Downing Street locked in opposition to Lambeth Palace
Downing Street locked in opposition to Lambeth Palace

Tidying the house after another active day and week for builders and plumbers without a central heating system but with a compensating log fire in a more comfortable house, curtains fitted by Diana to the dining and sitting room and lunch out at The Happy Eater once Daniel returned from school. Thatcher is still battling with the C of E over suburban deprivation and concentrates on leaving UNESCO, passing more laws to suppress protests and digging the Channel Tunnel

A sound night after another late retirement and down to breakfast with the family early in view of the planned work for the house this morning. Toast and fruit juice again and then in to shower, wash and shave before dressing quickly. The plumber arrives as I complete the unlocking and, after his morning coffee to wake him up (!), climbs the ladder to strap up the ballcock in No 6 to isolate the water supply for draining the heating system over this side. I walk round undoing the radiator valves so that, when he connected a drain pipe to the boiler and unscrewed the union, the heating system emptied slowly into the back garden. Out then to the doves, who now feed hungrily and readily at the bird table and to the ducks, who scrambled eagerly into the river. The Ouse has risen strongly with this last few day’s rain, but is still contained within its banks and I am reckoning on it staying that way. By this time a couple of builders and Mr Cheeseborough had also arrived and they spend the morning moving the boiler onto the quarry tiles in the corner position and channeling the pipes in a trough cut by percussion drill into the concrete floor of the hall. 

It seems to be too shallow a recess as far as I can see and I worry that either the floor will break up at that point, or a sufficient covering of screed would channel any leakages from the boilers or equipment in the utility room into the kitchen. Off with the girls by car to St Ives to look at the viewing for next Tuesday’s Christmas antique auction. A few things that I liked, Diana didn’t, but there is a rather magnificent outside wrought iron gas lamp that could be mounted on our wall. No silver of interest, though a good amount to appeal to others not collecting my specialty. A rendezvous with Di and then back to St Neots to collect Daniel from his school bus. We had made an effort to be there by 12.15pm to respond to his pleas that the bus now arrived earlier than it used to, but our plans were confounded by it being late. On to Sandy and the Happy Eater for our normal Saturday lunch. Della now eats my country-style soup with enthusiasm, then her burger, beans and chips by herself. I had sweet and sour pork and rice to make a change. Back home after, forgetting yet again to collect the Evinrude outboard that is with the repair yard, and the afternoon and evening working on the house. Di puts up the dining room and sitting room curtains (and splendid they look too). I take an update of progress on the video, tidy up the house from builder’s mess and then lay more carpet pieces in the link building for through traffic. We move Debbie into her new bedroom and, after settling her down for the night, I sit up with Daniel and we plan our burglar alarm system well into the evening. No chance to watch the TV or news tonight, but from radio programmes during the day, the Tories are still locked in battle with the Church over the state of the inner city deprivation and the need to do something about it. Thatcher is forcing the pace on the Channel Tunnel and preoccupied with withdrawing from the UN aid programme, UNESCO, and tightening up the public order laws as her answer to civil unrest. Meanwhile, I am tightening up my own defence systems, as more crime is bound to follow. I pulled Daniel’s dinghy out of the water today and bailed it out, but hope that the river levels will rise no further. I lit a log fire this evening, which kept us pretty warm so that we did not notice the lack of central heating too much.