This was the month marking the completion of Harnser and the arrival of GSP Pointer/Retriever pup Sam as we weathered atrocious rain, cold wind and flooding and experienced further darkness and very short days.
We celebrated my 45th birthday and commemorated that of my late Dad and n
oted the terrible death of mother and child in a car accident locally close to the anniversary of Della’s own motor accident.
John Major and his government only just survived a vote on the Maastricht European Union Treaty with Liberal Democrat support. They had more problems as their Chancellor staggered from one scandal to another but refused to resign. It emerged that they supported the sale of arms to Iraq before the Gulf War despite an embargo.
The Church of England voted by a majority in all three houses of their Synod to allow the introduction of women to the priesthood.
The weather was a combination of rain and strong winds that led to flooding (so that The Bure was high and flooding many properties and the Hayling View gardens were under water). Fortunately the new Harnser could withstand the atrocious conditions earlier on; with gale force winds and torrential rain driving against the buildings. Then came sharp and bitterly cold weather from the middle of the month onwards as the winter began to bite. The month ended very mild and so we had experienced all conditions and did not know what to expect from one day to another: except the further darkness and very short days. November was a month remarkable for being the culmination of much planning and hard work.
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The Harnser was completed from the point of view of its building and fitting out; with only the decorating and furnishing left to do. During regular trips to Horning I had removed the barge from under it and slipped The Paxton Princess into its permanent mooring. I carried on cutting and fitting more architrave and skirting board as Steve finished off and taped the Masterboard before I finished the tiling and kitchen with Steve & Alan. Steve then fixed coving to the hall, bathroom and toilet as Alan started work tiling the bathroom. We had then seen the Artexer fashion the ceilings, got the decorator started on the wallpapering and knocked down my fences for improved access. I had cleared the rubbish and taken it away to the tip on my trailer to coincide with the road being started and finished. I got Stalham Joinery to make the internal and cupboard doors and furniture The final cost of the project including the river-work, professional fees, piling, materials, labour and fitting out has ended up at less than £60,000 compared with a figure in excess of £100,000 that the architects wanted to spend if I had let them supervise the project instead of taking it in hand. I thought about my Dad for a while on the 2nd November, his former birthday. He would have been pleased with my efforts on the building.
The other main event at the end of the month was the arrival on the last day of Norfolk Wigeon ("Sam") after much time spent planning and reading up on gundogs. I opted for a Pointer/Retriever in the end due to my shooting needs in Scotland and had now installed kennels at both Horning and Paxton as Diana has insisted that it will be an outside dog. I looked at the new model of Range Rover and thought of trading in my Rolls for one but had not yet decided. This month saw the arrival of geese at both locations with grey lags flying over both The Hayling View and The Harnser but, though I organised one further lesson, I still have to find my sport locally. I arranged for my shot-gun to be repaired and also bought a hunting "Theoben .22 Rapid 7" air rifle that put pigeon on our menu in a big way! This is now Debbie's favourite food. I was fully recovering in health after my ‘flu and working at my journal and spending time with the gardener and my girls whenever possible.
A mother and child died in a terrible motor accident near to Ropes Hill Dyke this month and that brought back memories as we had the anniversary of the Kimbolton Fireworks display and Della's own accident, but she was completely recovered now except for a half inch shortening of her right leg, which should grow even in time. We were getting Della back to practising her piano-playing. Diana had been thinking about my request for a dog and, whilst being swayed by the counteroffer of yearly holidays in California, was still very dubious but I bought one anyway. Di was quite fit this month, but I got the flu' for a few days that held me up before I recovered. I had caught a mole, cleaned out the pool of leaves under its cover and had started the job of cleaning out the gutters but this illness cut this short. Freda, Mum and family seem well, apart from their chronic ailments, but I do not tackle the question of my non-performing loan yet. Diana's family are fine except for the economic woes of her brother who has brought much of them on himself.
I did not spend all of my time in Norfolk and managed a lot for the family. Apart from my own 45th birthday, celebrated by joining Diana at the Arts Theatre restaurant before home to a nice birthday tea, I got the family together with Mum and Freda for the anniversary of Dad's. I was back for the Kimbolton Fireworks display and for that of Nigel where I fulfilled an active role. There were remembrance and family church services at St James, The Village Hall November Fayre and a social visit to The Cambridge Arts Theatre. As well as time with the girls, I was also out with Daniel to buy him his first suit. He also dropped by with Angela to visit when they were on their way to Newhaven for Angela's return to France for another spell. I was at the touch-line when Debbie played her first representative hockey match for her school during a month when her school examination marks were her best ever.
Debbie often used my main computer as she got the hang of word-processing and writes back to hordes of pen-friends that still respond to her Jackie advert. I still spent time with Diana, giving her the closest shave yet and then matching this with brief lingerie which came after twenty years of persuasion. Thus dressed, we spent the evening with Nigel and Lyne in her new clothes after which we both had good fun before going to sleep.
Elsewhere, John Major and his government only just survived a vote on the Maastricht European Union Treaty with Liberal Democrat support. They had more problems as their Chancellor staggered from one scandal to another by first getting into trouble by not paying his conference hotel bill, then his credit card accounts and finally accepting government money for his private property problems! Still, he will not resign, though his Autumn Statement was a complete non-event. The government abolished wages councils so that there is now no protection for the underpaid, but they ran into even more trouble as a scandal emerged about their supporting the sale of arms to Iraq before the Gulf War despite an embargo. Three executives of a British arms company were cleared of breaking an export embargo to Iraq when it became known that cabinet ministers had encouraged them to do so, and the Thatcher government seemed to be culpable as these actions encouraged Sadam Hussein in his invasion of Kuwait
The Church of England voted by a majority in all three houses of their Synod to allow the introduction of women to the priesthood in what was probably the month's event of most lasting significance; although there was also another palace revolution as Her Majesty The Queen agreed to pay income tax in the future and to remove certain of her family from The Civil List.