A MiG-23 kill silhouette was painted onto Gypsy 202 after the engagement
A MiG-23 kill silhouette was painted onto Gypsy 202 after the engagement

After a sound night’s sleep in our own bed, I took the girls for a trip to Willington garden centre for planting materials but did not find any tropical plants either there or later at the Eaton Socon garden centre, but I did give the girls lunch at ‘Kelly’s Kitchen’ on the way back. With my computer repair not due to be completed until tomorrow, I evaluated my printing quotations and read a wad of district council papers before leaving for parish council meetings. There is a mounting crisis over the US shooting down two unarmed Libyan warplanes and prosecutions are dropped against US Col Oliver North to avoid implicating US Presidents Reagan and Bush.

I slept well last night. There is nothing like one’s own bed for true sleep and relaxation! I had difficulty getting Diana up this morning to make the drinks and so she must have appreciated the return as well. Everyone was slow to breakfast and thereafter. In mid-morning, I took the girls for a trip to the Willington garden centre to buy some seed compost and planting trays as well as look for tropical plants. I did not find much there and found the staff a little inexperienced in plants for the warm conservatory. We took quite a while and so I gave the girls lunch at ‘Kelly’s Kitchen’ on the way back. I did not have much success at the Eaton Socon garden centre either. This afternoon, Debbie helped me to sew some bedding plant seeds and we also remove the Christmas tree which is always a sad end to the Christmas season.

** PRESS "Read More" BELOW for the complete story **

I fed the carp, who are still not very hungry after Joan’s feeding of them. I made telephone calls to try and progress my computer repair but found that it will not be ready until tomorrow at least and so I use my time to evaluate my printing quotations and to read a wad of district council papers sent to me in the last few days. I noticed that the local papers ‘review of 1998 news’ both had mention of my May election win and one with a photograph as well. This evening, I wrote up my journal and then set off for the village hall and the Parish Council meetings. The news today is of the mounting crisis over the perceptive US action in shooting down two Libyan warplanes after claiming that they were a threat. The Libyans complained that the aircraft were unmanned and on a training mission. Behind this tension is an alleged Libyan chemical weapons facility. In a different development, the US prosecutor is requesting the withdrawal of the serious criminal conspiracy charges against the former US Col Oliver North. This comes after North’s lawyer threatened to subpoena former President Reagan and Pres-elect George Bush to attend proceedings and give evidence embarrassing to the administration.