By train to Butler’s Hall, near Guildhall, for the Bernard Thorpe Manorial Auction but there to decline to bid for any of the Bedfordshire or Huntingdonshire Manors as a deal is reached with the teachers (but not to the Tories’ liking) , Thatchers negotiates with the US to ensure we keep our nuclear weapons and the Greeks and France resist the EEC imposing sanctions on Syria
Felt cold in the night, until I deprived Diana of her hot water bottles! Reluctant to awake this morning, after a number of late nights, but then showered and donned my best suit for a trip to London. Following yesterday’s article in the Observer, I had decided to go to the Bernard Thorpe auction of Lordships of the Manor and aimed to go by train.
Breakfast in a hurry and then tried to drive down to Stevenage, but found the road blocked and so retraced my footsteps and drove to Huntingdon instead. A long trip on a slow train to Kings Cross and then used the telephones at the Great Northern Hotel to find out the time of the auction. A tube ride to St Pauls station and then spent an hour in the Guildhall library, before grabbing a sandwich at a café and walking on to the Butlers Hall. An interesting auction, particularly as they had several lots from Bedfordshire and one from the old county of Huntingdon, Botolphbridge. I thought hard about it, but did not bid and it went for £9000, including mineral rights. Back to Kings Cross and then home, arriving at about 6.30pm for tea. Some time with Daniel, helping him with his physics prep and then I studied the transcript of the Doomsday Book on Huntingdonshire Manors. The news today is of a deal between the teachers unions and the Labour authorities, after three days of discussions, but, first the Conservative authorities dislocated themselves from the emerging deal and then Kenneth Baker declares that any such deal would not be accepted anyway. They still intend to reach an agreement, in spite of the intervention. Mrs Thatcher is going to persuade the Americans not to negotiate away Britain’s nuclear defence and this may sabotage attempts to remove cruise and trident missiles. After another meeting of EEC Ministers, agreement was reached for the further measures against Syria, including a ban on arms sales, airline restrictions and end to high-level diplomatic contacts. However, Greece openly dissented from the result and French Prime Minister, Chirac, speculated that Syria may not have been responsible for the recent airline attack anyway