HDC planning officer visiting unhappy about the scale of my conservatory, despite The Hayling View being a combination of two houses now, taking my Hayter mower to Ibbetts of Great Paxton, Rogers of Barford being too busy and then settled down to more writing and editing, Fords come to the negotiating table, Land Rover workers are due to strike on Monday, Austria’s Kurt Waldheim is under pressure and plans to make the emergency ‘Prevention of Terrorism’ measures permanent on the eve of the Anglo-Irish summit angers the Ulster Catholics and two Palestinians are beaten and buried alive by Israeli soldiers
A rather unsettled night. Diana was coughing well and moving around, introducing draughts under the covers! Slow to awake and get up as a result and so had to eat breakfast on my own. In the event, the post and paper had arrived and so I read the lot at the breakfast table. New licenses from Swansea DVLC for me and Di and a new provisional license for Daniel. The forms for the Registration Transfer – YXD1 – for my Rolls Royce also came and I dealt with these and some other matters for Diana to post on her trip out this morning. I then prepared for my visitor – Mr Carmichael from the Huntingdon District Council Planning Department. He arrived on time at 11.00am and I welcomed him to my office and tried to persuade him that my conservatory in its planned shape and size was a good idea. I explained my use for it as a place for leisure and a Koi carp pool, how the houses had been joined together permanently and the conservatory was at moderate size in relation to the building.
Next how the balconies and other visual features were used to make the house distinctive in its own right and not to be closely compared with others in Willow Close. Then we walked on to the upstairs balconies, down to the river and along Willow Close and he still insisted that the design was intrusive. I spoke later to Charles Frost and we agreed to submit a design slightly less long and more wide to try to appease the man, though we feel it makes no real difference. This afternoon I took our Hayter mower into Ibbetts of Gt Paxton for repair. Rogers of Barford had quoted 2 ½ months backlog of repairs, but Ibbetts will do the job in 2 weeks, but I dare not wait any longer towards the spring rush. Dropped in at Clever Stationers on my return and bought some books and folders for my motor car records. Then, after tea and the bird feeding, I reorganised the files and prepared for the arrival of my Corniche. Some more time on the word processor (The Anchor this time) before the news and my journal. The news today is of the Ford Motor Company calling in the unions for more pay talks. The unions are expecting concessions, and this could be a major victory for the unions and a big encouragement to the labour movement. It seems that management may give way on their insistence on a 3 year agreement. Land Rover workers have voted for a strike from Monday. Elsewhere, Kurt Waldheim, the Austrian President, is under mounting pressure for him to stand down, and the Austrian Chancellor may resign if he does not. The UK government has opted to make the ‘Prevention of Terrorism’ a permanent piece of legislation, instead of its current and annual renewal. There is a predictable outcry from Irish and UK opposition spokesmen, who say that it helps propaganda for the IRA, who claim oppression for Ulster Catholic citizens. All this on the eve of an Anglo-Irish Summit. US news of the race for the Presidential nomination is all hype and hysteria. What a poor way to elect a leader as multi-way so-called ‘TV debates’ have them haranguing and heckling each other. Two Israeli soldiers have been arrested after four Palestinian youths were beaten to the ground and buried alive by a bulldozer.