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A frenetic time with the girls choosing cards and presents for Di’s birthday, wrapping them and getting them ready to deliver them. Di took Debbie to stay overnight with her friend Helen Cranston today and I watched James Bond video with Daniel after top dressing the games lawn with Carboryl as a combined pest killer and fertiliser.
Slept well but seemed tired this morning and a bit reluctant to get going. Had breakfast in my dressing gown and then sat in my office going through the mail and reading the paper. Di had taken the girls off swimming and Della cried again because she doesn’t like the Super Ted lessons as they necessitate her jumping in and getting water up her nose! I had just got ready and tended the ducks and doves when the girls were back again and I had to take them to town to get Di birthday cards presence and wrapping paper. A frenetic hour with the girls being difficult but at least we obtained the goodies.
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Taking Di and Della to Cambridge after waiting in to meet and brief the builders but suffered delays in the Abbey National before our coffee rendezvous at Eadon Lilley. The afternoon with new St Neots Weekly News journalist, Tracey Reddit, helping her with my Little Paxton History feature article. Later, I made up my 1989 diary, putting in all of my known meeting commitments. Thatcher addresses the faithful at Brighton with much complacency even though inflation has risen to a three-year high of 5.9% which will now feed through into mortgage rate increases. George Bush does well against challenger Dukakis in the US presidential debates
A sound night after a slightly active start to it. Up quite early and wash my hair before breakfast. Sat in the lounge waiting for the builders to arrive and managed to read the morning mail and papers during this period. Then briefed the men on what I wanted done and set off with Diana and Della for the trip to Cambridge. Got there at the end of a foggy drive at 9:30am but had to suffer a frustrating wait of 20 minutes in the Abbey National and made the level of fuss consistent with this inconvenience. Coffee in Eden Lilley and then left the girls to go to the toy shops whilst I went around the stationers and computer shop to get supplies. I got some Filofax items including next year’s diary and also some more ribbons for my printer. We had lunch on the way back at the Little Chef and then I spent the afternoon with the new journalist from the weekly news, Tracey Reddit, who I helped with a Little Paxton feature article.
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I observed the bricklayer laying the first three or four courses of bricks in our conservatory today after calling Daniel early to make sure we all had breakfast together. The pond foundation was also begun. A tour of the Buckden County Ward villages with our candidate Percy Meyer on a fine and sunny day, taking 36 publicity photos. Good press stories today castigating Tory Mayor Bill Longford about his betrayal over Eaton Meadows. Ex-intelligence officer, Peter Wright, wins his legal case allowing him to publish the Spycatcher book, which contains details of a Secret Service plot to undermine Harrold Wilson’s Prime Ministership. The Health Minister makes a U-turn and announces an extra £125million to meet the nurses regrading costs but the government fiddles the unemployment statistics for the 24th time to exclude school leavers this time.
Awake quite early this morning and I called Daniel at 6:50am, so that we could all have breakfast together at 7:30am. The builders soon arrived and today the bricklayer laid 3 to 4 courses to bring the walls up to the floor level of the conservatory. They also dug out the perimeter of the deeper pool section and laid a concrete strip footing for the pool blockwork. This morning I called Percy Meyer, and arranged to go out with him around the village is taking shots for publicity purposes. We went to Offord, Buckden, Waresley and Paxton and got 36 good shots but it took all morning. The weather was fine today in the sun good for photography. This afternoon, I made a few calls and composed a press release on my recent Little Paxton history lectures and forthcoming publication, then, when I took Debbie to horse riding after tea, I drove off during the lesson and delivered the copies to offices in Huntingdon and St Ives.
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After reading papers in the lounge to overview my new conservatory site on a mostly fine day and seeing no builder’s activity, I repaired to my office and progressed my vehicle history enquiries and chased other suppliers. This afternoon, I collected my old Little Paxton Ladies and took them to the Village Hall and a meeting of The Friendship Club to whom I was giving my Little Paxton History talk. St Neots Tory Mayor, Cllr Bill Longford’s treachery was well-reported in the papers today at my instigation as the national Tory Conference hears of new policies on energy and prisoner supervision. The 2700th victim of the Ulster troubles was killed in an ice cream parlour today, filling in for his brother.
I was up on time today, to find Daniel late and missing his breakfast. I then read the paper in the lounge, so that I could be overlooking the conservatory site, but there was no sign of the builders this morning. I went to my office and worked on a whole host of correspondence, trying to find out where I could get my Reliant MOT tested and getting Early Owners particulars from the DVLC on my Rolls Royce and Reliant. I then composed a very strong letter to Colin Howard who’s been avoiding me for six months now about the return of my maps and prints. I have threatened to involve the law this time. I heard from the St Neots Weekly News that a journalist would be coming here on Friday afternoon to return our photographs and get my help in putting the Little Paxton History feature article on its feet. After lunch, I got ready, phoned my old ladies Mrs Ruff, Bunnage and Davis and then went out to pick them up to take them to see my talk on Little Paxton history to the Friendship Club at the village hall.