Full working day for me on the bathrooms and link room carpeting as the builders are also busy but my family all spend time with their friends and let me work on. There is still hope for Westland shareholders seeking a European deal but most of them will vote for the US money
A very sound night’s sleep and I actually awoke myself before morning tea. The weather dry and a bit milder, but a fresh breeze starting. Down to breakfast and up to wash, shave and shower. Then to dress in my jeans and working clothes for another day of toil. The decorators arrive, two of them, and proceed to gloss paint the rest of the un-decorated woodwork in the kitchen, playroom and bathroom. They also sanded and oiled the new hardwood door thresholds and did a few jobs previously missed. Mr Cheeseborough arrived with the remaining Bloomsbury Cristal tiles and finished the window surround in the blue bathroom and then the side panel to the bath. I started by connecting up the light switch to Daniel’s table lamp and then attacked the new downstairs shower room. I pondered over and then decided upon the position of the toiletries cabinet, trimmed and put up the matching pink window blind and then secured the cabinet itself. Then put up the matching shower curtain so that we had a complete set and could see the effect.
It was very good. By this time Mr Cheeseborough had finished his work in the bathroom and so I went up to put cabinet and blind in there and also fit a plug and chain to the sink and seat to the toilet. Another stunning result. By the afternoon Di had been shopping, put all the toys in the playroom and generally prepared herself for an afternoon social event. She was being visited by two friends, who were anxious to get their first view and tour of the house. They chatted in the kitchen over coffee and then had a look round and were genuinely flabbergasted by the transition – with the kitchen, playroom, ironing room and bathrooms featuring in their praise, in that order. I was a bit put out during my toils not to get an invitation for an afternoon drink and felt a bit weary and lonely, with each other member of the family entertained their friends as I slaved away. Diana has occasionally taunted me about not having any friends and I do regret it sometimes. It seems that other people like me are rather difficult to find. By now we all settled to tea and, in the evening, Diana put up curtains in the kitchen and playroom to effect yet another transformation. The girls played happily in the playroom, which will undoubtedly be a firm favourite. I then tackled the upper link building and managed to carpet it using the old carpets from the former dining rooms, with some success. I also patched the bottom of the stairs and re-laid the stair carpet to bring back some comfort into our lives. Then, again shattered, I collapsed into the old lounge and drank my Bournvita until, with some coaxing, I locked up and went off to bed. By this time I had moved my toiletries into the new shower room and Di the children’s things into the new bathroom, where they bathed for the first time. Though I did not have much of the news today, the European rescue plan for Westland was published and seems to be a good one, having some chance of appealing to shareholders. Its backers are confident of the 10% of shareholders support for an Extraordinary General Meeting to consider it. The electronics and computer shares have been having a good recovery on the stock exchange. My shares in Kode have increased recently from 60-odd pence to nearly 100p, which is not surprising as they have a unit value of over 110p. No word from the Inland Revenue yet and so I sit on the gains tax money until the new year, with the Gilts and Kode rising all the time. The weather remained dry today, but is forecast to get wetter later tomorrow. Mr Cheeseborough phoned later to say that the roofing contractors were expected tomorrow, which would be a relief if they could get them balcony floors done.