Daniel’s takes his first exam as the girls go back to school and I send the £120,000 for Freda to take over Redgrave Post Office and Stores before I am visited by two schoolboys and a host of Brownies for which our swimming pool is the attraction.
Then time with the new Cllr Sally Guinee briefing her for Council duties as her leader before I drive off for a Kimbolton SS meeting at the Castle. More trouble for the UK over beef boycotts and the status of Japanese car plants here as the financial sector struggles and doubts are expressed over the arrest of six men for terrorism
The breeze was a bit chillier today and I felt quite cold when I went out to backflush the pond filter and feed the doves this morning. I had breakfast with the children and spent some time with Daniel who was sitting his first examination this afternoon and was nervously studying in his room. He is a bit more communicative today and appreciative (I think) of having been forced to put in the work earlier. The girls were back to school and we were pleased to get them out of the way. I heard from Freda and she told of her plans to move to Redgrave on Wednesday/Thursday of this week. I sent the £120,000 cheque for the mortgage by first class post to provide my contribution to the endeavour.
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I worked on a press release this morning about the local political issue of old peoples' bus passes and then Sally Guinee telephoned and came over this afternoon to go through her meeting agenda for tonight again. It was her first committee and I helped brief her and give her the confidence to make a good impression. Later in the afternoon, I went into St Neots for a haircut and to drop off my press releases. I then came back to an early tea in the lounge as the kitchen had been laid out as a changing room for the Brownies who came soon after for their annual swimming session at The Hayling View. They thoroughly enjoyed the experience as usual. I also had a couple of schoolboys visit me to report on their "litter-picking" project and I rewarded them for this community effort by giving them permission to come swimming in our pool after school tomorrow. The news from Daniel was that his first two Chemistry papers had gone very well today, and he is now more confident about the rest of his examinations. They will be coming thick and fast over the next two weeks and we will all be glad when they are over.
Diana has arranged the new livery to start for Sundance next Tuesday and transport for him has been arranged. Whilst hemmed in my office by hordes of partly-clothed Brownies (and a few Guides and helpers), I compiled my response for the District Council Leisure Review on behalf of the villages of my ward and it was quite a long one in the end as this subject is very important. I then drove off for the committee meeting of the Kimbolton School Society in the Green Room of Kimbolton Castle, but was not able to contribute a great deal as we do not attend many of their functions and are away or busy for most of the time. I think that I managed to get the chairman to stay on for another year anyway.
As the government faces a British Beef boycott from both France and West Germany, the BSE farming crisis deepens. Now the EEC is proposing to buy in stocks of British beef to support the price and their ultimatum to the two errant countries has been ignored so far. There will be an emergency meeting of the farm ministers tomorrow. Another European row is breaking out over the status of Japanese car plants in Britain. Nicholas Ridley is insisting that they be treated as European-made cars for the purposes of freedom of EEC movement; but the other countries think they should be included in restrictive import quotas. This governments "inward investment" policy has already decimated UK manufacturing industry and now it is threatening to do the same for Europe as well.
All funds have now been frozen at the banking arm of British and Commonwealth and the city is wondering why the Bank of England has not stepped in to underwrite this bank as it did for Johnson Mathey and Slater-Walker. Sheffield City Council has joined the Sports Council in jointly funding next year's World Student Games in the city next year which was in danger of being called off due to lack of funding. Six men have been detained in London under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and in connection with the recent IRA attacks, but I am worried about the fairness of this after recent false evidence and convictions in such cases.