by ‘animal rights extremists’ in protest at the fur trade. The major news on the public affairs front is the Law Lords ruling that the ‘Shoot-to-Kill’ inquest (where soldiers are not allowed in the witness box) was unlawful and there will have to be a new inquest as a result. The UK ‘Challenger Tank’ project has received the go-ahead to fulfil Britain’s tank requirements despite a pro-American supply lobby. Vickers will have to meet staged performance targets