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A simple breakfast following a much milder and more comfortable night after which I marked out my shed foundation and prepared to lay the bricks ready for the Blooms to arrive and help me move bricks and order some 20 13ft crossing timbers which will span the garage floor. The rest of the day until very late constructing brick piers and then to bed very tired after a long hot bath and a mug of hot chocolate
I woke at 7.00am on and found the weather much milder than last night. Either this, or I was warm enough from working hard yesterday. I made my simple breakfast and then started work outside at 8.00am or soon after. For the first couple of hours I made my own bricklaying aids, marked out the line I wanted the foundation wall to take and cleared up so that I was all ready to start work. At this point the Blooms arrived and I stopped to have coffee with them and then made some telephone enquiries about sleepers. They wanted to go and fetch a 17ft catamaran sailing dinghy to moor at Heronshaw and so I worked on and had started the bricklaying by the time that they returned. Then they worked with me for a couple of hours, helping me to move the bricks and mix the mortar before they had to go to take their towing boat back to Wroxham.
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Awake early after a night in a cold house and bed, checking on my answering machine and putting three journalists on to Percy in my absence. Then out to try and get bricks delivered from Jewson’s which they could not do, I bought a trailer and collected them later with some sand after which I carried on jacking up and levelling the garage ready for my brick plinth to be constructed. Some fried plaice for sustenance on a warmer day with showers
I was awake early on being very cold in my sleeping bag due to the clear night and cold bungalow. It was about 6.00am and so I got up as dawn was breaking. Cereal and a cup of tea for breakfast and then I telephoned home and checked on my answering machine messages. My press releases were well-received and so there were three journalists wanting interviews which I put on to Percy in my absence. All this finished, I went out and along to Jewson’s to look at the building materials. I bought some odds and ends but they could not deliver my bricks until Monday and so I gave them up as a bad job. To Wroxham for a pot of tea and some papers and then back to Heronshaw a bit disconsolate.
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Two early calls as I was getting readying to leave for Heronshaw, the first from Stephen Bloom and the second from Derek Giles about an appalling meeting of St Neots Town Council last night, agreeing policies to hamper councillors. Some progress with Brooks and Gatehouse, concerning auto-pilots for The Paxton Princess and Ebac over a replacement pc board for my conservatory/pond air conditioner.
After drafting and publishing District Council press releases for Percy to follow up on, I finally loaded up and left for Norfolk, at the end of a dull, mild and dry day arriving very late and tired.
Chancellor Major nominates Thatcher for the forthcoming Tory leadership election and his Autumn budget statement goes doen like a lead ballon in the City. Tony Benn, former labour Cabinet Minister and peace activist, is going to see Sadam Hussein of Iraq to discuss political negotiations to end the conflict and this has led to another storm of objections just as the US and the UK seem to be embarked on war preparations
Up at a reasonable time this morning as I had a call from Stephen Bloom who was already at his office at 7.30am! I asked him about getting some old second-hand railway sleepers for raising my garage and he will look into this and probably come to see me this weekend in Horning. No sooner as I had breakfast than I also had a call from Derek Giles who gave me some bad news about the St Neots Town Council meeting last night. Tory Bill Longford was up to his old spoiling tricks again and this time proposed a new procedural motion that each councillor be limited to a single motion in future which was very restrictive. Then the only Labour member, Daisy Seager, fell for this and proposed an amendment that restricted motions even further by reducing the permissible number to only one per party group. Derek and Michael were shocked by this turn of events and annoyed further when the Tories supported the amendment, and the motion was carried. I reviewed the Town Council Standing Orders with Derek and could not find any reason why the motion could be ruled out of order, but I was upset nevertheless. I had cause to speak to Percy and Sally later who agreed and then with Michael and two leading labour members who I contacted particularly by telephone. They too were appalled by this turn of events and so I have insisted that the opposition parties have got to meet to thrash out better ways of avoiding conflict in St Neots if we are to co-operate over next May's local elections.
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A day struggling with difficult issues, when I eventually reached the Village Hall Chairman Alan Cromack to get him back involved and agreed a way forward. After my normal chores, some time for desk-work and de-humidifier repairs before I also telephoned Mum and Freda who are together at Redgrave and organised her new investment account for her and mused on the design of Heronshaw and its garage, following receipt of draft designs
I was struggling today to make progress on a number of difficult problems. The day started well enough, although I was late to breakfast. I tried to clear my desk and do a few things before my chores, but, what with telephone calls etc., I made little progress and in the end it was after lunch before I fed the doves and attended to other things. I was trying to contact the Village Hall Chairman to get him back into the committee's affairs and I could not do this until later on. Then I did not get a return call from Ebac about the de-humidifier and I had to make several calls myself to get the information and advice that I needed. The de-frost is triggered by a timing interval and delay so that there is a duty cycle of about 45mins and then a couple of minutes defrost etc. The timing printed circuit board is in control and, by shorting two pins on an integrated circuit and forcing the unit into a defrosting action, I managed to prove that it was this circuit that was faulty. I typed up a letter for action to replace the circuit and then sent it by fax which was a handy facility.
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