ack in his 80's as my Horning caretaker
ack in his 80's as my Horning caretaker

Another late start being tired on a chilly day as I first had to buy an 80th birthday card and small present for caretaker Jack, who I eventually caught up at The Black Horse, where he was celebrating his 80th birthday with his extended family. Steve Bloom had arrived unexpectedly and helped me jack the garage up a little but declined an invitation to stay over.

The news was of Gorbachev calling for world unity to liberate Kuwait by peaceful means and Thatcher failing to get the EEC summit to discuss farm liberalisation for GATT as the Franco-German alliance insisted on debating monetary reform and further EEC unity

Another lay this morning and it had turned rather chilly which discouraged too much physical activity too early. It took me until 9.15am to have breakfast, wash, shave and dress and I then went into Horning village to do some shopping. I needed milk and some food, and I also had to get a card and small present to mark Jack's birthday. I bought gift wrapping paper and some Sellotape to wrap his present in and was on my way back to Heronshaw, when I saw him arriving. I pulled off the track and prepared his things and then went looking for him when I got back to the bungalow. He had left his car in front of my garage and was not far away. Then Steven Bloom arrived out of the blue as he was in Wroxham and just dropped in. I welcomed him and we had morning coffee together and, although I tried to look out for Jack, he slipped away thinking that, having company, I would not want to be disturbed which was silly. We caught up with him at The Black Horse at lunchtime, where Steve and I had a steak and kidney pie and Jack was not only surprised to see me, but also had a surprise gathering of all of his family and friends as well.

** "Read More" BELOW for the complete story **

There was Dolly and his son and daughter, four granddaughters and three great-grand-children which made for a merry company. We toasted his health, and he was glad that we had come. Once back, Steve helped me go to it and jack up the garage. I jacked whilst he freed the rest of the framework which was bolted to the concrete base. We worked until 6.30pm and had the level up by the thickness of some concrete blocks which was a very good start. I invited Steve to stay the night, but he wanted to get back home and I bid him farewell. I just ate a few more sandwiches (ham this time) and drank tea with some fruit to follow. I listened to the BBC World Service news at 9.00pm, washed up and then went to bed physically tired again. The main story was Gorbachev calling for world unity to liberate Kuwait by peaceful means. At the EEC summit, leaders slug it out and Thatcher yet again becomes isolated in a minority of one versus the other eleven as she wanted to talk about farm liberalisation for GATT and the others wanted to discuss monetary reform and further EEC unity. She was out-manoeuvred by a Franco-German alliance.