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On a cold day with some rain in the evening, there was some good news today about the next HDC Environmental Services Committee as the agenda has lots of plans and proposals following my recent criticism and threats of an external management audit. Some chores and purchases of tools in St Neots and a trial drive in the Rolls-Royce to collect Debbie from Kimbolton for horse riding (which caused a stir) and a St Neots Museum Trust meeting this evening.
Thatcher is selling off the water industry using taxpayers money for incentives, a police killer has shot himself and ambulanceman are an overtime ban.
A brief night sleep which was not enough. I received the papers for the next Environmental Services Committee this morning and in them were two of my agenda items for discussion. I had led criticism of the performance of the Technical Services Department and proposed by means of an internal management audit or external management consulting to investigate the incidents of staff turnover and vacancies. Since then, they have filled the key positions, started to produce better work and some good results and now we have a meeting agenda with lots of plans and proposals. Amazing what threatening such a spectre can produce!
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After time with the children, dropping our boat heater offer service in St Ives and collecting our painting from Horseheath, I drove to Stanton to find my parents rather depressed after a matrimonial row with mum’s arthritis back in the spine and dad tired and groggy with his facial swelling and septic discharge. I calmed them as much as I could, packed away a swing chair and mowed the lawn and then took their car for a short drive to make sure the battery was charged before leaving after three hours understandably depressed.
I drove home via Cambridge, for some more errands and then attended St Neots Town Council meeting. They had contracted a local planning consultancy for £10,000 to advise them on developing a plan for St Neots and the company, ‘A Campbell’, had proposed a lot of undesirable sites for housing development on land owned by its clients, a case of supreme naïveté or corruption which we are now determined to expose.
A busy day today. I was up rather slowly but then began organising a whole series of chores to do. After breakfast with the children, Daniel was late for the bus and so I first had to give him a lift to the bus stop. I then loaded up the car and set off to LH Jones in St Ives where I dropped off our Ardic boat heater for a service. It needs its combustion chamber and burners clearing out after 200 hours use and so I thought that this would be the best time.
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A dry day, after overnight rain, which allowed Pete and I to complete the painting to protect my steel Riverside quay heading. During the day, I returned phone calls and had conversations with two journalists, and others, and a visit from the local Cubs organiser to plan and agree the timing and content of my little history talk.
This evening, to host and chair a St Neots Museum fundraising committee in my office before catching up on my journal. An exodus of East Germans through Hungary and Austria to West Germany as its German reunification and Europe restructuring begins
There was some rain overnight that it had stopped and dried out by this morning. I went straight out out to organise the completion of our river frontage painting job. I popped over to Ibbett’s for more paint and then completed the first coat by 11am, and Pete followed on to finish the topcoat by the time he went. In the meanwhile, I had the cubs organiser around and met her for a while to resolve when I will be giving a Little Paxton history talk to her pack and the ground I am to cover. There followed a half-dozen phone calls with me returning calls after taking recorded messages.
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Using Pete’s help, I spent the day painting our river frontage steel quay heading and the evening at a meeting Huntingdonshire District Council Planning Committee proposing my motion against the new housing development between St Neots and Cambridge .
A long day working on the painting of my river frontage. I recruited Pete’s help to apply the overcoat of black Tractol as I continued to wire brush the steel and apply the first coat of red oxide primer: Pete in the dinghy and me on the steps in the river, being able to wade from time to time.
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