Having failed to get Diana to accommodate my visit, off alone to my Bedford stockbroker to talk about Personal Equity Plans. On to Elstow to prospect a shoot for pigeons with John Osborne’s permission at the end of a mild but windy day.
A day that started badly but then improved as it wore on. Up a little late and a struggle to get to breakfast before the family had left for work and school. Diana was determined to spend the morning at Tescos and Bedford town centre and, despite me also needing to see my stockbrokers there, she refused to change her plans to involve me.
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Off in a huff, therefore, with Sam but, despite my mood, he still did quite well and better with the water retrieves than for some time. Upon my return, I did the outside chores in the absence of Bill but found out from a telephone message that he had secured the agreement of the farmer John Osborne opposite for me to shoot pigeons and rabbits on his land. I finished off my letters and stopped off to see him on my way out and thanked him for letting me onto his land and chatted about what I was going to do.
Then on to McKean & Co of Bedford and to met Mike Truswell to talk about Personal Equity Plans. It seemed that my advisers had got it wrong and that the girls could not invest in these schemes until their 18th birthdays and so I can only top up those of ours and Daniel's after all! On to Elstow to replenish my supply of cartridges and then back home to change and get out on Osborne's land. I took Sam for a run over it as well and I saw a pair of partridges scamper away and he pointed a pheasant but flushed it before I could get up to him.
I chose the site of a former hide to build the basics of another one and watched the "woodies" feeding on the cereal field opposite and only come back on the rape as I was leaving. It is a tricky shoot to get the pigeons flighting into decoys whilst staying clear of the roads, allotments and river but I think that I worked it out for a proper session another day. Back to practice some dummy retrieving before I fed Sam and put him away. My evening spent watching a so-called "Rugby League International" where Wales just manage to beat France at Ninian Park in extra time. I also finished off archiving my February journal today which was a job well done. The weather mild but windy.