Making several organising phone calls after a tired and reluctant start to a much milder day but some considerable achievement as a result. Debbie was performing in the ‘Brownies Entertainments’ display this evening after which I attended the first meeting of the new Village Hall committee and became its Vice Chairman. Ireland has opted not to arrest Patrick Ryan due to the flimsiness of the case against him, the US as the venue of the UN comes into question after they ban Yasser Arafat from entering into the U.S.-based United Nations assembly to speak in the Middle East debate and the nurses are still protesting about unfair grading and the government is closing mental hospitals to quickly to allow the community care schemes to take up the patient’s care satisfactorily.
I was really tired this morning and most reluctant to wake up when called. I eventually dragged myself into my dressing gown and went down to breakfast like that. I was so confused that I started putting apple juice onto my cereal that made an interesting taste when mixed with milk! I caught Pete when he came with Joan and asked him to finish sorting and washing the three-quarter inch gravel for my ponds and that took him all morning. I then made a number of phone calls: Charles Frost agreed my list of outstanding items for the conservatory and will be attending to them in the next week or so; Roger Brittain agrees that the Inland Revenue seem to be approving my last few years tax returns at last, and I received a £15,000 cheque to prove it. I asked Roger to set out the outstanding capital tax payments that I will now have to make. Percy Meyer phoned and came around and then I spent the rest of this morning and afternoon laying out the start of the Buckden FOCUS newsletters. I fed the ducks and doves twice. After tea, I changed and first went along to the ‘Brownies Entertainments’ display, which was a bit nervy but otherwise all right. Then a walk to the Village Hall for the first meeting of the new Village Hall committee. They elected Mr Cromarty as chairman and I seconded his nomination even though he was a confirmed Tory and former chairman of the Sandy Conservative Party. I took the Vice Chair and will keep an eye on him! It is good to have as many active people involved as possible in the task of getting the hall maintained and improved.
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Home by 8:30pm, by which time Percy and Pat had arrived and were retyping all of the information we had lost in yesterday’s accident. I wrote up my journal as Pat finished the last of it and then did some of the editing before bedtime. The news this evening is of the fate of Patrick Ryan, the ex-priest and IRA suspect, who was sent to the Irish Republic. Ireland has opted not to arrest him due to the flimsiness of the case against him and have drawn criticism from the Thatcher government. The US have also been under pressure to change their mind on the decision not to allow Yasser Arafat into the U.S.-based United Nations assembly to speak in the Middle East debate. It now seems that the debate may be transferred to Geneva to facilitate his involvement in the integrity of the United Nations might therefore be preserved, even if that of its US hosts is tarnished. British Coal is shutting down two pits in Wales and 1400 miners will have to be redeployed as no new anthracite will be extracted there were 11 pits employing 7500 in Wales before this. Now more closures are foreshadowed for Scotland next week as leaks are made to soften up the reaction. 44 midwives give one months’ notice of resignation at a North Middlesex Hospital today in protest about unfair grading. This is their gesture and they hope that the month will see a solution to the injustice. Today, 700 NUPE held a one-day protest with 400 attending a rally. 1/5 of the capital’s hospitals were affected but emergency cover was maintained throughout. The weather turned much milder today which was a relief. The stock exchange fell steadily again today, endangering the launch of privatised British Steel on the stock exchange at the end of this week. USSR leader Mikhail Gorbachev is suffering from rising nationalism from its provinces, given new impetus by the more open freedoms of expression. The government is closing mental hospitals to quickly and into larger number to allow the community care schemes to take up the patient’s satisfactorily.