After talking to the gardener and organising his day, I called Murray White and let him come over to talk to me but he was not going to persuade me that I should continue to run the overall parliamentary campaign. The Conservatives have now ruled out the possibility of a November election and so Sue Sutton had not needed to panic anyway.
Instead, I prepared for this evening’s Branch meeting and forwent the HDC Policy committee. Michael Watson, the boxer, was still unconscious and on a life-support machine
I was up for my normal routine, especially taking care to look after Della on her Monday morning. A least she went off as happily as she has been so far. I was then expecting to get ready for the delivery of fenland soil but the firm rang to say that the heavy rain this weekend had made it very sticky so that it had to dry out before it could be used on a lawn. I chatted to the gardener and got him to open up the compost heaps and we found that much of the compost was reasonably ready to put on the beds and so I got him to do this today. He also sprayed the lawns with a hormone weed-killer now that they are moist enough to take it. The weeds will shoot up and grow so that they can be removed with the mower in the ordinary course.
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I ordered some timber and re-inforcing mesh so that the concreting could soon get under way and that was for delivery on Wednesday. As my plans had changed, I called Murray White and let him come over to talk to me about my note on the election campaign. He sought to persuade me that I should continue to run the overall parliamentary campaign, but I dwelt on the differences that I had with the candidate and others as I felt that targeting and the agreement of practical objectives was important and that delivering the entire constituency and visiting every village was not possible. I was also worried about the budget and use of constituency funds which I would have preferred using for year-on-year FOCUS to prepare the area for local elections and the better chance of parliamentary success next time round. After all, my reading of Sue is that she would really like to run her own campaign. He left at lunchtime and I enjoyed a salad with Diana.
My weight is now around 13st 3/4lbs and my tummy has contracted somewhat so as to make me feel much more comfortable. This afternoon, I worked on a District Group Report for tonight's St Neots Branch meeting and also finished the copy for the forthcoming FOCUS editions; editing and printing out the result in twelve copies for circulating tonight. I decided against going to a 7.00pm HDC Policy Committee in Huntingdon beforehand as it is about Peterborough again and we have little more to say on this until full council. The branch meeting was very good. Though starting at 8.00pm, we had finished a full agenda by 10.00pm. My preparation helped get things done and Sally had also produced notes on the Town Council. In particular, we had a good discussion on fund-raising and future social events.
Home to the relaxation and relief of the TV and then to bed rather late again. The Conservatives have now ruled out the possibility of a November election in view of the unfavourable opinion polls which is a cynical but totally-expected decision from my point of view. I had always thought it would be next May because of my assessment of John Major who I feel I know and had to fend off successive panics from Sue and the others who were worried that the election was first to be in June and then in November. Michael Watson, the boxer, is still unconscious and on a life-support machine and, although there was a major British heavyweight fight last night, I did not watch it and even avoided knowing what the result was.