Canvassing during the morning, taking Debbie horse-riding this afternoon and taking a rest to catch up this evening as IRA supporters and the British Government face charges of ‘execution’ and there are protests in Israel by journalists and photographers, as the government’s clampdown on the occupied territories continues and The Gulf War is continuing as the oil tanker, The Haven, was shelled and set on fire.
Had a rather disturbed night, feeling warm after the outside exertions and so was awake very early this morning. Lay in bed after drinking my morning tea for a long while, before Di got me up again to get showered and shaved. Breakfast of croissants today. I need not worry too much about diet, as I have lost some weight and am now down to just 13 stones. This is the consequence of my canvassing. Today was fine and sunny to start with, though cold as well. I started reading the paper and then sorted my office out and copied across the supporters from the canvass sheets to the wall chart; yellow for us, red for Labour and blue for Tory. Out quickly to do my ducks and doves and then I started canvassing for the morning. Started in Mill Lane, doing a house that I had missed the other day, and then went down the Hayling Walk and met a number of people in the houses down the private road. Then walked along to Windmill Cottage and waited patiently as the dogs barked and until the lady came out and I chatted to her. Home to lunch and then back to it this afternoon. Then my target was the more affluent closes to the north of the village. I found that a good technique is to chat to the kids, home on school holidays, finding out which householders were at home and that allowed me to save the time knocking doors for those who were there, getting a reasonable, if scattered, coverage.
Was rather late back and Di took the Rolls Royce to Ernulf swimming pool for Debbie's lesson, instead of the Range Rover! This evening, I took Debbie horse riding and had a break. Debbie rode Dolly, but could not come to terms with its reluctance to get going. Home to continue the canvass, relieving Michael Pope, who had been canvassing Hayling Avenue for me. A successful, but tiring, day and I seem to be building support all of the time. Relaxed later this evening for once. The news this evening is of a fourth man now being charged in Belfast in connection with the recent murder of the corporals, this time for shielding the culprits and withholding information. At the same time, Mrs Thatcher has hit out at the decision of Amnesty International to investigate the death of the IRA members in Gibraltar as, ‘Extra-Judiciary Execution’. All hopes of the TUC changing Ford’s mind over the Dundee electronics plant have now been given up. In financial markets, sterling rose 1.7c to close at $1.88, the highest exchange rate for 5 years. There were protests in Israel today by journalists and photographers, as the government’s clampdown on the occupied territories continues. The Gulf War is continuing as the oil tanker, The Haven, was shelled and set on fire. There have been recent Iranian claims of chemical attacks by Iraqi.