Seeing Debbie off alone on the bus this morning as Daniel was taking his Additional Maths GCE a year early and then welcoming my photos back from Colin Howard at last which started a large archiving process. After I had mowed the Games Lawn Debbie caused Diana to panic by hiding in her room when returning from school! The government allows the Nestles takeover of Rowntree to proceed which their Swiss hosts would have not allowed if the tables were reversed and Thatcher was lecturing Tory ladies in Methodist terms as she heard that the Scottish Kirk Assembly would not be inviting her back next year! Southoe PCC invite me to open their church fete in July and this evening’s Huntingdon SLD meeting went well as I implored them to go away and find candidates and circulate leaflets ready for next year’s elections.
A little latish to bed, as usual, and was sound asleep when woken with my morning tea. I made haste and showered and shaved in time for breakfast with the others. Debbie had to go to school (via the bus) on her own this morning, as Daniel and his contemporaries had dispensation to stay at home and study. All except his Set 1 were taking maths GCSE today and his is taking additional maths later on, having already gained ‘O’ level GCE mathematics a year early. This morning I received some mail – a couple of H D Council letters of reply etc. and I also received a packet of photographs from Colin Howard, at long last, with apologies for the delay. He still has some more overdue work of mine to do. I spent the morning sorting out, labelling and trimming these photos; preparing copies + originals to be returned to their owners, filing the referenced negatives safely and sticking the new copies in my album.
They had come out quite well really. Had finished most of this by lunchtime, when we awaited Diana’s return from helping with Daniella and the other girls at playschool. Della had evidently been quite happy today with Diana there. This afternoon I finished this chore off and then cut the games lawn. I also hand weeded it a bit more and replaced some coarse grass tufts with some of the correct quality from my spare supplies. At 4.30, Di came out in a panic and said that Debbie had not got back from school. Being her first day alone, we were concerned and I went out to look for her by car. Could not find her and the reason was, she was at home in her bedroom all the time, playing another hiding trick on Di! Di was angry and shouted at her, making her cry, but I was quite philosophical about it and pleased that she was safe. Teatime then. Daniel had Steve to tea of omelette on toast. Checked the news at this point. That non-elected bigot, Lord Young, has declined to refer the Nestles bid for Rowntree to the Monopolies Commission and so it is now open season for foreigners to take over British food companies; even if similar takeovers in a hostile fashion are banned in Switzerland. Thatcher is still spouting on, using her lapsed Methodist biblical references and trying to justify her moral philosophy to the Tory Ladies Conference. I don’t know why she bothers, as they would give a Tory donkey a standing ovation anyway. Meanwhile, the Kirk Assembly have decided not to invite the Prime Minister back to Scotland next year – one dose of Thatcher was more than enough. This evening, I picked up Percy Meyer and went on to the inaugural meeting of the Huntingdon Constituency SLD to give them a pep talk and preach cooperation. Earlier today, I had a call from Helen Ramply, Secretary of Southoe PCC, to invite me to open the Southoe Annual Fete in July and I was pleased to accept. It will be in old Mr Parker’s garden, which will be nice. Di was not overjoyed about it, as it means our annual holiday will be delayed by another couple of days. The meeting of the SLD in Huntingdon went very well this evening. I acted as quite a pick-me-up for them and sent them on their way to get candidates for all of their local wards, as a priority, and focus leaflets circulated on a regular basis. We had a good chat afterwards with me meeting Charles Looker, the ex Godmanchester District Councillor, and then a couple of drinks in the local pub. Home late and to bed.