Preparing for chairing this afternoon for a meeting at Glisson Road which I ran on time to plan for party's campaigns for the next fifteen months prior to the next election. This evening to take Debbie over to Hail Weston House for Kate's birthday swimming party and I stayed a while to chat to Nigel and Lynne.
The Gulf War news is of the Alliance talking about not being ready yet for a land offensive but just pounding the Iraqi defensive lines with millions of tons of bombs and eradicating any remaining vestiges of the Iraqi navy.
I actually got to bed soon after 10.00pm last night and found Diana in a receptive mood for once. Slept well and was not so tired this morning but I still got up a bit late. The morning was occupied with my preparations for this afternoon's strategy meeting which set out to plan our. I wrote another letter to the political strategists, enclosing information to hand to them at the meeting and also telephoned a number of people who were coming to make sure that they were also preparing information to make the event useful. The morning had soon gone, and I had an early lunch and then rushed out. Collecting Marion Woodbridge and Percy Meyer on the way, I had arranged to leave early so in case there were any traffic problems, and it was just as well I did.
** "Read More" BELOW for the complete story **
The road was blocked and, although we had to make a circuitous route to Glisson Road in Cambridge, we still managed to arrive in good time. There was quite a good attendance, but I caught them a little by surprise when I started the meeting prompt at 2.00pm and they had to take their coats off and prepare their notes in a hurry. I ran the meeting by having a series of reports given for the first hour and then allowing a general discussion for the second. It was a pity that there was a little too much looking back and an overall negative and defeatist attitude emanating from the problems of times past. I also surprised them again by finishing exactly on 4.00pm rather than running on.
We made some good progress, but we did not end on as positive a note as I would have liked to. The journey home with Marion and Percy and I was home on time for tea. Before we could eat, however, Di asked me to take Debbie over to Hail Weston House for Kate's birthday swimming party and I stayed a while to chat to Nigel and Lynne. They want to ask if they could borrow my Range Rover to collect a horse and take it to Staughton next Sunday; and it was also a chance for me to exchange news with Nigel who I had not spoken to for some time. After I got back and had eaten, I was very tired and so just sat and watched television for the evening which was very relaxing.
The Gulf War news is of the Alliance talking about not being ready yet for a land offensive and so they are just pounding the Iraqi defensive lines with millions of tons of bombs and eradicating any remaining vestiges of the Iraqi navy. The censorship prevents us from learning of the human cost in lives of all this being done, but the news film of damage to civilian as well as military targets in Baghdad is already beginning to raise some eyebrows back home. I am finding some time to play with Daniella at the moment and both her and Debbie are enjoying their pony-riding.