A milder and showery day spent on investment strategy and administration after time in bed with Diana (who has lost 1 ½ lbs slimming this week) and a similar evening where I supervise the children as they work and play computer games whilst Di struggles with Daniella. Barclays, IBM and General Motors pull out of South Africa and the Kowloon Bridger now sinks against Irish rocks, risking a major oil spillage
A sound night’s sleep, after an early retirement and some time with Diana in bed, which we both enjoyed. Awoke to my morning tea on a much milder, if overcast and showery, day. Breakfast of wheat flakes and apple juice, as usual, and then time to scan the FT whilst waiting for the post to arrive. A letter from St John’s Bursary, in reply to my enquiry after the Lordship of Little Paxton Manor. They are still considering my proposal, but are initially reluctant to sell as it is without historic precedent. They tentatively suggest a lease of the title to me for life. To my office to make a start of a mess of papers and to consider how to spend my time this week. In the end I reconcile myself to spending today on general paperwork and then going to St Ives tomorrow, instead of Cambridge. There is really so much to do with recent history, that I can only afford a little time on the Manorial history.
I also need to trace the other Manors to see where they are owned. I have a nice coffee, which begins to get me working slowly, then I start by reconciling my building society and bank accounts. Soon it is time for a lunch of ham salad, but I make a change by peeling and segmenting some fresh pears and having them with milk as a sweet. A long afternoon on my financial affairs, filling forms to apply for more of the new issue of 32nd Nat. Sav. Certs., evaluating the children’s trust portfolios and writing letters to several contacts on several matters. I select also the security alarm components that I need and order them from C-TEC, claiming the refund that I am due on the auto-dial unit that I could not use. Tea with the children of pork chops and 3 veg and a piece of apple pie to follow, which does not seem at all slimming. Most of the evening in the office again, filing all manner of paperwork that has collected this last few weeks. Although I was disappointed not to have spent time on my history project today, at least the rest of the week is well organised. Di was still suffering with Daniella today, but Daniel and Debbie seemed to have a good day each at school, with Dan doing particularly well in a physics test. His examinations start on Saturday and so he has to do a lot of revision. Debbie had a BBC-model 13 computer game from the library for 30p hire, and Daniel got it going on the computer for her to play with. Di went to slimming tonight. The weight loss, 1 ½ lbs this week. The news tonight is of Barclays Bank pulling out of South Africa and they are one of the country’s biggest external investors. It is disposing of the remaining 40% of the National Bank to domestic companies and concedes that the campaign against investment there has been a factor, amongst economic influences as well. This comes after the pull-out of General Motors and IBM, but if other British companies withdraw, it will be even more serious. Reagan has called together his top advisers to review the Iran affair, as it affects their Middle East policy. Reagan is under embarrassing media pressure and his TV appearances on any subject are dominated by speculation on the likely changes of White House staff and policy. The UDM are to put up their own candidate in Mansfield, where the Labour candidate is backed by the NUM, as the latest sign of division amongst Nottinghamshire mine workers. Paul Dye, a heroin smuggler has been sentenced to 28 years and fined 100s of thousands of pounds as well. A stranded oil tanker, the Kowloon Bridge, is aground on rocks off the south west coast of Ireland and there are risks of a major oil spillage. The United Nations is debating an anti-British motion on the Falklands and, as with last year, it seems that the Argentinean position will be overwhelmingly supported on sovereignty. The wind gets up tonight, after a day of showers and drizzle and more rain is forecast in the days to come.