Margaret Thatcher and European Commission President Jacques Delors
Margaret Thatcher and European Commission President Jacques Delors

Much of this day of showers working on our SLD FOCUS newsletters with Percy Meyer but also time working on the games lawn and taking Debbie to her horse-riding lesson, where she again did well in a more experienced class. Sometime also planning my contributions to forthcoming council meetings. Helicopters from surrounding rigs and ships were evacuating the crew of the Ocean Odyssey, though one man is still missing. Thatcher is in Spain negotiating about the problems with Gibraltar and has raised the spectre of a United States of Europe in opposition to the closer European policies of Jacques Delors

Got to bed quite late again last night as I had been scanning the teletext for news of the Olympic Games. Found out this morning that Great Britain had won gold and several medals in the smallbore shooting, silver team and individual silver and bronze medals in the three-day in question event and bronze in the Modern Pentathlon. We are qualifying well in rowing and may yet win more golds outside of our favourite athletics disciplines which have yet to come. Went outside to see Pete this morning and I warned him of the builder’s arrival on Monday and the need to get the site ready for earth deposit by the river. Started on my financial affairs then but was interrupted for the rest of the morning by Percy Meyer who came across to get my help in planning his FOCUS newsletters.

We worked out a scheme to put common-comment inserts round each of the Offord, Buckden and Gransden sub districts with individual copy outside to make them look more locally-relevant. Lunch and then this afternoon slogging on with my finances. Got out at 4:30 PM to do some transactions in town but was a bit late back for tea. Then out at once to take Debbie horse riding in Offord where she was in quite an advanced class as the ‘baby’ of the ride. They were jumping without stirrups and their hands in the air arms and she would not try that! A few phone calls this evening, plotting ahead of my council meetings next week to try and get the lion’s share of the press comment again.  the main news today is of another oil rig explosion and fire continuing on the Ocean Odyssey, and 66 people were rescued and one man is still missing as the fires continued. It seems that there had been gas escapes in recent weeks and they did not stop work as their drills encountered a gas pocket. Helicopters from surrounding oil rigs and military ships were deployed to lift off the men. It seems that automatic back pressure valves failed to work on the blowout which continues to burn. Britain has expelled three tech Czechoslovakian diplomats today for spying. Thatcher is now in Spain and was criticising British holiday hooligans before locking horns with Gonzales about the problems of Gibraltar. She is raising the spectre of ‘a United States of Europe’ to try to rouse opposition to the policies of the French EEC president Michelle Jacques Delores. Some showers today but not enough to wet the earth and put next Monday’s excavations in danger.