Today was Christmas Eve, the mildest for some 50 years, and for me it was time to have coffee in the conservatory, tidy up my office and then take the family to St Neots for a Beefeater meal. The Queen issued a special message of consolation for the victims of Armenia, Clapham Junction and Lockerbie as the search for bodies continues. A Waterloo blaze leads to an evacuation.
I awoke quite early and was up on time to a nice fried breakfast – Di had decided that we would have this meal this morning so that tomorrow would not be too much with the Christmas food as well. I did not do a great deal this morning, having coffee in my conservatory which was nice. The most that I was able to achieve was the tidying of my office and bookshelves and an incomplete job at that. For lunch, I took the family to a pre-booked meal at the Beefeater in St Neots. I was not very pleased by the table, the service and the fact that they had suspended the non-smoking section over the Christmas period. I suspected the numerous cigar-promoting posters that had something to do with it! We did a bit of last-minute shopping after and I then got some picture hooks to put up when we got back. This afternoon, Diana flaked out with her bad chest and I had to get the tea for the children while she was in bed. She was up later to help get the presents ready for the morning. The Queen issued a special message of consolation for the bereaved relatives and friends of those people who had died in the three recent human disasters of Armenia, Clapham Junction and Lockerbie.
** PRESS "Read More" BELOW for the complete story **
The services are found a lot of the bodies missing from the air disaster, but many are still missing, and the men will have to work through the Christmas holiday until all of the remains are found. It may take weeks to collect all the wreckage as it is spread over a large area. At least a family of six of Lockerbie have survived after being feared dead as there were not in the destroyed house after all. A blaze at Waterloo led to an evacuation with worry to all concerned. The weather today was very mild and was supposed to have been the mildest Christmas eve for 40 to 60 years.