A good year for us but a bad year ("Annus Horribilis") of agony and hardship for everybody else as house prices dipped by 7% and employment rose to three million or 10% of the workforce, the UK government being forced into a humiliating devaluation. Weather-wise, famine, droughts, floods and other natural disasters constantly hit the headlines and we had the coldest October for a decade.
Our Paxton Princess was having a well-earned refit after our construction its new Harnser boathouse dominated the year. Della’s sound recovery from her big accident the November before was a blessing and she was doing well at school. Debbie did equally well at school and had managed to bear her dental brace whilst Daniel completed his second year at U.E.A. and started his third and last and his courtship with Angela was going well.
Di was mostly fine, but kept getting coughs and colds that went to her chest, whilst Mum took a while to recover from her potentially serious accident in August and Diana's Mother, Norma, also had a very debilitating bronchial infection throughout the summer. We stayed at "The Swan" in Horning and "The Grand Hotel", Brighton, in March; we went Broadland boating in icy April and stayed on the boat in Horning in May.
There were better weekend trips in July between building weeks and then we treated ourselves to a London weekend with a fascinating tour of The Tower Pageant and musical "Joseph" at The London Palladium in October. There were other day trips, two fireworks displays, three carol services, three theatre outings and countless cinema trips which all meant that we made good use of the year.
Despite the worries and ills of others, 1992 was quite good for us. I had that nose operation in February and, after Della's accident had given me cause for thought and I decided to plan a new life and change of direction in 1992 to finish my council work in April and ensure election of colleagues upon retirement in May, which went well. Elsewhere, elements of former Yugoslavia continued to tear themselves apart; India erupted in religious conflict with over 400 people dying.
Rival factions lost their way on the path to peace in South Africa with mass killings and then the Danes dealt a body blow to the E.E.C. by their June referendum that rejected further European integration. Amongst the isolated news of enlightenment came two wide-ranging nuclear arms reduction treaties between the new Russian President Boris Yeltzin and outgoing US President Bush, the latter giving way to Democrat Senator Bill Clinton at the end of the year.
