Little Paxton Paper Mill flooding in 1988
Little Paxton Paper Mill flooding in 1988

Mediating with Daniella over breakfast on another rainy day and then welcoming my former Comart partner John Lamb who still owns 2% of Kode shares and should sell them soon, in my view. We had a chat and then lunch together and I walked back over the Traps as the river was still flooded at Samuel Jones Paper Mill and then I met The Rev Peter Lewis whose remit coincides with my forthcoming Paxton electoral ward before supervising the children’s’ homework and music practise. The Cleveland Child Abuse nonsense is at last being dealt with, Thatcher is playing games with the Nurses Dispute and Ulster politicians are in trouble over attending illegal marches

Slept well enough and was up and showering when little Daniella came up and dragged me down to breakfast in my dressing gown. She had refused to eat her ‘teddy bear’ children’s multi-vitamin sweet and I was called in as a mediator. In the end I made her eat it with her cereal and she dropped it in the bowl! After a plain cereal breakfast, seeing the children off, and finishing dressing and shaving, I sat in my office and read today’s newspaper. I had dressed in some smarter (but still casual) clothes today, as I was expecting John Lamb to visit. I still had time to kill and so I worked on at my computer and started the editing of the updated passage on ‘The Nook and Shepherd’s Cottage’. Soon John arrived and we first sat and drank a tray of coffee in my office and exchanged news.

He seems to be happy enough in Swindon, with his daughter achieving great things with her musical education. He combines marketing consultancy with his investment work, but still retaining 100,000 shares in Kode is a bit of a risk. I looked up the status of the share on my SEAQ screen and advised him to sell off the stock as soon as possible. He is holding 2% of the stock! We had a look around the (flooded) garden and then drove off to the Rocket in Eaton Socon for a bar snack lunch. I had a stilton ploughman’s and half pint of shandy and he had scampi and chips, washed down with half a pint of larger. I told John about Rob Wilmot and the Compsoft directorship and he was interested enough for me to pass on the suggestion to Rob. Also exchanged news on cars and motoring along the way. He then dropped me off the far side of the Mill and I walked back across the Traps and along the Hayling footpath. The river is well up today and the Mill is now impassable to just about all traffic, including our Range Rover. In fact the Hayling Path is under at one point. Met the Rev Peter Lewis back outside our house as he was cycling to St Neots and chatted for quite a while. I told him about the parishes of Paxton, Southoe and Diddington being together for next May’s District Council Election and of my intention to stand against Mrs Green from St Ives. He was interested in this grouping, which matches his own areas and I hope he will support me. In for the rest of the day to continue my computer updating on The Nook, which takes a long time. Broke off a few times to inspect the river, which was higher, but an inch off the worst by late evening. Daniel seems to have better news of his mock exam grades in biology, but is also toying with the idea of learning Karate, which is not the best pursuit for him in my eyes. Debbie worked hard on her homework this evening. Difficult sums, writing and then to practice on her recorder. She now wants to learn the clarinet! The news tonight is of the Cleveland child abuse enquiry. Dr Marietta Higgs has been moved to a new job dealing with new born babies and her colleague, Dr Geoffrey Wyatt, will stay at Middlesbrough Hospital, but will pass child abuse cases to other doctors. The authorities are not yet considering disciplinary measures, but their views may yet change when the enquiry’s full findings are known. In the nurses dispute, the TUC leader has been having talks with the Social Services Secretary, John Moore. Thatcher now says that she will meet Royal College of Nursing representatives, but only after they have seen Moore and not in company with other nursing unions. The RCN say they will resist this divide-and-rule approach and petitions are circulating amongst the RCN membership to obtain the 1000 signatures necessary to call a members ballot on making strike action constitutional! In the Labour Party’s latest move against militant supporters, the Southwark and Bermondsey party has been suspended, pending further investigation. Kinnock has said that ‘militants will be dealt with once and for all’. Militant Ulster Unionist Dr Ian Paisley has become the first Democratic Ulster Unionist MP to be jailed for non-payment of a fine, after two illegal appearances in barred parades in Belfast and Ballymena. He joins Mid-Ulster MP William McCrea and both are expected to be released on Friday. A jail escape today by child murderer, Brian Trinder, who escaped by hiding in a refuse skip which was collected and taken away. It is raining again this evening and more rain is forecast, as if we had not had enough already!