To Cambridge on quite a cold and overcast day to collect the artwork for our focuses from Bill Walston before depositing them with our printer and then dropping off 50 little Paxton history photos for transparencies to be made. To the city centre to shop for a briefcase for Daniel and a slide projector and screen for me. Home for lunch to find Chrisula with a baby Catherine visiting day and then on to Huntingdon for an appointment with Mr Alexander of potential about local woodlands, collecting my Council mail from Pathfinder House and home to discover that Linda is interested in joining the parish council. The postal strike settlement is coming apart at the seams, the Pope has been diverted from Lesotho to South Africa after hijacking of pilgrims in a bus there as Hurricane Gilbert get stronger as it approaches Mexico with winds up to 200 miles an hour, the worst Caribbean storm this century.
Awoke and arose quite a bit earlier this morning and arrived in time for breakfast for once. I had arranged to go to Cambridge this morning but still had time to read the papers and look at the little post that had arrived for the first time in days. Also tended the ducks and doves as Pete does not come to help me on Wednesdays. It was quite cold and overcast today as I set off in the car for Cambridge. first to the workplace of Bill Walston, where I picked up the artwork for our FOCUS’s and then drove across town to deposit them with our friendly printer to get plates prepared. I also stopped off at the photographic finishers and put in 50 of my Little Paxton history photos to have 85 mm transparencies/slides made from them for my forthcoming history lectures. Then I parked in the city centre and did some shopping – took a book back to the library, bought a new briefcase for Daniel and a slide projector and screen for me. Home a little late to lunch and found Chrisula arriving with her baby Catherine and she had come to see Di and Della.
Lunch of salad and then I soon left again, this time for Huntingdon. Dropped some documents off at Michael Pope’s house then got to Huntingdon for a 4pm appointment with Mr Alexander of Prudential. I briefed him on my land purchase requirements and he would be approaching local landowners for suitable riverside meadows and local woodlands. He will also place an advertisement in Farmer’s Weekly on my behalf. Across to Pathfinder House to collect my Council mail and then off home. After tea, I tended the birds and then fielded a few telephone calls. Diana’s friend, Linda, is interested in being on the Parish Council and I encouraged her to contact the Clerk and volunteer. The news this evening is of the postal strike settlement coming apart at the seams. More postman had voted to stay out on strike and it seems it will be some time before the service is up-to-date again. International news today is of a hijacking in Lesotho of a bus of pilgrims going to see the Pope’s arrival. The Pope’s plane diverted to South Africa because of this and the weather which meant a very rare arrival of the Pontiff in this condemned country of apartheid. Later South African personnel aided the storming of the bus and three hijackers and one hostage were killed in the process. Later, the Pope arrived by road after all the fuss had died down. The Hurricane Gilbert is getting still stronger as it approaches Mexico with winds up to 200 mph and is now the worst Caribbean storm this century.