After progressing the progress of my FOCUS’s this morning, I undertook some hard work raking and top-dressing my games lawn in cool weather until I felt faint and then returned to my office to clear some items as I recovered. This evening, taking Debbie to her horse-riding lesson, where she did very well, and then a late call sending me to the Cambridge Liberal office to collect my FOCUS’s at where a Gay Group party was in full swing, red light bulbs and everything! Hurricane Gilbert, now Force 5, is wreaking havoc in the Caribbean, being the worst in living memory. Violent robberies at home and no consensus of views at the Gibraltar IRA inquest
A bit of a lay in this morning as Diana had forgotten to set her alarm clock! Spent the day at home; first contacting Peter Wilmer to arrange a meeting on Monday, then establishing that the FOCUS’s are being printed today. I went on to the games lawn this morning and got Peter to help me to rake up the lawn for a rough cut to thin out the weeds and clover. Now, I’ve got five large bags of moss peat, and now that we have earth and sharp sand available, I am determined that the hollows in our new lawn will get a very thick top dressing so that it will be much flatter by next year. I realise it would take a decade of that treatment before it becomes completely flat, if then, but each year should see an improvement. After the exertion using the sharp tine rake, I felt a bit groggy and, whether I had not had enough breakfast or what I do not know, I had a couple of hours struggling to remain compos mentis as I kept having trouble to remember things. A strange sensation and perhaps I must acknowledge that I am getting old and cannot manage to keep track of 20/30 things at the same time!
I gradually recovered after lunch and succeeded in clearing several action items out of the way. I had three ward queries from constituents today on a planning application, a tree preservation order, and one other and dealt with them even though I was not entirely ‘with it’. Phone calls back and forwards to Pathfinder House as well as to certain constituents resolving a few items of outstanding concern. We have now received the post today and yesterday so that things are getting back to normal gradually. In the newspapers we had received today, my work on the scandal of the booking conditions for children’s swimming lessons at Ernulf School paid dividends with a good mention of me and especially Michael Pope that will put pressure on the Committee to make changes. We still need another pool for this populous district. This evening, I took Debbie off to Offord D’Arcy for her horse-riding lesson and she did quite well under an exacting instructress. She can certainly ride better than the girls some years her senior and keeps asking about getting her own horse! Very late, a call from Cambridge Liberals sent me driving over there to pick up my printed FOCUS’s. I was a bit perturbed by the discovery that the buildings of our Cambridge HQ had been let for the evening for a Gay Group Party. The windows were curtained, red light bulbs were in place and this gathering was in full swing. Luckily, I could get into the printing room by a rear-entrance (no pun intended!) but I hate to think that the effect this letting policy has on the printing leaflet helpers trapped in the backroom as I found just visiting there to be an off-putting experience. Home late and little time for anything but my born Vita, a read of the new FOCUS’s and my bed. The news today was of Hurricane Gilbert with its force five rating, wreaking havoc in Jamaica, Mexico, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and the Cayman Islands in reverse order. This worst hurricane ever known begun near Puerto Rico on Sunday and gains force over the sea and calms down overland. Even so, for the first time, this Force 5 hurricane may hit a coastal city and Texas is now in the firing line with Houston threatened. There were a couple of remarkably violent robberies yesterday. A gang held the bank manager’s family and the entire staff hostage and escaped with hundreds of thousands of pounds. The Gibraltar IRA inquest ends with both sides confirmed in their original views. The weather cool but improving.