On this Red Nose day, when £10m was raised for charity, Diana was out this morning at a "Beauty Parlour" and Daniel arrived with Angela and will stay the weekend as I visited Cambridge with colleagues folding and preparing LibDem FOCUS batches for distribution.
The US are struggling with their Soviet arms negotiations and are active in Iraq over the use by Sadam Hussein of Helicopters to put down unrest.
I was due to go to Cambridge this morning to complete the FOCUS production, but first I had to finish off some of the artwork that I was working on last night. I was awake at 6.00am and caught Diana still in bed which was a nice surprise! I had enough energy afterwards to quickly get up and dressed and then get into my office for a couple of hours' work on the computer. I completed the format of the "Out" slips, ending up with mixed versions on a single A4 artwork sheet so that both target wards could be dealt with in a single print run. Then I attempted some window bill designs and changed those for the posters to include the proper agent's imprint which is more important during election campaigns.
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I had to rush out the house as the time approached 8.15am and, after quickly emptying the back of my car, I set off for Glisson Road, Cambridge, arriving there in less than 40mins which must be a record. I was the first to arrive anyway and parked my car at a meter whilst waiting for "Roy" to arrive. Soon Percy and Keith Seiler were also there, and we managed to put our entire print run through the folding machine in about three hours which was very good. I arranged for the other two to do most of the work whilst I processed the artwork that I had brought and made the coffee etc. I was disturbed and irritable to discover that some of my artwork had gone missing after plate-making, but recovered the rest.
I left not only with my own FOCUS edition, but also with those for Priory and Eaton and then dropped them off to Sally Guinee and Sandie Giles on my way back. They have to get about 6,500 copies delivered throughout their wards by the day-after-tomorrow at the latest! This is to avoid the delivery of these newsletters from arriving during our campaign which we intend to start on Monday. All this because the printing was completed a week late. I came back hungry and tired to lunch and was just finishing eating it when Diana arrived. A rest and then I got Diana to join me in the task of putting all of the advertising inserts into the main Paxton FOCUS and then counting and bundling them for distribution in my own ward. She had been out this morning at a "Beauty Parlour" and has taken to these places now she has been losing weight. In late afternoon I started taking the FOCUS bundles round to my deliverers and I continued this task after tea until all but three had been successfully placed. For my copies, I was content that they should go out in the next week or so as there are no elections being held in this ward. To bed, even more tired than yesterday and a little troubled that I am again getting behind with important matters.
Daniel arrived with Angela for a late tea today and will stay the weekend. They went out to the cinema this evening as we worked on. Today had been "Comic Relief" day as the Great British population dressed up in red noses and funny clothes to raise money for charity. The BBC "Telefon" television marathon of comedy raised over ten million pounds in pledges from participating viewers after having given it a miss last year. The US are struggling with their Soviet arms negotiations and are now returning to forward positions in Iraq in disapproval over the use by Sadam Hussein of Helicopters to put down unrest. Several of Iraq's southern towns are the subject of Shi-ite rebellions and the US want Sadam to be deposed but he is not about to give up.