My meeting with Mr Forscutt being this afternoon, I spent this morning and evening pouring over the treasure which was the Little Paxton Scrapbook and I agreed to buy a Canon portable photocopier from the salesman on the strength of it. More fascinating artefacts were forthcoming. Thousands free from an Iranian advance on Basra, more revelations about Guinness and a power struggle in China head the news.
Slept well, if somewhat fitfully, thinking about the Little Paxton scrap book and the problem of transcribing it. Sat in bed a little while before being flushed out by Di, bed making, so that I had to get washed and dressed. The children had mostly eaten by this time, but I was there to see Daniel off and then Debbie. Dressed in my sports jacket and trousers, expecting to visit Mr Forscutt this morning, but was mistaken, as I could see from my diary the ‘date’ was for this afternoon. Worked all morning at a number of letters and bills to all and sundry and it was lunchtime before I had cleared most of them. A nice lunch with Di and Della, if somewhat fraught with the girl’s misbehaviour of late.
I had called the photocopier manufacturer, Canon, this morning and was expecting a visit later this afternoon, but first it was time to go and see Mr Forscutt for another enjoyable interview. This time there was no need for recording and I took back the things that I had borrowed and secured some more – this time pencil drawings of L.P. in 1847 by Joseph Rix and a pre-war Coronation programme. Longer talking than I intended and so had to rush to the photographers to see if my copies were ready, which they were not! Home quickly and ample time to feed and put away the ducks and doves, before the photocopier salesman arrived. Discussed the purchase of a portable photocopier and agreed on one. It is only recently that portable types became available and it seems ideal. Time for tea and then the evening reading the scrap book and writing an overview and descriptive summary of it before bed. Di came to look at it and she too was impressed. She realises that I cannot go to Cambridge tomorrow, but must stay here and start the process of transcribing it. The news today is of a serious setback for Iraq in the war with Iran. Thousands are fleeing from an Iran advance on Basra and, even if the Iranians do not take Iraq’s second biggest city, their artillery will soon make it uninhabitable. The Dollar fell sharply against the Japanese Yen on the foreign exchanges, and the German economy is also worried, like the Japanese, of suffering from the effect of upwards valuation on their currency for trade purposes. More trouble for Guinness, as it is revealed that their fleet vehicle contract was recently awarded to Gerald Ronson’s Heron Corporation, after they bought Guinness shares during the takeover of Distiller, to support the price. Upset in China as a power struggle between reformists and reactionaries first led to the departure of Hu Yasbang as Communist Party Chief. Now two of his aids, both reformists, are criticised by Deng Xiaoping.