I was awake early and tending the fish and plants in the conservatory before getting out to resume work on the lawns; finding all the gardening equipment left in poor condition as Pete’s legacy. After some work inside on my Logbook, fielding visitors and interruptions, I shopped for upright and horizontal edging shears and some levered pruning shears at Arthur Ibbett’s in Great Paxton and ordered some new parts for the strimmer.
An IRA bombing attack today on the Army education centre in south-east London, public concerns about "Mad Cow" disease have led to more consuming organisations and countries ban British beef, the confrontation between the Soviet Union and the Baltic States has deepened. A total of 1,125 job losses from a Welsh steel plant that is dependent on the motor trade and receivers have been called in at a big 210,000 sq ft Docklands office development; "South Quay Plaza", due to the depressed commercial property market in the area.
I was awake early with much to do this morning but started the day by tending the conservatory and the fish and plants. Then out to the lawns again, trying to do the edging but finding the edging shears in a hopeless state of maintenance. It was the same story with the lawnmower yesterday. Pete was a good chap but hopeless about cleaning or maintaining the equipment. I got the smaller Mountfield lawn mower going for the first time in ages and took it down by the river where I cut down the vegetation there. Next was the strimmer which I also found to need attention. I cleaned it off and noted that the hub was broken, and cap worn and that was my signal to break off my endeavours for lunch. For my inside job, I started to go over my Logbook in black ink, replacing the pencil entries that had become blurred in the voyage and afterwards.
** PRESS "Read More" BELOW for the complete story **
After lunch, I went over to Arthur Ibbett’s in Great Paxton to order some new parts for the strimmer and took the opportunity to buy new upright and horizontal edging shears and some levered pruning shears for large diameter branches. I then completed the mowing of all the lawns, edged them and tried out the cutters on the branches and they worked very well. Later I returned to my Logbook and finished the entries and had several visitors and telephone calls to deal with. I have such a backlog of work that it seems almost impossible to catch up, but I shall try. The problem is the rival attractions of the outdoor and indoor work which are both urgent and need to be done at the same time but at least all the exercise is good for me. The IRA bombing campaign is in the headlines with an attack today on the Army education centre in south-east London where seven people were injured. There is a general warning on the vulnerability of so-called "soft" targets which are the latest object of the IRA attentions.
The public concerns about "Mad Cow" disease have led to the meat industry launching a £1.2million advertising campaign. The Ministry under John Gummer are still denying any risk to health, but these assurances are looking increasingly optimistic as more and more consuming organisations and countries ban British beef. US share prices have reached an all-time high, spurred on by the belief that interest rates have peaked but time will tell whether this optimism is justified or not. The confrontation between the Soviet Union and the Baltic States has deepened as Gorbachev officially condemns, by Presidential decree, the independence moves of both Estonia and Latvia, putting them on the same footing as Lithuania. This means that Soviet residents can defy the local governments as having no force of authority by law. 200 Soviet army officers mounted a demonstration outside the Latvian parliament allegedly dis-satisfied with the lack of action by their superiors in defending the integrity of the Soviet State and only dispersed when their petition was received by the Latvian president.
Latest job losses are a total of 1,125 from a Welsh steel plant that is dependent on the motor trade which is a sign that the slow-down in retailing is beginning to affect the manufacturing industries. Receivers have been called in at a big Docklands office development; "South Quay Plaza", a 210,000 sq ft development is now the largest single casualty of the depressed commercial property market in the area. Despite all this the stock market is powering ahead and put on 30 points on the day. The weather was warm and dry today and I had to start watering the lawns.