A house invasion from Daniel’s friends today and a meeting with Elm Leisure to design the pool services whilst Diana shops in horrendous crowds for beef cubes to make into a beef stew as OPEC crude falls to less than $10 per barrel and the biggest Cornish tin mine, Geevor closes to avoid £350,000 per month losses
The start of a new month and the weather this morning was marginally better. The wind had calmed down, but was still cold; there was little cloud or rain and the sun shone. I laid long in bed (my body still on GMT) and read the mail, but had to get up due to the house invasion. Daniel’s friends phoned one after another, ‘till there were four expected. Elm Leisure arrived to infill the pool surrounds and Joan and Pete started early to make up their weeks’ hours to get regular pay. I had to run their collective gauntlet to the bathroom and look forward to the commissioning of our en-suite in the near future. As soon as I was washed and dressed, I had to see Edgar Monks of Elm Leisure about the arrangements for services to the swimming pool.
A long chat and then out to the doves, where the pair are still incubating that egg. I had checked on them with the ladder on Sunday, but they had not hatched it yet. As I did the ducks, I noticed that three were trying to lay in the long grass in preference to the hutch and so I replaced the duck house straw and gathered and destroyed all of the stray eggs around the gardens, so as to keep a closer watch from now on. A late coffee break and an early lunch. I had struggled to keep the children at bay in their rooms all morning and now had to insist that only two join our family for lunch. This afternoon I fitted an indicator bolt to the bathroom, latches to the master bedroom and en-suite and then fitted the last of the alarm channels on the outside of the playroom French windows. Tired, I retired to my office in late afternoon and evening to read the papers and collector’s magazine and then to do some paperwork. Di had shopped in atrocious crowds this morning and then prepared a fine stew of topside beef cubes. Being concerned at my tummy and Di’s weight, I agreed with her that we will get a good pair of bathroom scales to continue our slimming campaign. Out of my office before 9.00pm and to the lounge for the news headlines. For the first time since the 1970s OPEC price hike, crude oil is less than $10/barrel amidst Middle East speculation that it could go as low as $5/barrel. For the British economy this is a mixed blessing, but I am pleased to see the end of the oil-based boom that has held the pound high and hit manufacturing industry. The government has reacted to the EEC test case on equal retirement terms for men & women by banning forced retirement for women at 60, but will keep the present retirement ages at 60 & 65 until pressed by men appellants. The Hampton Court paintings have been miraculously saved and only one painting has been irrecoverably damaged, but the fabric of the building is badly damaged. The biggest Cornish tin mine, Geevor, is being closed, due to the low tin prices, to avoid losses of £350,000 a month. After the weekend’s Loyalist rioting in Ulster, the government is counting the cost and appealing to Unionists politicians to re-enter talks with them. The new 4th terminal at Heathrow airport opened today, after a building cost of £200 million. It will come into use on April 12th. Following the end of the metropolitan councils today, bus fares have been put up by 200%. Britain’s largest teachers union is to boycott preparations for the new GCSE exam and want it deferred for at least a year. A frost of -2degC is forecast for this evening and showers will be spreading from the west tomorrow, but temperatures might be a degree or two warmer.