A ‘Now you see them; Now you don’t’ performance by the builders and bricklayers who failed to coordinate the supply of bricks and sand with the bricklayer! I moved The Lady to her Winter flood mooring today and sorted out some administration but mostly I was preparing for my speech to The Housing Committee tonight on Grass Cutting when I was supported by the two Labour members and the Independents, but the Tories voted the proposition down. The Coroner’s Court reached a conclusion of ‘Accidental Death’ for the 31 Kings Cross Fire victims, The Tory Conference was in full swing and in full denial with them trying to ignore the Nurses justifiable pay claim and Dr Ian Paisley shouts down the Pope’s speech to the European Parliament.
I didn’t sleep particularly well as I approached today with some trepidation. I was expecting the building work to recommence, which is always a vexation, and also had the prospect of addressing an unsympathetic audience at this evening’s housing committee. In view of the former, I staked out the lounge to read my paper and found that the bricklayer was here quite early and the gardener quite late. The Brickie hung around for a while, borrowed my telephone a couple of times and did some measuring to get ready but the building bricks and materials failed to arrive and so he had a wasted day. I worked on my grassed-cutting speech this morning, aware of the need to try to shorten it. There seems to be little to leave out and so I will just have to insist on delivering it all this evening during 10 minute spell I was preparing l regardless of unsympathetic chairmanship or heckling.
Despite rain and storm warnings, the weather today continued fine, if a bit chilly, but now rainstorms are forecast for overnight. This afternoon, I moved The Lady to her winter mooring position, by the flood-riding poll and so am ready for anything the storms might throw at it. I made a few phone calls to sort out outstanding finance and insurance matters and then had to take delivery of the bricks and sand later as the bricklayer had given up and gone home by then. The odd work query on rates before the afternoon had almost disappeared. Managed to back-up my recent diskettes before tea came and then spent all evening at the HDC Housing committee meeting. The news tonight was of the results of the inquest into the King’s Cross fire as a coroner’s verdict of ‘accidental death’ was voted by the jury on the 31 victims. The Conservative Conference is in full swing with all of the dissent repressed by a full-blown PR production. The new Party Chairman (whose job is to knock the other parties and raise party funds) sounds just like the most partisan of the local Tories. ‘Pride Headed for a Fall’ sometime soon, as complacency oozes out of them. At the European Parliament, Northern Ireland Protestant bigot, Dr Ian Paisley, interrupts the speech by the Pope with ill-mannered shouting and is forcibly injected. More drug cases go through the courts with two implicated ‘London businessman’ allowed out on bail. My Housing Committee address went quite well. I was firstly able to give it without interruption or resistance and then each of the two Labour Party members and independents on the committee supported my proposals. Unfortunately, the Tories voted it down but only after an hour’s procedural and debating wrangle. Most worthwhile, as I can see the real impact I’m having on the council’s deliberations. I stopped off at Southoe on the way home and was thanked and congratulated by the White family for getting their overgrown hedge cut by the council. Late news tonight is of a breakdown in the nurse’s pay talks. The nurses’ leaders are now travelling to Brighton to try and see Minister Kenneth Clarke but he says will not meet them and the government have also rejected independent arbitration.