Enjoying a bath, hair wash after morning tea in bed with the sun slanting in across the bedroom on a day that started warm but was much cooler and ended raining later. The routine of tending the conservatory plants and fish before watering the garden plants and games lawn.
Mum was brought from Stanton by Clive and Kate for a meeting with the monumental mason to agree Dad’s gravestone form and inscriptions after which Di and I resumed work on a backlog of domestic chores and administration.
Arrangements are in place for a convoy of foreigners to leave Kuwait for Baghdad and on to Jordan and the TUC passes a series of resolutions in support of the new Labour Party policies for trade union law
I slept very well last night and awoke to the dual pleasures of my morning tea and. I decided on a bath for once and made my way across to the other side of the house and washed my hair at the same time. I still had a little time before the others were ready for breakfast and so tended the fish and watered the plants in the conservatory and then started to brush the pool when breakfast was ready. I worked outside afterwards but had finished in the garden by about 9am, watering the plants and applying the sprinkler to the games lawn. I had a chance to tackle my postbag and to do some correspondence and then arranged for a monumental mason to come in the afternoon at the same time as my mother would be visiting to discuss Dad’s gravestone.
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Mother arrived rather later than we expected but there was just time for a buffet lunch in the lounge before the mason arrived. She was brought by Clive and Kate from Stanton and we wonder at their help and cooperation in undertaking this onerous task. We had an hour with the tradesmen and eventually agreed the type of stone (grey granite), its size and shape and the inscription that is to appear on it. This was not achieved without another outburst from mum which was taken as further natural grief rather than being another tantrum. The experience left Diana and I rather exhausted but we eventually got down to our other work with Di sorting out more of the house and me acting on more of my outstanding telephone messages and correspondence, which I carried on doing all evening for as long as I could.
The news today was of arrangements for a convoy of foreigners to leave Kuwait for Baghdad in the morning and it is hoped that they can be issued with exit visas and travel on to Jordan soon after, but this is far from certain. Some former hostages arriving on yesterday’s flights, talk of their experiences but others are reluctant to do so for fear of making things worse for those left behind. In Jordan, the plight of the masses of refugees living out in the hot sun with insufficient shelter food and water has led to appeals for emergency relief. This Yemen has reaffirmed its willingness to uphold UN sanctions but denies that this should apply to humanitarian relief of food and medicines which fails to completely satisfy our visiting Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd.
Back home, the driver of the express train that crashed at Purley last year has been sentenced to 6 months imprisonment for ignoring a red light but there is no explanation for his action except it being a genuine mistake and so an appeal seems likely to challenge the harshness of the sentence. The TUC passes a series of resolutions in support of the new Labour Party policies for trade union law. It started warm today and I dressed myself in a T-shirt, sandals and shorts but it was raining later and the day ended much cooler.