I was busy tending my conservatory and then cycling to Priory Ward on a sunny and warm day to help Sally put up poster board and canvass with a very warm reception. Home by bike and then Di dropped me off to canvass the Offord Cluny streets and Offord D'Arcy back streets where I was joined by Michael for our most intensive canvassing there ever. Derek Giles and family came over to discuss his campaign and gave me a lift home where I made calls to monitor the campaign and catch up with my journal.
Freda had called about our shop offer after being pressurised by the vendor and Mum had been struggling with her Addenbrookes visit and wheelchair battery life. Thatcher is still very unpopular, and the papers are pessimistic about the economy. Our pool is in use, but the high early-season chemical level gave Della a rash
I was again up early for a day of action. Before breakfast I had fed the fish and watered the plants, opening the vents to give good ventilation on what I expected to be quite a warm and sunny day. I used some ant poison to attack quite an infestation that had appeared in the conservatory. I let Diana take the car today and used my bicycle to get over to the Priory Ward where I helped Sally put up poster boards and then canvas much of the council estate that had not received so much attention in the campaign. It was very warm in terms of both the weather and the reception we were getting and by the end of the morning, I no longer had any fears of the Tory coming back at us.
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I cycled home for lunch and then got Diana to drop me over to Offord afterwards. I was again joined by Michael Pope and we canvassed the Offord Cluny streets and managed to find quite a few people in that had eluded us in past canvassing efforts. In fact, we were canvassing this ward as hard as ever we have done before and, with the plan we have for Great Paxton next week, this will complete the effort. Then I went on foot around some more of the Offord D'Arcy back streets, picking up a few votes and identifying which "undecideds" were Tories who were not keen to say, and which were capable of persuasion to support us. Derek Giles and family came over and we sat and chatted for a while and then he gave me a lift home. This evening, I made a number of phone calls monitoring the campaign and our administration and also wrote up these last two day's journal.
Freda telephoned earlier whilst I was out and left a message about the shop. She was under pressure from the vendor to make an acceptable offer in view of his claim that he had another buyer wanting to visit on Monday and a tenant interested in the house. She gave me his telephone number and said that he wanted contacting by lunchtime. I did this and we discussed the sale price. I wanted a figure near to our new valuation of the entire property (£160K) but he wanted more than £180K. I said that we would be prepared to pay a figure in the £170k’s but would have to speak to Freda again and phone him back. I did not hear from her again today and had to call him back as a courtesy and say that I would telephone when I heard.
I also phoned Mum later to see if she had heard from Freda and ask her how she was. Mum was disappointed that I had not gone to Addenbrookes with her and had found the day a strain. She had also had problems with her chair and its charging and had been trying to get around on her frame. The sum total of this was that she is now confined to bed again with her back pain and her leg is also giving her trouble! I will call her again in the morning to see how she is.
The weekend papers still have the Thatcher government in the opinion poll doldrums and the financial columns are very pessimistic about interest rates and the economy and so I think we are in for a hard time. The fine weather seems to continue as the barometer remains high. The children are enjoying the swimming pool, which is now in full swing, but Della got a rash from staying in too long with the new-season chemicals rather high.