Paxton Park when once a Maternity Hospital
Paxton Park when once a Maternity Hospital

I slept well, despite my bad cold, and then settled down on a mild and sunny day to scanning diagrams and illustrations for my Paxton Park chapter and then spending the afternoon and evening editing it after a fine beef lunch. Debbie was worn out walking around the Little Paxton Pit Nature Reserve with the Law family and I received help from Mr Field with my larger Koi. The last Soviet troops leave Afghanistan, the Wandsworth prisons dispute still grinds on and private water company prices rise by 30 to 50% this year infuriating the water minister, Michael Howard

I slept well enough, though still suffering from a bad cold. We laid in a while and then Di got up late to get the fried breakfast. After this, I settled down in my office and did some more scanning of history documents until lunch , compiling the rest of the diagrams and illustrations for my Paxton Park chapter. Di cooked an honest beef lunch with meat we had bought from the Eaton Socon butchers which was very tasty and tender. The weather was mild and sunny today, bringing out several families in the village to walk along The Haylings. This afternoon and evening, I started to edit my former version of the Paxton Park chapter and introduced the new text and illustrations.

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After tea, Mr Field from Avenue Fisheries came to look at the Koi carp and agreed that the youngsters were fine and that the larger two also needed the antibiotic treatment. We are now using two large tanks and have one in each, hoping this cure will suffice. He thinks that my out-of-balance nitrites and the non-working UV lamp were the underlying causes of the fish's weakness giving rise to this infection. Debbie went for a walk with the Law family this afternoon to the gravel pits and came back quite shattered. I am not looking forward to the builders coming tomorrow but I will get the chance for John Law to copy my photographs for the book as he will be home in the afternoon. The news today is of the last Soviet troops leaving Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, and the Soviet Foreign Minister, Eduard Shevardnadze, has visited Pakistan to try to get them to hold back their friends, the mujahideen guerrillas, and end a bloodbath. Now the Wandsworth prison officers have drafted their own terms for a settlement of the prisons dispute that still grinds on. The private water companies are raising their prices by 30 to 50% this year ‘because of the government’s privatisation plans’. This has infuriated the water minister, Michael Howard, who is concerned at the increase and the reasons for it.