A ‘back to school’ day, with Daniel joining the Kimbolton 6th Form and enjoying its privileges, Debbie settling in well in her seat at the front of her new class and Della settling in well at ‘Rising 5’s’ with Di staying on as a helper there. I was taking advantage of this peace to work a full day on Council and SLD business, drop in to Pathfinder House and meeting up with fellow activists Percy Meyer and Michael Pope before an evening meeting of the St Neots Museum where they would like me to take over the Chairmanship soon. All postal sorting offices are at a standstill and no mail is being delivered, another large haul of drugs from the channel and police raid a large forgery factory in London
Awoke to a beautiful, dry and warm morning which was still rather misty. It seems that the season of foggy mornings has begun. Soon it warmed up and the day turned out to be very warm and muggy. After tending to my ducks and doves this morning, I spent the day working in my office producing letters on District Council business. I was progressing issues directly and trying to get certain of them onto the forthcoming committee agendae. I was able to do this, as that the children went back to school today. Daniel was in the sixth form for the first time and enjoyed the free timetable space and the more informal rules of the sixth form. They can have lunch at their convenience by joining the front of the queue and generally have the ascendancy of status over everyone else there. He was pleased to find out that very few others had ‘B’ in Additional Maths and only a handful with an ‘A ‘and so he has worked his way up towards the top of the year. Debbie settled in with her new teacher very well, found a place at the front of the class (for her poor hearing and eyesight) and was quite happy with proceedings despite some morning nerves. Della went quite well on her first day of ‘rising 5’s’ although Di was there as a helper.
She likes the work they do and did not cry at being left, unlike many of her playmates. All this left me with lots of peace and quiet and I use the opportunity well, working hard and then breaking off for lunch of salad and carrying on until I finished all of the items to be hand-carried to Pathfinder house this afternoon. I had mislaid my briefcase and found out that I had left it in the Council Chamber last night and so had to recover it and needed to collect my mail from the members mailboxes because of the postal strike. Went there and back in the Rolls-Royce (Di had to take the other car and go to Kimbolton to buy Debbie a new school berry replace the one that she lost) in glorious weather and did these chores very successfully. I also dropped in to see Percy Meyer on the way back for a chat about SLD campaigning and he gave me several bunches of red grapes from his greenhouse. Home for tea and then this evening at St Neots Town Council chamber for a meeting of the Museum Management Committee. A good event wherein there was progress on both a site for the museum and a plan for publicity. I was privately asked if I would be able to take over as chairman in the future and I was guardedly welcoming, but I have doubts as the time commitment could be too much until I finish my history book. After this meeting, I went back to Michael Pope’s house and we exchanged County and District Council views and tactics. Home late and to bed after midnight after writing my diary entry. News of the Gibraltar enquiry today, where the SAS admitted making mistakes in the events leading up to the IRA assassinations. Back home, all the postal sorting offices are at a standstill as the postal union members refuse to handle diverted mail or work with temporary staff and are sent home. There has been another large arrest and seizure of drugs aboard a ship in the channel. Police have also found a large forgery factory in London and seized forged passports, driving licence, registration documents, cheques etc. in what appears to be a massive haul.