Windy day working inside on tidying the house, re-laying carpets and editing videos whilst the family got more settled in their new rooms and moving my office again so as to take possession of the finished section unto ourselves as now the Archbishop of Canterbury pleads for relief for the poor in inner cities like The Duke of Edinburgh had called for the end of mortgage tax relief
A fair lay in this morning for a change and time to update my journal as I have been running a day behind of late. Down to the breakfast room for a fine fried breakfast in our Sunday tradition and the family dallied a while and was more friendly than of late. Now that Daniel and Debbie have access to their new rooms and playthings, they are more relaxed and balanced. No time to read the papers, but quickly showered and shaved and then out to feed the birds on a milder, but very windy morning. The new doves are finding their wings the hard way, but just manage to flutter down to the dove table in the gusty wind. Then to the ducks, who were neglected last night and they made up for it by eating plenty this morning. In after, and time at long last to take the latest shots in the Hayling View video and only just time before one of the builders arrived to load up one of my dismantled cupboards and pay me £60 for it, which is a fraction of its true value. Then morning coffee and to start sorting out the carpets in the outer garage. I had decided to relay the hall, stairs and landing carpets in the new half of the house and force the builders to use ladders, back and front, to the central balconies for access.
Then the rest of the day moving my office into the baby’s room, vacating bedroom 4 for the decorators on Monday, laying all of these carpets, putting up signs for the builders and generally preparing for the next phase. Interludes for a nice roast chicken for lunch and later a nice tea as Diana becomes a bit more cheerful and gets used to her kitchen. Finally, late this evening, I had finished and turned to my video, where I copied the last few video films of the Hayling View, whilst Diana and I watched the films themselves. Later still to my journal and the TV, where Steve Davis was making a spirited comeback against Willie Thorn in the final of a UK snooker championship, as poor Willie fell to pieces after missing a sitting blue. The main story today has been the Archbishop of Canterbury’s report on the inner cities, which is again critical of the Thatcher government’s neglect and spending curbs. Like the Duke of Edinburgh’s recent report, the abolition of mortgage interest tax relief is again suggested, rather than this government’s cruel reductions in housing benefits for the poor. Another item is the public apology by Israel after the uncovering of an initiative to spy on their principal ally – the United States. In South Africa, thousands of trade union representatives met in Durban, in the biggest union federation for 25 years, and hatched a plan to oppose apartheid with even more vigour. They will burn their pass books, if there is no end to the pass laws, within months. More mild weather forecast, but with even more rain to accompany it.