The Duke of Edinburgh in Singapore in 1989
The Duke of Edinburgh in Singapore in 1989

Tired after a late night waking up on a bitterly-cold day suffering from a cold but pleased to greet Stephen Fields (who tended my poorly Ohgon Koi carp and took swabs of its infection away for analysis) and the Frost tradesmen (who fitted the required stability struts). Di’s parents then arrived for lunch to celebrate Charles Snr’s 72nd Birthday and then the fireplace contractor arrived to fit Diana’s new marble floor slab and untidy both the lounge and my office in the process. In yesterday’s by-elections, Labour and the Tories retained their seats but the centre vote was split between the SDP and Democrats. The Duke of Edinburgh controversially bows before the Japanese Emperor’s tomb after a Shinto ceremonial, once a sign of the Japanese militaristic faith.

I had left my bedtime far too late again last night and was very tired as a result this morning. I was also still suffering from my bad cold (the same as Diana) which made me feel worse. I attended my plants and fish in the conservatory for a while after a late breakfast and then settled down at my desk to do some work. I had a variety of the usual interruptions but managed to do some of the editing of the farms chapter before the fish doctor, Stephen Fields, arrived at 11 AM. He had contacted the AWA Brampton fish diseases Centre, collected two glass slides for taking swabs from the fish, and brought equipment and antibiotics to be ready to treat the fish. He anaesthetised it with a chemical, injected a broad range antibiotic near its caudal fin, swabbed the wound and revive the fish and put it back.

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I then change the water entirely as it was full of suspended matter excreted from the wound overnight and added some salt to the water as a mild antiseptic. We now have to wait until Tuesday to get the results of the analysis which time Stephen Field will administer another antibiotic injection of a type dependent upon the outcome. Then the conservatory people arrived to fit the struts without warning. I had asked that they paint the joints before coming but this was to no avail but at least I got them to do it outside in preparation first. Then Di’s parents arrived for us to take them for a celebratory lunch, the occasion being Mr Jackson’s 72nd birthday. It was a bitterly cold day today and both Di and I had our colds, but we survived the experience and managed to stay cheerful. As soon as we got back, the fireplace contractor arrived to fit Diana’s new marble floor slab by the fire in the lounge. This entailed us removing all of the electronic equipment and taking the carpets up which was a bit of a game. This was made worse by the plan to reuse the stones from the lounge in my office and so we then had to move equipment and take these up to! In all, most of the afternoon lost but I resumed my work this evening. I wrote up my journal and prepared for an earlier bedtime tonight, which I very much needed. In the by-elections results today, Labour retained their Welsh seat easily but the Conservatives only just held on to their Richmond seat. The centre vote was split between SDP and Democrat otherwise each of these two parties could have won. Even so, it was a sharp setback for the Tories. In another airline disaster, the United airlines Boeing 747 had aside collapse and 11 passengers were sacked out as a result of this possible structural failure. Two other planes had a near miss from a collision. The former Emperor of Japan was buried today in a fully-attended state funeral service and there were demonstrations there and here over the Shinto ceremonial, once a sign of the Japanese militaristic faith. A Welsh ex-warrant officer is undertaking a fast to the death in protest at the Duke of Edinburgh attending the funeral and bowing before the Emperor’s tomb.