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Some worry concerning Di’s tummy aches following her night-time indigestion and further pain when shopping later. A furious representation today from Peter Thornhill the Lord of Diddington Manor who felt that my public criticism of his gravel pit plans was unfair, though he conceded its accuracy. The trip today via Willington garden centre to collect my Rolls-Royce after yet more delays and then some upset with Daniel over his lack of money and need to do more chores as a result and he also ignored the voluptuous Claire visiting our pool in her new costume. My invitation to the HDC Housing committee meeting this evening, where my proposals for cutting grass for elderly and infirm tenants were hastily agreed to prevent me getting the credit. The UK postal strike now affects two thirds of the mail and it became apparent at this evening’s meeting that the government’s council housing policy would lead to near extinction of council housing by 1990
I slept well and awoke to my morning tea on another fine morning. Poor Diana had indigestion during the night and had to sleep in the spare room. We worry that she has a stomach ulcer and will have to get it looked at soon. I made a few phone calls in my office and the main event was a day was of the exchanged messages and phone calls with Peter Thornhill of Diddington. He was furious with me over my public criticism of his representations to have the Diddington gravel fields opened up. He had taken it personally was unaware of the plans map and its effects on Diddington and the extinct village of Boughton and thought that I’d made unfair assumptions which shed him in a poor light. In the end, he admitted that the map would give rise to our conclusions but claimed it was not of his authorship. Found out that the Rolls-Royce was ready and so took Di and the girls over this morning to pick it up. We went via the Willington Garden Centre and ended up staying there a couple of hours in the nice weather, with the girls playing in the adjacent playground. I bought five box plants to fill holes in my riverside garden hedge, and a large wooden rake ready for my forthcoming season of top dressing.
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After some trouble with the hotel nursery, we eventually got the girls accommodated as we packed our bags and then set off for the Pleasure Beach for a morning of rides; the monorail, the Go-Karts and all else before a snack lunch and the long car journey home. Plenty of depressing problems upon arrival and then, the boiler and swimming pool back on line, I stayed up late writing. The TUC expels the electrician’s union, the postal strike spreads (but with some hope of talks) but the floods in Bangladesh are now estimated to have killed more than 550 with 20 million homeless as roads, railways and even the airport is swamped by water
Had an even better night sleep despite the mediocrity of our beds and room furnishings. Indeed, we laid in a bit late and had to rush down to breakfast to meet their early close of 9:30am for the end of the meal. We were again disappointed after our meal to find the nursery ‘full’ and unwilling for Della and Debbie to play there for the hour or so we were packing up our bags. I contacted the manager again and, though it was sorted out and they were let in, we lost 15 minutes and were angry again at having to complain. Once packed up, checked out and the car loaded, Di, Daniel and I sat and had a drink and then we all set off for the Pleasure Beach. A morning of rides. We all went on the monorail, which was very good for getting a view of most of the rides in this huge pleasure park.
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A trip to see Blackpool Zoo this morning and to see Blackpool Illuminations this evening each side of a full day enjoying other attractions such as the Model Village, taking a Landau to Central Pier for donkey rides. The lights were amazing, but the traffic congestion limited our enjoyment of them. Massive flooding in Bangladesh kills over 100 and renders more than 1m homeless. The right-wing press is rousing opposition to the Post Office monopoly after the postal strikes and the EETPU dispute with the TUC comes a head at congress tomorrow whilst the fight against drug traffickers takes place in the Channel.
Woke up after a better night to find my condition much improved. After I had jettisoned some bedcovers and open the windows still further, I had got my temperature right and slept better. We stayed in our rooms for quite a while as I caught up with my journal and we gathered ourselves together for the day. All down to breakfast together which was quite a nice experience as it was far less hot and crowded than dinner. This morning, we drove to Blackpool Zoo and enjoyed a long time looking at this park and its animals. It is very well run by Blackpool Borough and keeps the roomy animal enclosures very tidy and hygienic. The ‘Animal Kitchen’ is open to view and the numerous attendants are always cleaning out the animal pens and removing old food, droppings and causes of infection. We saw giraffes, elephants, monkeys, penguins, seals and many others and the weather, though breezy, was at least dry and even the sun shone now and again. After this visit, which incorporated ‘elevenses’ and lunch as well, we went off to Blackpool’s ‘Model Village’ and enjoyed walking around and seeing the model houses, buildings and people that make it up. It is quite sheltered from the wind and we could sit in a central grassed square and relax as the children went around again.
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It was a very poor day for me, feeling tired and achy and unwell with possible food poisoning which made our change from the Pembroke to the Norbreck Castle hotel the more challenging, particularly as they kept us waiting for hours for our room, the porter, and our interconnecting door. No sympathy from Diana who was angry, annoyed, and determined to keep away from me instead of consoling me.
Awake this morning feeling very tired, achy and in many ways unwell. I could only stay in bed and then, very reluctantly, take a bath. I honestly had a temperature and it may be that there was some aspect of my food yesterday that cause the problem. As it was our day to leave the Pembroke Hotel, we hung around in a hotel getting our bags packed and then we loaded up the car and checked out. I took little part in this process as I was quite grogged. We then drove to the town centre and had a morning drink before I left the family and came back to check in to the Norbreck Castle Hotel whilst they went to a few more amusements and activities. I had a poor time at The Castle. They took two hours to prepare my rooms (though they had estimated half an hour), the porter took half hour to find time to bring up our luggage and then I had to wait a further 45 minutes for the hotel to open the interconnecting door between our two rooms.