To Cambridge with Di to see her parents on another fine and sunny day after morning fog.
Successful shooting morning and afternoon, returning home with a drake and hare and then evening obedience dog training as the girls come home with good school reports and Wiggly collects her car and goes to her first pantomime rehearsal.
The Tory plan to avoid discussing Europe at the Party Conference by leaving out any motions or debate on the subject was blown apart.
I got out early this morning to accompany the girls to the bus stop and there heard of their regular daily mock fights and battles from the other children there.
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Once back, I let Diana go alone to see her parents in Cambridge as she was shopping with her mother for her birthday present and I would only get in the way. I heard later that she had bought an exercise mat and that her father seemed peaky and not in the best of spirits which is a shame.
I worry whether they are having trouble with the car that we gave them as it was always difficult to start and the colder mornings would not help. One interesting development: Diana took Della's shoes back, after buying them in mid-August, as she could not get them to fit comfortably and not only did she get another exchange pair free of charge, but they have also changed the system there after I had complained about it last time.
So much for them being embarrassed about me complaining and putting them right! We had another fine and sunny day after early fog and it was that fog that gave me some good sport. I opted to take Sam over the other side of the river for a walk around John Osborne's farm.
As we rounded the sewage works, there were rabbits about and, after shooting a good long range coot, one sat up to look and I killed it cleanly. These shots disturbed a number of pigeons from the nearby trees but they were out of range by the time I had reloaded. We stalked along the river front and then, upon seeing some dabbling ripples under out bank that prepared me for the flight of a pair of ducks.
I shot the drake mallard cleanly again at the first attempt. Sam was sent to get it from the middle of the river as a necessary contribution after fetching the rabbit earlier when it was not really necessary. Returned home thus and hung up the mallard in the inner garage and retained the rabbit for retrieving practice later.
Once home, and during a little time at my desk, I made some phone calls and spoke to Bob Steele, the Cromwell Kennels and others. Bob still has no job but is nevertheless funding a Safari holiday to Africa for a month as something he and his wife had always wanted to do. I called and arranged to take Sam to this evening’s obedience training class at Cromwell Kennels in order to get him more used to other male dogs and this I did later; getting there at 8.00pm and back around 10.00pm.
It was a useful session for him and he was very nervous and on edge at first but then settled down more later so that I shall go again. In the meantime, I had taken him for another run over at Molesworth and I carried my gun again as I watched him quarter. He pointed at where he thought a hare was, but it had slipped away and ran past me for the last run it was to make as I dropped it with my choked barrel.
That made four shots today and no misses which is remarkable indeed for me as I was previously a very poor shot with a shotgun. I took the hare back rather self-consciously for the farmer wants to preserve the hares; believing them to be quite few though there are a good number of them still. In truth, I could not resist this test of marksmanship, but I will resolve to eat this hare so as not to waste its fate.
The family were in good humour for tea, despite Diana rushing here there and everywhere for her keep-fit and Yoga sessions. Della's eye-lash plucking appears to have been halted for now and she is friends again with most of the girls she fell out with earlier.
I keep helping her drill and thread conkers but she seems not to find anyone to play with her. Debbie came home with her latest assessment which is all right if unspectacular and Daniel seems all right at work after his pay increase. I called Wiggly at home, after she had collected her car and before she went to her first St Neots Amateur Dramatic Society Pantomime rehearsal, and she was pleased with her car and very grateful to me for paying for it.
A pleasant and affectionate interchange but I opted not to see her later for fear of spoiling things. The news is of a 14-year-old girl winning £100,000 in a crisp packet competition. The Tory plan to avoid discussing Europe at the Party Conference by leaving out any motions or debate on the subject was blown apart.
Former Chancellor, Norman Lamont, addressed a well-attended fringe meeting and former Chairman, Norman Tebbitt, another and they between them precipitated support for a tougher line on Europe to rapturous applause. John Major lost another of his MP's today to a heart attack and retains an even smaller majority as a result.
The sun came out in the afternoon and the weather was still and warm. Tonight a had a call from Jim and chat about dog training and he may join me for the next Novice Field Trial. Heard also from a Mrs May in St Neots who got her friend, Mrs Darlow, to drop round details of the proposed sale of part of Little Paxton Nature Reserve. Their idea was to raise money to get it bought and prevent shooting, but I had a rather different objective as I read the sales particulars!