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Weighing in at 13st 7lbs today as the river rises from the snow melting and then on to St Ives for the Auction viewing where I place a few commission bids before lunch at Starburghers in Huntingdon and then home to hear news of an overwhelmingly successful SDP/Liberal merger vote at Blackpool as Arabs stage a 3500-strong torchlight procession
Had an active start to the night and then slept the sleep of the just until I was awoken by Diana and Daniella with my morning drink. Very slow to rise again, shower and dress, but I was pleased to note my weight down to approximately 13st 6lbs. Strange that our electronic scales do not seem to register 13st 7lbs and alternate between 13st 6lbs and 13st 8lbs – it must be the conversion electronics from kilogram’s as they resist 10st 7lbs. Down to breakfast somewhat late again. Poor Daniel is suffering from headaches and feeling ill and so we decide that he should stay in the warm instead of coming out with us today. Read a little of the Investors Chronicle, but it was soon time to set off for our morning trip to St Ives.
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To Bedford with difficulty after an overnight blizzard and then back later to collect the Range Rover from Marshalls. More London and York nurses and 2,000 ambulancemen considering joining the strike action in the run up to Chancellor Lawson’s budget and Israel is under more UN pressure over its West Bank/Gaza tactics, now that mass beatings are being meted out instead of shootings
A rather unsettled night, but slept OK in the end. An early awakening, for today we were due to get the Range Rover into Marshalls of Bedford early for a steam under-clean and 1200 mile service. Soon learnt on the radio, and had confirmed by opening the curtains, that there had been a heavy blizzard last night and the ground was covered with 4 inches of snow. Evidently there was thunder and lightning early this morning, that is unheard of this time of year. Got everybody ready after breakfast and I then set the children off at the bus stop, before taking Di and Della into Bedford in the slush and snow. At least today was bright and so the snow was melting, but not before the radio news was full of road blockages, accidents and traffic holdups.
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Informing Rob Wilmott to turn down the Compsoft PLC Directorship, making arrangements to advertise in the RREC magazine for a Corniche convertible and then taking Debbie horse-riding after an early tea when she did quite well on Rumpold. A mounting conflict today between Mrs Thatcher and the medical profession over Health Service funding as the dollar stayed depressed today and the stock markets continued both nervous and erratic,
Awoke this morning and made better headway of getting ready for breakfast and actually managed to join the family at the table for once. Straight to my paper after and then the mail, which was very thin for once. I made my call to Rob Wilmot and turned down the offer of a Compsoft PLC non-executive directorship and rested more easily for it. I heard from John Lorey of Ely Marina about boatbuilding for the Ouse. Again he is reluctant to consider it on his behalf, but has referred me to others and I shall follow these lines of enquiry up. Received the Exchange and Mart today and there were no Rolls Royce Corniche convertibles for sale at all. I started to plan to advertise in it, but find out that such a ‘wanted ad’ could not be published for two weeks.
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Closely watching the slide on Wall Street, with High Technology the big losers, as I worked on my investments and then buying a multi-bladed lawn mower from Cambridge and driving over to Buckden Marina to talk about boat designs but they were more interested in site development with cabins. Home to find a Directorship offer from Robb Wilmott to think about but Nigel talked me out of it as Rob lost most of his money in the October crash. The nurses are striking in three London Hospital as three Royal Colleges of medicine express dismay over lack of funding and Neil Kinnock carries all before him in the labour leadership battle
Still slow to get up this morning, but I did. Completed my preparations and still joined the family for some of the meal. Once the children had gone, I read the FT and sensed that the financial markets were jittery again and soon the screens told us that shares were slipping. There are rumours that the last month’s US trade deficit was under-expressed by £3Bn and certainly the Japanese figures on US trade suggested that this could be true. Later, slippage turned into a slide on Wall Street and the US dollar lost ground as central bank support faltered. I settled into my office today and first did my accounts, reconciling bank accounts and returning a phone call to my accountant over my BP transactions. Also made some phone calls on lawnmowers and ended up choosing to buy a 10-bladed model, second hand from Cambridge