Debbie starting Brownies today
Debbie starting Brownies today

Problems with my cold and back on the coldest September day since the 1950s as Marshalls visits to demonstrate the new Range Rover Vogue, Debbie starts Brownies as a trial and a new explosion hits the Paris Police HQ but Austin-Rover are still losing money

An appalling night, awake for much of it through my cold and bad back. I felt warm with the full weight of the bedclothes and only slept in the early hours when I had removed most of them. Awoken to my morning tea and reluctant to leave yesterday’s papers that I was reading when called for my shower and breakfast. A meal of wheat flakes, before completing my ablutions and dressing in sports jacket and trousers. A little time to read today’s papers and then, before I had got into my paperwork, the car salesman, Mr Pinch, from Marshalls of Bedford, arrived with a new Range Rover Vogue for us to try out.

We tested it by driving all over Little Paxton and agreed that it was easy to drive and very useful in its capabilities and performance. We will discuss the purchase of one and trade in of our old Jaguar on Friday. A large task today, sorting out the jumble of paperwork covering my desk, but I did not manage to deal with much of it. Lunch of salad, but spoilt the slimming nature of the meal by having apple pie and ice cream after! I feel uncomfortably overweight at the moment, at 14 stone and with a large tummy that means all of my trousers do not fit comfortably. Later a buyer came and took away two of our old fence panels for £6. Debbie went to the Brownies for the first time this evening, at the start of a 4 week trial period. I watched a nature programme on TV with her and then checked Daniel’s homework, eventually getting him to do it properly. A little rain today, but it was much colder than of late. In fact, the coldest September day since the 1950s. The news is of a new explosion at the Paris Police Headquarters, where the terrorists demonstrate their determination in securing the release of three of their leaders – but the French politicians stay firm. All visitors, except EEC and Swiss citizens, will now have to get visas to visit France. Two Arabs are on trial in London, charged with bombings in England earlier this year. President and Mrs Nancy Reagan are heading a massive American publicity campaign and crusade against the misuse of drugs. The football fan defendants, charged with the Heysel Stadium riot deaths, were called to appear in court today, but the process of them being charged and tried will take an alarmingly long time. EEC Foreign Ministers met in Brussels to pursue agreement on anti-South African sanctions and most are agreed tonight, with coal exports being the remaining issue. Two more earth tremors have taken place at the scene of the recent earthquake, collapsing more of the damaged buildings, but the search for survivors still goes on. David Steel, speaking at the SDP Conference by invitation, expressed confidence in bridging the gap in SDP/Liberal defence policies. Austin Rover, the remaining British large-scale car company, is losing money at record levels and political debates about its future in the last year will not have helped its credibility. The gardener took down a conifer hedge today, further opening up the riverside prospect.